Boxing, like most other sports, boxing is full of unpredictability. Professionals can check the stats and make as many predictions based on a boxer’s fighting history as they would like, but no one can ever be certain who the better man will be in the ring. This was precisely the case in the long-awaited fight that took place on Saturday, November 27 at Madison Square Garden between Teofimo Lopez and George Kambosos Jr. With all the hype leading up to this fight and the unpopular outcome, it can easily go down as one of the biggest upsets in the history of the lightweight class of boxing.
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Teofimo Lopez, one of the four lightweight kings among Devin Haney, Gervonta “Tank” Davis, and Vasiliy Lomachenko, is known for his swift movements, dominating power, and on-stage antics. The Brooklyn native had a previous record of 17 fights, 16 wins, 12 knockouts with no losses, and held all the belts of the undisputed unified lightweight division. However, that all changed when he went up against the Australian underdog, George ‘Ferocious’ Kambosos Jr. came in with a record of 18 wins, 10 by knockout, and no losses or draws. But despite his undisputed record, he was overlooked by Teofimo and The Takeover team as an easy payday. And Teofimo, whose previous fight was against the previous lightweight, featherweight, and super featherweight king, Vasily Lomachenko in 2020, didn’t expect an outcome of defeat one year later.
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Ultimately, Toefimo lost his unified lightweight world titles to George Kambosos who dropped him in the first round of the fight. The Madison Square Garden crowd of New York first began cheering for Teofimo, who was fighting in his hometown. But the surprise attack from Kambosos put a damper on their expectations. What added to the anticipation of this fight was that it was scheduled for earlier in June, but was postponed due to Teofimo contracting Covid, similar to what happened with Oscar De La Hoya in September against Vitor Belfort.
With a flurry of massive knockout punches and brutal combinations shared by both fighters, it became clear that Kambosos was keeping more active with a jab, while Teofimo appeared to be hunting for a single knockout opportunity. The scorecards eventually turned in favor of Kambosos, who won by unanimous decision, shocking the crowd and the world of boxing while also taking home all the title belts.
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But win or lose, both fighters were paid sumptuously for their efforts. According to ESPN, Triller and Matchroom’s deposit would result in Teofimo going home with $2.27 million, while the underdog Kambosos would leave with a purse of $1.22 million. It’s fair to say that in the world of boxing, anything can happen!
Sources: Sporting News, Mirror
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