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By: Sean Crose
Perhaps now the fight will actually go down. After endless pushbacks, Triller has lost control of the too long anticipated lightweight title showdown between Teofimo Lopez and his IBF mandatory, George Kambosos. The IBF has ruled this week that Triller, which paid a fortune to promote and broadcast the bout, had defaulted on its bid. Therefore, Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing swept in and got the rights. Triller now finds itself seven figures in the hole. What this means for fight fans is that Lopez-Kambosos will most likely happen as soon as possible and that the match will no longer be a pay per view event – which Triller presented it as – though most didn’t believe it was a pay per view worthy affair to begin with.
Lopez, who surprised a lot of people by besting pound for pound ranked Vasyl Lomachenko a year ago hasn’t fought since that time. Covid pushed back the bout with Kambosos, then what seemed like a million roadblocks got in the way. Matters came to a head when Kambosos’ team decided it had had enough with the delays and refused to push back the bout yet again when Triller asked for the date to be moved once more. Even in an age when top fighters don’t fight much, a full year between fights is a big deal. Should Lopez win as expected against Kambosos, he might want to look to make up for at least some of the lost time.
As for Kambosos, the undefeated Aussie has a chance to upset the apple cart by defeating Lopez. What’s more, he can make himself one of the top draws in the sport should he pull off the upset. Although Triller clearly wasn’t entirely responsible for all the delays, team Kambosos seemed to be well within its right to keep from allowing the fight to once more be pushed backwards. Fighters, after all, have to fight, and much time has passed.
This appears to be another feather in the cap of Hearn, who is now allied with some of the biggest names in boxing. Not only is he the promoter of the recently defeated but still popular Anthony Joshua, he’s also working with none other than Canelo Alvarez. Partnered with the two biggest names in the sport, the Englishman is now one of the dominant players in the fight game .
