There’s an adage in boxing that says you are only as good as your last fight.
Indeed, the “Sweet Science” can be so unkind and unforgiving when it comes to reputations. Unlike in basketball where an NBA championship team can live off of the glamor and glitz for a year before the next NBA Finals, boxing champions are required to defend their crowns on a more regular basis, depending on the alphabet body and the circumstances surrounding the negotiations.
TEOFIMO. And so it is with WBO/IBF/WBA lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez (16-0. 12KOs). Just last year, he was riding high, fresh off a shocking upset victory over the formidable Vasyl Lomachenko.
Injuries and a Covid-19 infection postponed a mandatory defense, but today, he will have to step up to the plate again and prove that the win against Loma was no fluke.
There have been instances where great fighters have fallen to a nemesis, only for the victor himself to suffer defeat against lesser caliber opponents.
Think the great Roy Jones Jr. who just couldn’t beat Antonio Tarver, but against other opponents, Tarver seemed so ordinary. Ditto for Vernon Forrest who defeated Shane Mosely twice, but looked pedestrian against Ricardo Mayorga and Sergio Mora.
Some say it’s a case of another person having the other’s number, and so today, Lopez will be determined to prove that he’s for real and not a one-hit wonder.
KAMBOSOS. Today, Lopez will be called upon to face the challenge of George Kambosos Jr., an undefeated fighter from Sydney, Australia.
Kambosos (19-0, 10KOs) is a heavy underdog, but he is supremely confident of victory, and Lopez has curiously been hinting of an injury coming into this fight, which only adds to the drama surrounding this fight.
STYLES. Lopez embodies a hybrid style known as power boxing. He is young, strong and fast and he found success against the legendary Loma by being the aggressor, and somehow finding a way to match Loma punch for punch.
Kambosos is speedy and likes to throw multiple jabs to set up his combinations.
This should be an action-packed donnybrook from start to finish.
However, Kambosos has a bad tendency to keep his left hand low, which at some point in the fight, I see Lopez capitalizing upon once he sorts out his distances.
I see a good, fast-paced bout for about eight rounds before Lopez stops Kambosos in the ninth.
LAST ROUND. It’s on my UP Latagaw brod, Atty. Filmore Gomos who recently celebrated his birthday. Cheers!