WBA (Super), IBF and WBO lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez’s upcoming three belt title defense against George Kambosos Jr is targeted for 5th October at the Madison Square Garden, New York as contracts have been sent out to both pugilists.
Earlier this month, there were rumours that the International Boxing Federation ordered Lopez to face the IBF mandatory challenger Kambosos on US soil instead of the latter’s native place Australia.
Lopez vs Kambosos to take place at Hulu Theater at MSG
The bout was rumoured to be heading for the Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta in Sydney on 17th October, instead of the original venue of LoanDepot Park, Miami, Florida on 19th June.
The plan to host the fight in the Land Down Under was the plan for Triller Fighr Club co-founder Ryan Kavanaugh, who wanted to regain the reported $5 million he lost from rescheduling the fight after Lopez had tested positive for COVID.
Now, Mike Coppinger of ESPN revealed that Triller has sent out the contracts to Lopez and Kambosos. The deadline set by the IBF for Triller to submit the signed contracts is by Tuesday.
The unified lightweight championship title fight will take place at New York’s Hulu Theater at MSG, with a $19.99 pay-per-view via FITE and for the monthly Triller subscription holders, it will cost $2.99, as confirmed by Kavanaugh.
“We’re really excited about it: Tuesday night boxing in New York,” said the Triller co-founder, who’s plan to recover from the five million dollar loss was ruled out by IBF ordering the fight to stay in the US. (H/T ESPN)
Lopez’s manager David McWater was always against the idea of the fight taking place in Australia as he claimed it would be putting ‘The Takeover’ at a major disadvantage and even considered giving up the IBF title, which Lopez won against Richard Commey in December 2019.
The 24-year-old was last seen in action against Vasyl Lomachenko on 17th October last year, when he defeated the Ukrainian to win the WBA (Super) and WBO belts at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“Ferocious” Kambosos, who hails from Sydney, is a former WBA Oceania and IBF Pan Pacific lightweight champion. He became IBF’s mandatory lightweight after Welsh boxer Lee Selby via split decision in October last year.
