Teofimo Lopez returns to the ring for the first time since defeating Vasiliy Lomachenko in October 2020 to defend his WBA, WBO, IBF lightweight world titles and WBC franchise title against mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr. on Saturday. The fight headlines a Matchroom Boxing card at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET).
Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs), 24, of Brooklyn, New York, won the IBF title with a second-round TKO victory over Richard Commey in December 2019. Lopez added the WBC franchise, WBA and WBO titles with a unanimous decision win over Lomachenko.
Kambosos (19-0, 10 KOs), 28, of Sydney, Australia, had a close split decision victory over Mickey Bey on the undercard when Lopez defeated Commey in New York. Kambosos recorded another close decision win against Lee Selby in October 2020 at London's Wembley Stadium.
The Lopez-Kambosos fight, originally planned for May 29, was postponed eight times before it was finally rescheduled for Saturday. One of the reasons of the postponement was that Lopez tested positive for COVID-19 the week of the bout that was, at the time, scheduled for June 19 in Miami.
Is Lopez back to his dominant self, ready to retain his titles and score another must-see KO? Or can Kambosos take advantage of the delay and pull off the upset?
We asked former opponents and boxing insiders for their insight and predictions.
Editor's note: Content has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Timothy Bradley Jr., former two-division champion and current ESPN boxing analyst
How Lopez wins: He has to be who he is, and what I mean by that is, Teofimo has great timing. When you have great timing and you have great defense, which he does, he gets in position quick and he's able to see things coming, especially the holes in his opponent's defense. He also sees when they make mistakes -- and Kambosos makes some mistakes. He doesn't bring his lead hand back to his face, especially after throwing his jab, so he's available for overhand rights. And he drops his back hand also when he shoots his jab, so he's also available for left hooks.
Teofimo, being a great counterpuncher with great vision, is going to see those openings. Kambosos is hungry, and he's going to make some mistakes, he's gonna try to get inside and pressure and rough up Lopez, and he's going to run into something.
How Kambosos wins: I hope he worked on his fundamentals. Kambosos is not a bad fighter. Sometimes, it's just the little things that need to be tweaked and fixed, but he needs to hurt Teofimo. And how can he do that? Kambosos can punch. He needs to take Teofimo to deep water, to the later rounds. He needs to be patient, very disciplined from the start, because Teofimo is very explosive early. Weather the storm and then attack Lopez later.
Kambosos needs to turn it up in the second half of the fight. Kambosos needs to get to the sixth round comfortably without taking too much damage, and then in the seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th, he needs to turn it up on Teofimo. Every shot doesn't have to be a hard shot, just be busy -- very busy with his hands, disciplined with his defense, hit Teofimo to the body and try to rough him up on the inside and get to him that way. That's the only way. If he can do that, he has a chance to win.
X factor: Patience. If I was in Kambosos' corner, I would tell him to be on your p's and q's early, use your feints, make this guy miss a bit, don't be too greedy with your offense, limit your exposure. Any chance that you get, hit him down to the body, and then we are gonna start to fight our kind of fight in the second part of the bout.
Prediction: Kambosos is a decent fighter; he has a chance to show that he's elite. Lopez has already shown he is elite; he's regarded as a top pound-for-pound fighter for a reason. He's a guy that stays in shape year-round. He has power in both hands and continues to mature and get better and better. I have Lopez winning by KO in four rounds.
Andres Cortes, lightweight contender, defeated Lopez twice in the amateurs
How Lopez wins: For Teofimo Lopez to win, he just needs to do what brought him to this point: Be himself, do the things that he does extremely well. Do the same things he did when he beat Vasiliy Lomachenko and bring the aggressiveness that he showed against Richard Commey. If he does that, the fight will be really easy for him. Teofimo needs to bring his power, his speed, his timing, and if he has those tools, that's gonna win him the fight. I don't think Kambosos is on that kind of level. Lopez has been an elite fighter, while Kambosos had a close fight with Mickey Bey. I don't think Kambosos has fought anyone close to Lopez's talent.
How Kambosos wins: He has to pull something from up his sleeves and do something really crazy, because like I said, he had a close fight with Bey, I do think he won, but it was a very competitive fight. So, he will need to do something different and surprise a lot of people, do something that no one expects. One thing he can do is outwork Lopez, because I don't think Kambosos has the power to knock him out, so he needs to outwork him and make it a hard, tough fight.
I beat Lopez twice in two different ways. The first time I fought him from the outside, I fought a very technical fight and made him come to me. In the second fight, I overwhelmed him and put a lot of pressure on him. But I don't think Kambosos can fight those styles. The reality is I don't know what Kambosos can do to win. I don't see him winning the fight from the outside nor on the inside. Maybe he can disrupt Lopez's plans, his timing. They are both coming off long layoffs, so the timing can be off. So, I would say that Kambosos can use his speed and agility to maybe mess some things up.
X factor: The time off. I see this fight going 12 rounds. I don't see Teofimo getting Kambosos out of there due to his time off. I think it would be a good fight, a competitive fight for 12 rounds. I can see Kambosos landing some shots.
Prediction: Lopez by unanimous decision. I think it goes the distance, but Lopez wins it, as expected.
Andre Rozier, boxing trainer for Edgar Berlanga, Richard Commey, Mickey Bey and others
How Lopez wins: He's going to use his jab a lot; Lopez has fast hands. Kambosos is not that quick, and he doesn't have a lot of thunder in his punches, so I think that's gonna be a double whammy; because we know that Lopez can crack, and if Kambosos is there to be tough, the end can come faster than you expect. I had Mickey Bey when he fought Kambosos. We lost a split decision -- I still think Mickey won the fight -- because of a mistake Mickey made. Lopez is going to kill Kambosos. He's going to really bust him up, because Mickey was scoring at will against Kambosos, but Mickey is not a big puncher, per se, especially at 135. Lopez is a great puncher.
How Kambosos wins: Hold him, push Lopez to the canvas? I can't see Kambosos doing anything else to stop that freight train he will be running into. Against Bey, he had the size advantage, so he tried to pressure him; he tried to jump on Bey with some combinations, but Bey is very slick, he made him miss a lot. And Lopez likes to move, likes to bounce, move in and out, and when he does that, he also throws some powerful punches. It's going to get really, really rough for Kambosos.
X factor: I don't see any X, Y or Z factor here. What you see is what you get. Everything is indicative of what you see. You have an elite athlete in Lopez, and you have a good athlete in Kambosos, and we all know that when an elite athlete mixes it up with a good athlete, elite always wins.
Prediction: Lopez by stoppage in Round 8 or later. It could be earlier if Kambosos tries to attack; he could be on the canvas much sooner that anyone thinks.
Aureliano Sosa, trainer to Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller, Peter Quillin and Chris Colbert
How Lopez wins: Stay aggressive, put a little bit of pressure, smart pressure, and wait for Kambosos to start launching and throwing crazy punches to leave himself wide open, and then catch him. Lopez will catch him with a right hand, right uppercut or a left hook, and end the fight early. Lopez is sharp; he's one of the sharpest young guys in boxing right now. You can't make mistakes against him.
How Kambosos wins: Maybe he can say a couple of prayers before going to the ring? He's not at Lopez's level. He's been lucky, has beaten a couple of guys with his aggression in close fights. But Lopez is definitely on another level. No way he can beat him. Teofimo is special, and Kambosos is not at that level yet. As we saw against Lomachenko, Lopez did get a little tired at the end. The only way I can see Kambosos winning is taking the power of Lopez and putting pressure on him. Kambosos throws a lot of punches, and if he can throw a lot of punches and put pressure through the rounds, he can get Teofimo tired and maybe he has a chance -- but I doubt it.
X factor: How Lopez rebounds from COVID-19. I had COVID, and I was wheezing even after a few weeks; it really affects your breathing. That could affect Lopez, who has asthma. Hopefully, he's fine. Kambosos has to take advantage and throw a lot of punches and see what happens.
Prediction: Lopez by KO before the fifth round. Maybe with the left hook or right hand or right uppercut, but he's gonna catch Kambosos coming in to end the fight.