Triller are attempting to once again move the date for the Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos Jr fight, and now they also intend on changing the location.
Mike Coppinger reports at ESPN that Triller want to push Lopez-Kambosos back to Oct. 17, and move the fight to Australia. Lopez’s team are not on board with the idea, and manager David McWater says if necessary, they’d vacate the IBF lightweight title — which Kambosos is mandatory challenger for — and move on with something else.
Lopez-Kambosos caused a stir when Triller over-bid by a significant amount to win rights to the fight, and basically nothing has gone right for them since, not with this fight or in general. The fight was originally scheduled for June 5, then June 19, then Lopez got COVID and it was moved to Aug. 14, which was recently quietly changed to Sept. 11 on the FITE schedule, and now they’re booking it for October, and hoping that moving it to Australia might help them recover at least some money.
Since the original purse bid, Lopez has re-upped with Top Rank, who had intended to bring him back to ESPN airwaves on PPV in October, which of course has also been delayed. Triller boss Ryan Kavanaugh took some pretty clear shots at Lopez for the COVID positive and further postponement, and says Lopez “should be bending over backwards to make this right for Kambosos, for us, and for all others who lost out due to (Lopez’s) irresponsibility.”
In all honesty, this fight is simply not good enough for all this hassle. Whatever buzz it generated on Triller’s bid is dead and gone. Between keeping a disputed “undisputed” claim and maybe just moving on and doing a fight anyone actually wants to see, I’m guessing a lot of people would rather Lopez just do the latter, which stinks for Kambosos and his team without question, but it’s a lousy business for fairness.