Triller, the video sharing/social networking service, must be coming to the realization that it’s much, much easier to make bouts for down-on-their-luck, cash-poor former legends and attention-starved C-list celebrities than present tense real fighters.
Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos Jr. has been the mandatory defense that simply won’t go away and a royal pain in the ass for those handling the boxing side of the Triller business.
Lopez was ordered by the IBF to face top contender Kambosos way back in early January and now, here we are in late September, just getting a “for sure” fight date.
The odd non-trajectory of this mandatory defense that nobody but Team Kambosos really wants to see, anyway, has been slow news week fodder for wannabe witty boxing bloggers for months already. The bout was initially targeted for May 29…then it was moved back to June 19…then, Lopez got COVID…then, it was pushed back to August 14…then, September 11…then, October 17…then, moved to October 5…then, October 4…and now it appears that an October 16 date is a firm target. Although it should be noted that, as of this writing, neither Team Kambosos nor the IBF have officially agreed to the change of date.
There’s also been the issue of WHERE to have the fight. From Miami to New York to Australia and back to the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, Lopez-Kambosos now seems to be set for Lopez’s back yard, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Again, though, “seems” is the operative word.
It’s sure as hell been a long, strange trip getting from purse bid to fight night…and, who knows, that trip may not be done quite yet. But this most definitely has not been how the Triller folks envisioned their first foray into “real” boxing.
Back in late February, the upstart company barged into the IBF purse bid for Lopez’s mandatory lightweight defense and wildly outspent everyone else for the rights to stage the bout. Putting up a bid of just over $6 million, they easily beat out Matchroom’s $3.56 million offer and the paltry $2.31 million bid from Lopez’s own promoter, Top Rank.
Since then, however, there’s been nothing but problems– not only for Triller, but for everyone involved in this fight.
The 24-year-old Lopez will have been inactive for a full year if the Kambosos fight does actually happen on October 16. Instead of quickly taking advantage of his breakthrough, 4-belt unifying victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko and cementing his status as a star, his heat has cooled down entirely. For the longest time, it seemed as though the move to push this fight to purse bid may have even vexed promoter Bob Arum into sitting him down out of spite.
Speaking of Arum and Top Rank, they are also coming out as losers because of the non-stop nothingness involved in this debacle. They’ve had to stay on hold when it comes to bigger things for their young, hot fighter while this all plays out.
And, obviously, Kambosos is also a big loser in all of this, despite none of this being his fault. The on-again, off-again title defense has to have played havoc with his preparation and focus. This very well could be his only shot at breaking through to next-level success and he’s not getting a fair shot at pulling it off.
But let’s not list Triller as one of the victims here. They clearly got into something that was well over their heads and they responded to the challenges poorly. As a matter of fact, they’re still responding poorly by not hammering down consent from both fighters and the sanctioning body before making yet another change of date and venue.
If the fight finally does go down as planned, the show is destined to stink. The likely Lopez-Kambosos mismatch is saddled with a piss-poor undercard and, even with a promised “epic” Verzuz battle on the bill, it’s not going to be worth the $50 pay-per-view asking price. Plus, it’ll be taking place just one week after the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder pay-per-view (which probably WILL be worth the asking price) and at the same time as the Mikey Garcia fight on DAZN.
So, if the brain trust at Triller sniffs out an impending flop, could we be in for yet another delay in getting this fight done? Good Lord, let’s hope not.