In his first fight since beating former world No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer Vasyl Lomachenko for the WBA, WBO and The Ring lightweight titles, Teofimo Lopez is making his first defense of those belts along with his IBF strap against George Kambosos Jr.
The two undefeated boxers were scheduled to do battle on June 19 in Miami, Florida, on Triller PPV, but Lopez tested positive for COVID-19 and the fight was postponed until August 14. The fight was delayed again due to quarantine scheduling issues and was rebooked for October 16.
Now, Triller has lost the bid for this fight and Matchroom Boxing, which can be seen on DAZN, will be promoting it. The bout is now scheduled for November 27.
Looking at Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos odds, it is the champ who is the heavy favorite in this title fight.
Online sportsbook Bovada has released the Lopez vs Kambosos odds with Teofimo coming in as a large -1100 favorite and George set as a +600 underdog. This means you would need to bet $1,100 to profit $100 on a Lopez win while a $100 wager on a Kambosos victory would profit you $600.
Fighter | Odds |
---|---|
Teofimo Lopez | -1100 |
George Kambosos Jr. | +600 |
Odds as of November 10 at Bovada
Looking at the Lopez vs Kambosos odds, Teofimo’s odds of -1100 represent an implied win probability of 91.67 percent while George’s +600 betting line has an implied win probability of 14.29 percent.
Understandably, Kambosos is walking to the ring as an underdog for the first time in his first world title fight. That said, “Ferocious” was only a slight -140 favorite in his last fight against Lee Selby, a former world champion, with Kambosos winning via split decision last October.
Seeing “The Takeover” as a four-digit favorite is nothing new, as he closed as such in the five fights leading into his first title fight with Richard Commey in 2019. Lopez was a -400 favorite in his win over Commey and then was a dog for the first time in his last fight against Lomachenko, closing at +260 before winning by unanimous decision in October.
Kambosos has really fast hands and a good active jab, but the boxer from Australia will at times sit back too much on counters and will essentially give away rounds if his opponents stick and move. Ferocious has a smart approach in backing his opponents up with his strong footwork but again he will sit on that counter and can be caught standing with his hands low, not realizing he’s in the range of his foe and absorbing a clean shot as a result.
Kambosos typically pushes the pace later in rounds and has good conditioning that enables him to carry this strategy through the duration of the fight. Personally, with his fast hands, I’d like to see him jab more often, which may open up the counter more, going first and third, as his head movement isn’t good enough to strictly be a counter fighter against elite competition.
The New York native has exceptional reflexes and outstanding head movement in the pocket, allowing him to get in the range of his opponents, slip punches and fire back powerfully. The Takeover typically sticks to straight punches that land with good accuracy and pop.
In Teofimo’s win over Lomachenko, much of the narrative was whether he would have the conditioning and technical skills to outbox the former pound-for-pound champ, and he proved to have both. What really sets Lopez apart from his opponents is his ability to read when they want to move forward and he intercepts them with his explosive knockout power.
I might give the edge to Kambosos as far as overall hand speed goes but he somewhat lacks true knockout power – with a record of 19-0 as a professional, he has just 10 wins by way of knockout. Conversely, while Lopez may not be as fast with his hands, his reflexes, instincts and fight IQ make him the more dangerous fighter, with 12 of his 16 pro wins coming by knockout.
This will be a good opportunity for Teofimo to build his name up again and knock off some of the rust, having not fought since last October, perhaps setting up a bigger fight with maybe Devin Haney later this year. I think Lopez will get the knockout, likely earlier than later, especially given the way that Kambosos holds his lands low and charges into the pocket for counters.
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