There is a saying in boxing that you are only as good as your last fight.

Indeed, “Sweet Science” can be so mean and ruthless when it comes to reputation. Unlike basketball where an NBA championship team can experience glamor and pomp for a year before the next NBA Finals, boxing champions are required to defend their crowns more regularly, depending on the alphabet and surrounding circumstances. the negotiations. .

TEOFIMO. And so it is with WBO / IBF / WBA lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez (16-0. 12KOs). Last year he was riding high, fresh off a shattering victory against the formidable Vasyl Lomachenko.

Injuries and a Covid-19 infection have postponed a mandatory defense, but today he will once again have to rise to the occasion and prove that the victory over Loma was no fluke.

There were cases when great fighters fell to the hands of an enemy, but the victor himself suffered defeat against opponents of lesser caliber.

Think of the great Roy Jones Jr. who just couldn’t beat Antonio Tarver, but against other opponents Tarver looked so ordinary. Ditto for Vernon Forrest who beat Shane Mosely twice, but seemed commonplace against Ricardo Mayorga and Sergio Mora.

Some say this is another person with the other’s number, and so today Lopez will be determined to prove he’s real and not a one-shot wonder.

KAMBOSOS. Today, Lopez will be called upon to take on the challenge of George Kambosos Jr., an undefeated fighter from Sydney, Australia.

Kambosos (19-0, 10KOs) is a big underdog, but he’s extremely confident in winning, and Lopez oddly hinted at an injury to come in this fight, which only adds to the drama surrounding this fight.

MODES. Lopez embodies a hybrid style known as power boxing. He’s young, strong, and quick and he’s succeeded against the legendary Loma by being the aggressor and sort of finding a way to match Loma punch for punch.

Kambosos is fast and likes to throw multiple jabs to set up his combinations.

It should be an action packed donnybrook from start to finish.

However, Kambosos has a bad tendency to keep his left hand low, which I see Lopez capitalizing on at some point in the fight once he has settled his distances.

I see a good, quick fight for about eight rounds before Lopez stops Kambosos in the ninth.

LAST ROUND. It’s on my brother UP Latagaw, Atty. Filmore Gomos who just celebrated his birthday. Cheers!