Triller’s hopes to hold the Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos Jr fight in Australia are off the table, as the IBF have ruled that the bout must take place in a location that does not require quarantine.
Contracts are due by Aug. 24, with the fight to take place no later than Oct. 17.
Triller pulled a stunner by winning the purse bid for the IBF-ordered bout in February, but nothing has gone right with their plan since then. They vastly out-bid Matchroom and Top Rank for the rights to the event, and have now lost a lot of money on the fight already. They intended to hold the fight on June 5 in Miami, but pushed that back two weeks in order to avoid the Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul exhibition on June 6 in Miami.
Lopez then tested positive for COVID, so the June 19 date was scrapped. Aug. 14 was another date set, then there was talk of doing it on Sept. 11. Neither came through. The latest plan was Oct. 17 in Australia, which Team Lopez objected to and may not have actually gone through with in the first place.
But although it was considered as a possibility, Lopez doesn’t want to vacate the IBF belt, one of three lightweight titles he holds along with the WBA and WBO versions, so pushing back on the idea to go to Australia made sense, and they’re at least not going to be asked to go to Kambosos’ home turf.
The sooner we get this done and over with, the better, and Triller probably feel the same way at this point. They’re already not going to be doing more business with Lopez, who cooled his heat with Top Rank and signed an amended contract, and the whole thing has just been a mess.