If one were
to ask this observer as to what I feel will be the story that dominated the
sport of Boxing in 2021 beyond the continuing impact of the ongoing global
COVID-19 epidemic, I would be hard-pressed to say that it was not the fiasco
and subsequent long wait for the battle for the Undisputed Lightweight
Championship of the world between undefeated world champion Teofimo Lopez and
undefeated IBF number one contender George Kambosos. A fight that for a variety
of reasons, all of which did not put Boxing in a favorable light, seemed as
though it might never take place.
From a
positive COVID-19 test that initially postponed the fight, to numerous issues
involving promotional entity Triller from frequently changing the dates of
which the bout will be rescheduled, along with changing locations and venues
before ultimately defaulting on their six main dollar winning purse bid,
resulting in promoter Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing as the second highest
bidder stepping in to finally stage the fight on November 27th at The Theater in
Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY. Along the way through the numerous
obstacles this fight faced in simply being staged, this went from an encounter
between an undefeated world champion and a not highly regarded unbeaten
mandatory challenger, to one of the most anticipated fights of the year. The
reason for this was both due to the numerous issues that as this observer
stated in previewing this bout resembled an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, but
also what seemed to be a genuine dislike between the fighters as well as their
camps.
Given
everything that happened over the last seven months regarding this fight, it is
understandable and I personally would hope that one would forgive a veteran
Boxing journalist and historian in yours truly when I say that I had doubts
that the fight would occur until I actually saw the two fighters enter the ring
on fight night. Even with the more seasoned promoter in Eddie Hearn stepping in,
the uncertainty of everything that had gone on as well as the continued
circumstances of COVID-19, as well as the fact that the state of New York had
declared a state of emergency shortly before the fight due to another variant
of the COVID-19 virus, I was conditioned to almost expect the unexpected in the
sense of not being sure if the fight would be allowed to take place right up
until fight time.
Fortunately,
for yours truly and the entire sport, Eddie Hearn was able to succeed where the
novice promoter Triller could not and a fight that seemed like more of a
reality show in the prelude was finally a reality. It did not disappoint.
Although many people think of the prelude to a fight like this as sort of a
pastime in the sense of the two fighters and their camps exchanging thoughts,
opinions, predictions, and yes verbal cheap shots if not at times worse, this
observer usually takes what is said with a grain of salt and prefers to direct
his focus towards the fight itself.
This was a
case of a power puncher in Lopez claiming that he would knock out Kambosos in
the first round, going against a challenger who from the moment the fight was
announced exuded confidence. Even though it is certainly not unusual throughout
combat sports to hear of a fighter making bold predictions on when a fight will
end, I did not think that this fight would necessarily end in one round,
despite the possibility of a quick knockout always existing. The reason for
this is George Kambosos was like Lopez an undefeated fighter, but was also a
boxer/puncher and an old cliché that this observer believes in is “Styles Make
Fights.”
Obviously, the
challenge for Kambosos would be to survive an early storm of aggression from
Lopez, but I felt that if he could accomplish that task it would likely turn
into a more difficult fight for the champion than some had anticipated. As it
would turn out, an aggressive start from Lopez would be exactly how this fight
would begin as he pressed forward seemingly with the intention to end the fight
with one punch.
While this
put Kambosos on the defensive initially, the champion was also missing with a
lot of his offense and this set up an opportunity for Kambosos to do something
that many did not expect, knock the champion down with a counter right hand in
the first round. Although this was a flash knockdown, it did succeed in proving
two things. First that Kambosos had come to fight, and second that he had the
power and ability to knock Lopez down if the opportunity presented itself.
After the
first round I felt that it would have been in the champion’s best interest to
abandon the approach of trying to end the fight with every single punch he
threw and to settle down and approach this fight more tactically. Instead, he
would continue to engage in a practice known throughout combat sports as “Head
Hunting,” which played right into the challenger’s hands. Kambosos gradually
was able to build on the knockdown he was able to score in the first round by
implementing a consistent Boxing strategy that emphasized lateral movement,
giving angles, and strategically picking his spots to throw offense. While it
was clear that Lopez was the consistent aggressor in most of the rounds, it was
Kambosos’ strategy and the way he timed his attacks that I felt was a story of
the fight and with each passing round, he was dominating the action in my view.
This is not
necessarily mean that Lopez did not have sporadic success throughout, but as
the fight progressed he simply was not doing enough and did not settle down
soon enough to avoid having to try to dig himself out of a hole on the
scorecards in the middle and late rounds. Despite the bout appearing
increasingly one-sided in my eyes as it progressed, it did not necessarily mean
that it was not an entertaining fight as there were some heated exchanges
throughout, but I felt that Kambosos was dictating the combat and seemed to get
the better of most of the exchanges.
The
appearance of an unbeaten top contender approaching a dominant victory to
become an undisputed world champion however, would be thrown a bit of a
curveball in the tenth round as Lopez would catch the elusive Kambosos and
score a knockdown of his own with a right hand. With the fight seemingly
getting away from him on the scorecards, this represented the champion’s best
chance to turn things in his favor. It was not to be however, as Kambosos would
do what he needed to do to survive and was able to regain control of the fight
in rounds eleven and twelve.
At the
conclusion of the twelve round world championship bout, I arrived with a
scorecard of 118-109 in points or eleven rounds to one in favor of Kambosos.
This was based largely on his ability to control the tempo of the combat
throughout, make Lopez miss, controlling the champion with his jab, having
frequent success landing his right hand, as well as mixing in
combinations. While I felt Kambosos won
nearly every round, I was not surprised to see a split decision rendered in
this fight because Lopez was the consistent aggressor, but from my perspective,
he was not the effective aggressor. The view of yours truly notwithstanding,
there can be some that felt his aggression as well as landing hard blows when
he was able to land were enough for Lopez to win some rounds that might be
viewed as close. Even though it was a split decision, two of three official
judges did feel as I did that Kambosos had done enough to win, making him the
new Undisputed Lightweight world champion by an eight rounds to four margin.
Despite what
appeared to be a clear victory in the eyes of any objective viewer for
Kambosos, Lopez would claim that he won the fight shortly after the decision
was announced in claiming that he felt he won ten of twelve rounds. Although
this fight took place in Lopez’ backyard of New York and the vast majority of
those in attendance at Madison Square Garden were in his corner at the
beginning of the fight, when Lopez expressed his opinion, the crowd responded
by booing the former champion.
Shortly
after the decision was announced and Lopez’ comments, I commented on my social
media platforms that in no disrespect to Lopez as I felt the kid, in my words
still has a great career ahead of him, I felt that his ego got the better of
him and that it was Kambosos that won at least ten rounds in my view. This
observer followed those comments by saying that if Lopez watches the fight
back, he might feel differently.
While it is
certainly understandable how a young and unbeaten champion could respond in
such a manner after suffering their first professional loss and subsequent loss
of their world championship, I believe Lopez, who dismissed Kambosos in the
lead up to the fight should have given the new champion the credit he earned. Some might be tempted to say that this victory
for Kambosos was an upset.
Yours truly
does not necessarily agree with that statement because Kambosos was undefeated
going into the fight and even though the majority of his career has not been as
high profiled as Lopez’ has been, you can never discount the possibility of an
undefeated fighter being a viable opponent once they are given their
opportunity. One thing however, that led
to this outcome was clear to this observer. Teofimo Lopez had a plethora of
distractions prior to this fight both in his personal life as well as elements
of the business of the sport in dealing with the fiasco created by Triller, his
bout with COVID-19, as well as signing a new extension with his promoter Top
Rank and it’s broadcast partner ESPN to return to their banner and platform
after this fight, which Top Rank promoter Bob Arum allowed to go to a purse
bid, which ultimately benefited Matchroom Boxing, Eddie Hearn, and digital
subscription sports streaming network DAZN, who staged the fight. All of the above, I believe played a role in
what happened in this fight as well as a lengthy layoff after fully unifying
the Lightweight division in October 2019 due largely to the issues involving
Triller.
While this
is not by any means an excuse and does not take anything away from George
Kambosos, who had just as long a layoff and as many issues involving Triller as
Lopez had prior to this fight finally taking place, it is important to remember
that fighters like the rest of us are all human and it doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to see how distractions, no matter what they might be, can effect a
fighter’s preparation. One must also keep in mind that Lopez had come off a
career-high in defeating three-division world champion Vasyl Lomachenko in
October of last year to unify the Lightweight division. After such a
significant moment in a fighter’s career and wanting to secure his future
financially, which led to some of the issues involving the business side of the
sport, and the other subsequent things that Lopez has been dealing with, the ingredients
were there for someone to take advantage if they had the right skillset to do
so. It turns out George Kambosos was a fighter in the right place, at the right
time and he seized the opportunity that was before him once he did get Lopez in
the ring.
One thing
that this observer noticed that also did not benefit Lopez as the fight
progressed was the advice he received from his father Teofimo Lopez Sr.
throughout who seemed to encourage his
son to continue looking for a knockout even as the fight was gradually getting
away from him on the scorecards. While this could be a case of a mistake in a
trainer/father’s coaching of a young fighter, perhaps if Lopez Sr. had told his
fighter to settle down in the early or middle rounds and change the approach of
Kambosos, he may have had more success.
It simply appears that Lopez and his team took Kambosos lightly and
unfortunately for them, they paid the price of losing the fight and the
Lightweight crown as a result.
As is always
the case when it comes to a fight like this, the obvious question is what
happens next? The obvious answer will most likely come in the form of what
happens this coming weekend when undefeated top contender Devin Haney squares
off against former IBF Lightweight world champion Joseph Diaz on December 4th
at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV.
Haney,
currently holds what amounts to an interim championship designation in the
WBC’s Lightweight rankings due to the organization designating Teofimo Lopez a
“Franchise Champion” shortly after his victory over Vasyl Lomachenko in 2019.
Although longtime readers have long heard me speak out against such
designations by sanctioning organizations as though well-intentioned as a means
of ensuring that top contenders get an opportunity one way or another to fight
for a world title, creates more problems than it solves, Haney is one of two
fighters currently that hold such a designation in the WBC’s Lightweight
rankings, the other being undefeated contender Ryan Garcia. In a perfect
universe, which the sport of Boxing is far from, the appropriate course of
action would be to mandate the winner of Haney-Diaz to fight Garcia. Garcia
however, has been inactive in recent times due to dealing with mental health
struggles. While it is commendable that Garcia has chosen to put his mental
health first before his career, this would seemingly open the door for the
winner of Haney-Diaz to face the newly crowned undisputed champion George Kambosos
at some point in 2022.
While it is
also important to keep in mind that as an undisputed/unified world champion,
Kambosos will now have to face the top contenders of each organization of world
championships he holds on a rotating basis, much like Lopez had to do after
being undisputed champion where it was Kambosos as the IBF’s mandatory that was
first in the rotation, I believe that if he were to fight the winner of
Haney-Diaz it would at least for a short time take care of his mandatory
defense obligations with regard to the WBC, while the WBA, IBF, and WBO each
determine the next slate of mandatory challengers for their respective portions
of the Undisputed Lightweight world championship.
There also
exists the possibility that Lopez may have a rematch clause and if he is not
interested in moving up in weight to the140lb. Jr. Welterweight division,
obviously, that rematch clause would have to be dealt with before an encounter
between Kambosos and the Haney-Diaz winner. Outside of a Kambosos-Lopez rematch
however, with Ryan Garcia still out of competition, there may be no bigger
fight on the table financially for the new champion than a bout with the
Haney-Diaz winner even though the 135lb. Lightweight division remains one of
Boxing’s deepest and talent-rich divisions in the entire sport.
“And That’s
The Boxing Truth.”
The Boxing
Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.
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