Lopez Mandatory Going To Be A While

Unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez is currently slated to take on mandatory challenger George Kambosos.

The question of when is now in the hands of the pandemic.

Keith Idec of Boxingscene speaking with Top Rank CEO Bob Arum and said that the bout, which was planned to take place in Australia, won’t be until after the pandemic subsides.

“Tell me when the pandemic is over,” Arum said about asked when Lopez-Kambosos could be scheduled to Boxingscene. “Right now, the money looks like it’s lined up for that fight, that would enable us to put that fight on in Australia. But, you know, you can’t really get into Australia now. At a minimum, you’ve gotta do a 14-day quarantine, and that’s not a bullsh-t American quarantine. You’ve gotta go to a government hotel and stay there for 14 days.”

The IBF ordered Lopez to face Kambosos earlier in the month, and all plans seem to fight to take place in a bout to a stadium either in Sydney or Melbourne backed financially some by the government. Another reason making the fight complicated is that the country isn’t trying to be a tourist destination at the moment as they try to keep cases of COVID-19 down.

“We’re looking to do that fight with government support,” Arum explained. “The Australian government is trying not to attract tourists, but to keep out tourists at this point, until the pandemic is over worldwide, because Australia has managed the pandemic extraordinarily well and they have very few cases. And they don’t want us foreigners to come in to contaminate them.”

So with that that in mind, another option for Lopez is, of course, Devin Haney, who is currently waiting.

Waiting on my offer ?? https://t.co/6zBFpczFC0

— Devin Haney (@Realdevinhaney) January 13, 2021

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn who promotes Haney, speaking with Boxing Social over the weekend, stated that Lopez is asking for too much to make that fight with Haney happen.

“I think Teofimo Lopez against Haney is a wonderful fight. Listen, [Teofimo] asked me for $10 million for that fight,” said Hearn. “You can’t get there, but I’m sure we can make him a nice offer. Teofimo is a nightmare at the moment for Bob Arum, and Bob isn’t mincing his words at the moment. He’s had enough. So [Teofimo’s] saying, ‘I want this, $5 million minimum, I want $8 [million], I want $9, I want $10 [million].’ So right now, I’ll leave that to Bob and Top Rank to put those numbers together because in this world right now, it ain’t going to happen.”

Lopez’s overriding theme is that he wants to fight as long as you back up the brinks truck. We’ll see who does that first and when once the pandemic clears.