After numerous changes to the date and venue for his fight with undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez, George Kambosos has finally had enough.
The IBF No.1 contender has launched legal action against Triller, claiming a breach of contract, after the streaming network tried to move the Lopez clash from October 4 at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden to October 16 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn at late notice.
Since surprisingly winning the purse bids for Lopez-Kambosos in February, the bout has appeared cursed with Lopez contracting Covid-19 on fight week in June and Triller shifting the bout’s date and venue with bemusing regularity.
Lopez had agreed to the October 16 date change but Kambosos has called time, sending a legal letter to the IBF asking the sanctioning body find Triller in default of its obligation to honour the contracts for the October 4 date.
Kambosos’s legal team claims that it was misrepresented to Lopez that the IBF mandatory challenger had signed and agreed to the date change to October 16 and that the latest contract offered to the Australian failed to specify the Barclays Center as the venue. In other points, Kambosos’s legal counsel objected to Triller’s reluctance to show proof of funds before the IBF No.1’s flight from Australia and claimed it has reneged on prior marketing agreements.
If the IBF finds Triller in default, the rights to Lopez-Kambosos would revert to the No.2 bidder during purse birds Matchroom Boxing, who would stage the bout on DAZN before the end of the year, according to ESPN.com.
Triller previously won rights to the fight with a purse bid of $6.018 million, ahead of Matchroom Boxing ($3.506 million) and Lopez’s promoter Top Rank ($2.315 million).
A promoter change would prove costly as Triller would lose its $1.2 million deposit with the IBF, with Lopez gaining $780,000 and Kambosos $420,000 in that scenario. Naturally, Triller is hoping for a different outcome.
“None of this makes sense to Triller,” Triller co-founder Ryan Kavanaugh told ESPN.com. “On one hand, [Kambosos] fights in about 14 days and makes almost $2.5 million dollars, a chance for multiple belts and proves people wrong that he’s not just scared to fight.
“On the other hand, he causes Triller to lose millions more than we already did due to the Covid issues, costs Teo millions, himself millions and the fight is put on by another promoter in months from now.”