George Kambosos believes that the belts held by Teofimo Lopez are enough to claim the title of undisputed lightweight champion, but believes the winner of the fight between himself and the American unified titleist should naturally settle the dispute by facing Devin Haney.
Haney defended his regular WBC championship against Jorge Linares last weekend, but Lopez holds the WBC ‘Franchise’ belt that he took from Vasily Lomachenko, despite the belt not previously being considered transferable.
Lopez’s IBF mandatory challenger praised Haney for his efforts against the Venezuelan veteran, saying to the DAZN Boxing Show: “I didn’t watch the fight. I did check the highlights, he did look good.
“I’m not going to give no bad raps to Devin. He looked good and obviously Linares is an old warrior, he took a bit of time to get into the fight but he caught him with some good shots.”
When asked if Lopez could consider himself the undisputed champion given Haney’s regular title, Kambosos was non-committal but suggested it would be inevitable that he or Lopez would go on to meet Haney.
“I respect the WBC and the way they’ve done something, but at the end of the day it’s a franchise belt, four belts on the line and the Ring Magazine,” he said.
“I’m doing the WBC testing and weight check, and I’m fighting for a WBC franchise belt.
“Yes, Haney has a WBC belt but this is a super belt, and it makes most sense after this fight we fight the guy with the regular title.”