Lou DiBella believes that Teofimo Lopez and George Kambosos will fight once more.
Kambosos is due to fight Maxi Hughes this weekend as he starts his comeback after his back-to-back defeats to undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney.
Lopez, meanwhile, is the WBO light welterweight champion after defeating Josh Taylor in a surprising and dominant victory earlier in the year.
Kambosos retains hopes of becoming champion at 135lbs again one day, but a move up the divisions is seen as inevitable by DiBella, which would put him back in the same class as his erstwhile foe.
Lou DiBella considers a Teofimo Lopez-George Kambosos Jr. rematch inevitable.
“I think it’s inevitable at some point,” DiBella told BoxingScene.com. “There was a lot of passion going into that fight and there was a lot of passion coming out of that fight. One way or the other, at some point in the future I believe that fight’s gonna happen again. You know that. Assuming Teofimo doesn’t retire another two or three times, it’ll happen.
“But look, Teofimo is gonna be one of those guys that’s gonna have a tumultuous, fascinating and fun career. And I think for George, Teofimo is always gonna be a fight that’s there. That fight was too much fun the first time for it not to happen again.”
Kambosos edged a close points fight a little over a year and a half ago against Lopez, and DiBella looked back on its importance.
“It was a defining fight for George,” DiBella said. “And there were a lot of heated words spoken on both sides. I think [the rematch is] a natural fight at some point. But George has got no issue with being at ’35 right now. It’s his weight. Let’s see what happens here. Maxi Hughes was intentionally a high-risk, high-reward situation coming off the two fights with Haney.
“I think if George wins this fight in good fashion he’s right back in there in the top echelon of making a big fight in boxing,” DiBella said. “There’s Teofimo Lopez and there’s a lot of possible directions at 135 and 140. And also, Devin Haney is in the situation where he has to make a decision that is gonna open some things up, possibly. We went with this deal with Top Rank because there are so many big fights in that universe, so there are a lotta different possibilities.
DiBella continued: “I haven’t seen George this settled and together and ready for a fight in years. That being said, he’s lost two fights in a row and he’s fighting a very tough guy to fight. Maxi Hughes is a very good boxer. … Look at who he beat and who he wasn’t supposed to beat. He’s a good fighter. It’s a ballsy comeback fight for George.”