George Kambosos isn’t one to mince words. The outspoken Australian contender believes undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez was fortunate to upset a ring-rusty Vasiliy Lomachenko last October and is in line for a shock when they collide at the loanDepot Park in Miami on June 19.
IBF No.1 challenger Kambosos (19-0, 10 KOs) has queried the legitimacy of Lopez’s standing among the lightweights, feeling that the Honduran-American squeaked by former pound-for-pound supremo Lomachenko on points last year and is far from the finished article.
Kambosos also says Lopez is posing as a fighter from Brooklyn to gain credibility, lighting the touch papers for their clash in three weeks’ time.
“Lomachenko didn’t throw enough punches in the first six rounds, I will be much better than that against Lopez. Lomachenko had been out for 400 days, that wasn’t really him in the ring, it was more like half of a Lomachenko,” claimed Kambosos after a media workout at Centeno’s Sweatbox Boxing Gym in Florida. “Lopez got lucky in a very close fight. I saw a lot of holes in Lopez’s game that I will exploit on June 19.
“Lopez is a fugazi, a fraud, a fake. He’s got a fake persona filled with contradictions. Two months ago, he was talking about how gone [Manny] Pacquiao was, now he’s all over him because of the [Errol] Spence fight announcement. What you see with me is real and what you get is real.
‘I’m more Brooklyn than Lopez is. He’s not from Brooklyn, he’s from here in Davie, Florida where he went to school. It’s just a fake persona saying he’s from Brooklyn. Whatever they’re saying, three rounds this and four rounds that. I’ll be laughing at him, coming forward and blasting away every round and, after the third round, he’s in very big trouble.
“We’ve got a great game plan. When I fight, its full tunnel vision and there’s no way I’m not coming out victorious. I won’t be over-emotional at what he’s said leading up to the fight. I’ve sparred over 250 rounds with Manny Pacquiao, he told me if I’m as good against Lopez as I was in the gym against him that I’ll be victorious and take home all the belts.”