Teofimo Lopez has agreed to move his on-off world lightweight title clash with George Kambosos from October 4 at the Hulu Theater, Madison Square Garden, in New York to October 16 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The bout has endured continual postponements, date and venue shifts since Triller won the purse bids for the IBF mandatory title fight with a $6.018 million offer in February.
There could even be another twist in the tale with challenger Kambosos still to agree to the latest change of date and all previous date shifts proving unreliable. This is the fifth date for Lopez-Kambosos so far in a baffling series of events that included the champion testing positive for Covid-19 on fight week in June.
The latest date move would see Triller lose it $100,000 deposit with Madison Square Garden, according to ESPN.com’s Mike Coppinger. But Triller wanted to move the bout to avoid clashing with a Monday night NFL game between the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers.
“I want the best for my son and I think this is the big stage for him. Fighting October 4 would have fucking killed us,” trainer and father Teofimo Lopez Sr told ESPN.com. “Everyone would have been laughing at us. I think this is the right thing to do.
“Money is not everything. The money will come. Exposure is more important than everything in the world right now.”