MIAMI — Teofimo Lopez has tested positive for COVID-19 and he’s symptomatic. His Saturday bout vs. George Kambosos that was scheduled to be in Miami and the whole undercard has been moved to Aug. 14, Triller announced.
‘We send our best to Teofimo and his family and hope they get well soon, and look forward to seeing this epic battle on August 14, 2021,” Triller Fight Club co-founder Ryan Kavanaugh said.
Lopez, the unified lightweight champion and No. 5 on ESPN’s pound-for-pound list, was in Las Vegas at the Shakur Stevenson-Jeremiah Nakathila fight Saturday. He arrived back in Miami over the past 24 hours to begin fight week prep.
The 23-year-old Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) is a rising star who just agreed to an amended deal with ESPN/Top Rank through 2023 that raised his minimum purses and secured his place in future ESPN PPV bouts once this fight is completed, sources told ESPN. This diffused a dispute between Top Rank and Lopez that occurred after the Kambosos-Lopez bout went to purse bid and Triller bid over $6 million to secure the rights to it over ESPN/Top Rank and Matchroom.
Lopez, who holds the main WBA, WBC, IBF and the Ring Magazine lightweight belts, will be making his first title defense since his October 2020 upset over Vasily Lomachenko.
The Lopez-Kambosos bout was scheduled to be held at LoanDepot Park, where the Miami Marlins play, this Saturday and Triller had begun heavy promotion of the bout.
