WBA (Super), WBO, and IBF lightweight champion of the world Teófimo López will have his upcoming fight promoted by Triller Fight Club, who have won the promotional and broadcasting rights López’s upcoming title defense against George Kambosos Jr.
Although Teófimo López is promoted by Top Rank, Ryan Kavanaugh’s Triller won the IBF purse bid on Thursday, which was conducted at the IBF headquarters in Springfield, New Jersey over an online conference call.
The Triller CEO submitted the winning bid at an astronomical $6,180,000, outbidding both Top Rank ($2,315,000) as well as Matchroom Boxing ($3,506,000) who were aiming to bring the bout to ESPN and DAZN respectively.
Teófimo López-George Kambosos Jr: Ryan Kavanaugh aims to “bring entertainment to a purist sport”
Soon after winning the bid, Ryan Kavanaugh revealed that he’s aiming to host López vs Kambosos sometime around in May this year on Triller pay-per-view.
“This fight was a really important one for us to have. Having the undisputed lightweight champion on Triller was something we were really hoping to get,” Kavanaugh told BoxingScene, “We are very excited. It’s the next step for us in trying to pair all quadrants of our entertainment together with true boxing.”
The $6 million purse bid will be split 65-35 in Lopez’s favor as per IBF’s rules, which will earn the undefeated lightweight superstar and his team their career-highest $3,911,700 (20% cut goes to Top Rank), while the mandatory contender Kambosos and his comrades will pocket $2,106,300, another career-highest.
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Having promoted the Mike Tyson versus Roy Jones Jr. exhibition match back in November as their first fight, Triller has also announced another exhibition sparring contest between Jake Paul and MMA star Ben Askren on 17th April.
However, the López vs Kambosos card will be their first professional boxing event, but Kavanaugh wants to make it clear that they are here as a friend, not competitors to Top Rank or any other established promotion.
“We’re hopefully showing people that we’re here as a friend to the boxing world to bring them the fights they want to see,” the Triller chief went on, “We’re here not to attack it, but to bring entertainment to what has traditionally been a purist sport.“
Speaking of Bob Arum, Kavanaugh insisted that the Top Rank CEO’s true challenger is Matchroom MD Eddie Hearn.
“We are in no way competing with Bob Arum. Eddie Hearn is Arum’s true competition. We’re just doing it to build a brand,” he added.
