Teófimo López and George Kambosos Jr. (Patreon)

By Sam (@LiberationistMA)

When Teófimo López was to face Vasiliy Lomachenko for the IBF, WBA, WBO, and The Ring lightweight titles on Oct 17, 2020, I, like many other pundits, thought Lopez would lose. I was wrong, and the underdog prevailed. When George Kambosos Jr. was to face Teófimo López for those same titles on Nov 27, 2021, I thought López would win. What are the chances of an underdog taking the lightweight titles in consecutive years? I was once again wrong. So what happened?

The fight against Kambosos Jr. was originally slated to be on June 5, 2021, until disputes over purses, venues, and a positive COVID-19 test by López delayed the fight. These delays caused Triller to lose the fight to Eddie Hearn's Matchroom, costing López millions of dollars. López was sick, frustrated, and out of the ring way too long as a new champion in an ultra-competitive division. However, Kambosos Jr. never stopped training.

Kambosos Jr. beat Lee Selby and Mickey Bey by split decision. The obvious reading was to dismiss Kambosos Jr. for having a weaker strength of schedule to López and barely beating his last two opponents. Another way to read this is: against tough competition, Kambosos Jr. can pick up the pace to win rounds, doesn't tire, and most of all doesn't lose his composure.

With legitimate bad blood leading into the fight, a frustrated and angry López charged at Kambosos Jr., looking for a first-round knockout. But, according to Kambosos Jr., he was waiting to catch López with the hardest right he's ever thrown in his life to change the course of the fight, and that's precisely what he did. He sat López down with an overhand right and took the first round.

López came out in the second looking for revenge and was out throwing Kambosos Jr.—mainly throwing power shots. Then from the third, Lopez began to slow down while Kambosos Jr. began to pick up the pace. López is big for the lightweight division, and many believed López would move up after beating Lomachenko, but he didn't. He stayed. Kambosos Jr. predicted the weight cut would slow López down, and it did. López admitted to as much after the fight, and a respectful Kambosos Jr. told López to "move up."

A lot was going on in this fight, including a brilliant performance by Kambosos Jr. He never stayed in one place, he didn't allow himself to get cornered against the ropes, and whenever López threw, he answered back. Kambosos Jr. would often initiate the exchange, evade the counter, to then finish the exchange. In the lead, Kambosos Jr. jabbed. On the counter, he threw check hooks and overhand rights.

However, starting from round eight, Kambosos Jr. stayed in the pocket too long, and López began to find his second wind. This created enough openings for López to hurt Kambosos Jr. In round 10, López dropped Kambosos Jr. However, Kambosos Jr. had enough to evade López, and López didn't seem to have enough to finish him. Kambosos Jr. said after the fight, this was due to overconfidence on his part.

However, that seemed to be the last chance for López as his volume diminished drastically after that round, and Kambosos Jr. still had enough to win the championship rounds and become the new WBA, IBF, WBO, and The Ring lightweight champion. With three split decisions in a row, Kambosos Jr. rises to the level of his competition and does enough to exceed them. For Kambosos Jr., this is not his weakness but his strength. For the fans, what a time to be watching boxing.