Lightweight contender George ‘Ferocious’ Kambosos Jr 19-0 (10) is asking for more money for his fight against undisputed champion Teofimo Lopez 16-0 (12) after promoter Triller proposed pushing the bout back once again to October 16.
Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix reports that Team Kambosos are pushing for a sizeable purse increase before agreeing to the revised date.
“George Kambosos is pushing for a six-figure increase in his purse to fight Teofimo Lopez on October 16th, two sources familiar with the discussions told @SInow,” Mannix posted to Twitter. “Lopez has already signed off on the new date.”
But Triller co-founder Ryan Kavanaugh is holding firm.
“The same contract that Teofimo signed is sitting in front of Kambosos to sign to fight on the 16th,” Kavanaugh said to ESPN. “Our condolences to him on the passing of his grandfather – we understand this is a tough week for him as the funeral is tomorrow.
“Clearly given his family situation, it’s a better date for him… Triller is not going to pay anything extra or make extra accommodations, as it didn’t for Teofimo.
“Triller is already paying him close to 10 times what he’s made in the past. If he were for some reason to not do this deal with us, he would make significantly less. We are confident this fight is occurring and he’s going to sign the contract soon.”
Triller was the surprised winner of the purse bid with an offer of $6.018 million, trumping the next highest bid of $3.506 million from Matchroom Boxing.
Lopez’s own promoter Top Rank placed a bid of $2.315 million.
The fight was originally scheduled to take place on June 19 in Miami, Florida but was postponed when Lopez tested positive to Covid-19. It has repeatedly been postponed since.
It seemed the fight would finally happen at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City on October 4 before Triller looked at pushing the date back to October 16 amid fears it could clash with other sporting events in the city.
ESPN is reporting that Kambosos is asking for an additional $300,000 to sign the contract.
Adding to the complexity of the situation, the IBF could revoke the rights to host the fight from Triller and award them to the next highest bidder in Matchroom Boxing.
Team Lopez was happy for the fight to be pushed back by 12 days as it would move the bout from a Monday to a Saturday.
“I want the best for my son and I think this is the big stage for him. Fighting October 4 would have fucking killed us,” trainer and father Teofimo Lopez Sr said.
“Everyone would have been laughing at us. I think this is the right thing to do.
“Money is not everything. The money will come. Exposure is more important than everything in the world right now.”
