George Kambosos‘ belated world title fight against lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez is set to take place in November with new promoters Matchroom to make a formal announcement on the rescheduled fight.
The new sequence of events was spurred by the IBF’s decision to find Triller, former promoters of the bout, in default after they attempted to move the fight from October 5 to October 17 without the Aussie’s approval.
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Triller initially beat Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom for the purse bid with an offer of $7.6 million but couldn’t settle on a date leaving the fight hanging for most of the year.
The company acccused Kambosos of demanding $414,000 for his signature along with having his share of the purse put in escrow, when they tried to move the fight for the fifth time within weeks of the event.
Speaking to Wide World of Sports, Kambosos flatly denied he asked for more money, saying if money was the issue then he wouldn’t have lobbied the IBF to get involved since both fighters were looking at career-high purses.
“There was a lot of talk about wanting more money. We told them we don’t want anything we just want to fight,” Kambosos said.
“We told them to put the money in escrow which is exactly what Lopez’s team asked for after we made a stand.
“We didn’t ask for extra money all we asked was for the money to be put in escrow and they couldn’t do it.
“Then the IBF got involved and they were fed up with all the date changes and they made the right decision. Triller’s history now.”
With the fight being staged under the Matchroom banner, both fighters will still be looking at career-high purses, but Kambosos stands to make a bit less. He would have taken home $3 million for the fight under the old agreement but now stands to make a touch over $1.6 million (AUD).
That figure will be boosted by the $1.6 million deposit Triller forfeited to the IBF, which will be split between the two fighters, with Lopez to receive 75 per cent, and Kambosos 25 per cent. All in all the Sydney fighter will take home over $2 million.
Triller’s handling of the matter cost the company millions and damaged its reputation in the boxing world. Kambosos believes the promotion struggled with executing the plan rather than not giving his world title shot the respect it deserves. As for the money, the challenger isn’t fussed, saying people expected him to go along with Triller because he was getting paid more under their deal, but he doesn’t roll like that.
“The money will come and go at the end of the day. We can’t take that money with us. People think I’m losing a lot of money, when you work it out, it ain’t too much. But it’s not about that, it’s about honour. The legacy. My focus has always been on winning these belts,” he said.
There were also reports that the two fighters would take legal action against Triller for the remaining money owed on their individual purses. Kambosos shut down talk of going through the courts to recoup that money, saying they were both set to make some of it back through the forfeited deposit.
“That’s not even my concern and it hasn’t even crossed my mind. I did see something about Lopez wanting to sue. He can do whatever he wants. I’m not greedy, I’m just focused on the fight.”
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