Undisputed junior welterweight champion Josh ‘The Tartan Tornado’ Taylor 18-0 (13) has accused four-belt lightweight champion Teofimo ‘The Takeover’ Lopez 16-0 (12) of avoiding his mandatory challenger George ‘Ferocious’ Kambosos Jr 19-0 (10).
WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF champion Lopez was scheduled to face Kambosos in June before reportedly contracting Covid-19.
The bout has been repeatedly rescheduled and cancelled with social media platform Triller – who won the purse bid for the fight – relinquishing rights to the second-highest bidder Matchroom Boxing.
The fight will now take place at Madison Square Garden in New York on November 27.
Southpaw Taylor, who unified all four major titles at 140-pounds with a unanimous decision victory over Jose Carlos Ramirez 26-1 (17) in May, says he would be happy to face Lopez in the future but admitted the 24-year-old is not on his immediate radar.
“If that fight happens, it’ll be a real dog at 140 if it happens. All this talk, he’s trying to cash-in,” the 30-year-old Taylor said to Fight Hype.
“He’s playing a game. I really have no interest in the guy but if the fight happens, it happens. I don’t think it’s a risk… It’s a massive fight for him and it’s him cashing in.
“It’s him getting his lottery win and I think he’s avoiding Kambosos. I think he’s scared of him and struggling to make the weight and that’s why he keeps pulling out.”
Taylor isn’t the only one who thinks Lopez is apprehensive about fighting 28-year-old Australian Kambosos.
“We put up a photo of us at the face-off,” Kambosos told AAP this week.
“I looked into the eyes of a soulless kid who is on a leash. I saw that he can’t do anything by himself.
“That’s why I crossed his eyes out because I don’t need to look into his eyes.
“I saw what I saw at the face-off and that’s why he’s never been the same since then.
“I’m living in his head rent free and that’s why he’s doing so many stupid things.
“He’s smoking, drinking and eating rubbish. He’s going to all these events like he’s a groupie following his favourite band.
“That’s not the behaviour of a champion. He says his body is a temple, but he’s a fraud and I’m ready to expose him.”
Lopez upset the odds when he defeated Vasiliy Lomachenko 15-2 (11) on points in their unification bout in October last year.
The 33-year-old Ukrainian southpaw has logged one win since then against Masayoshi Nakatani 19-2 (13) in June following shoulder surgery and is scheduled to face former Lopez victim Richard Commey 30-3 (27) in New York next month.
Taylor believes Lopez got lucky against Lomachenko the first time out and is actively avoiding the rematch.
“I think he’s scared of the rematch with Loma as well because he knows he fought an injured Lomachenko,” he said.
“So, I think Lomachenko firing on all cylinders beats him. It’s a good fight. I’m not going to sit here and talk shit. Lopez done awesome in the last fight [against Lomachenko].
“He performed well and got the tactics right. He got the game plan perfect on the night and he done it well.
“I just think Lomachenko was a little bit injured and he also started a little bit too late. Once he got started, Lopez was on the back foot and really struggling. I think in the rematch, Loma goes earlier and wins that fight.”
