Teofimo Lopez became one of boxing’s rare undisputed champions last year when he beat Vasyl Lomachenko by unanimous decision in Las Vegas to become the king of the lightweight division.
The 135-pound champ was set to make his first defense of all his belts this weekend against George Kambosos in Miami as Triller made its first foray into actual championship boxing, but on Tuesday, word emerged that rocked the boxing world. Lopez had tested positive for COVID-19 and was symptomatic, forcing the fight and all of the undercards to be pushed to August 14 — although, it should be said that date has to be considered somewhat tentative pending how severe his bout with the virus is.
BREAKING: @triller founder @RyanKavanaugh tells me Teofimo Lopez tested positive for COVID this morning after a PCR test and is symptomatic. As a result, his four-belt lightweight title fight vs. George Kambosos, set for Saturday, is being moved to Aug. 14, along with undercard
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) June 15, 2021
Hopefully Lopez’s symptoms remain mild and he doesn’t deal with lingering effects long-term, but as we’ve seen over the last year-plus, even elite athletes in their prime can suffer severely from COVID-19 — Jayson Tatum said he started using an inhaler after his bout with the virus as it impacted his lung function. It’s an incredibly unfortunate situation for one of boxing’s most promising rising stars, as well as everyone else on the card who now have their fights pushed out two months. It also serves as a reminder that, while things are opening up in full again, there is still plenty of danger of transmission for those who haven’t had the vaccine.
