Lucas Jones
After George Kambosos shocked the boxing world with his November 2021 victory over Teofimo Lopez to become unified lightweight champion, his first title defense was expected to be against former multi-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine left Lomachenko unable to take the fight and Kambosos would lose his titles to Devin Haney. On Saturday night, Kambosos and Lomachenko will finally meet with the vacant IBF lightweight title on the line.
Lomachenko began his professional career after being one of the best amateur boxers of his era, garnering a 396-1 record and twice winning Olympic gold. He would win his first world title in just his third professional fight, defeating Gary Russell Jr. to capture the WBO featherweight title.
In his seventh fight, Lomachenko moved up to junior lightweight to win the WBO title and won the WBA lightweight title in just his 11th professional fight.
Following his stoppage victory over Jorge Linares, Lomachenko defeated WBO champion Jose Pedraza to unify the titles. Two fights later, a victory over Luke Campbell added the WBC title to Lomachenko’s collection.
Lomachenko was elevated to WBC “franchise champion” before his fight with Teofimo Lopez, causing some confusion when then-IBF champion Lopez defeated him in October 2020. The WBC said its franchise championship was non-transferable and Haney was named WBC world champion, so Lopez was not technically undisputed champion.
Enter Kambosos, who got his chance against Lopez as an IBF mandatory challenger. After a bizarre build-up to the fight, which saw the newcomer Triller win the purse fight only to delay the fight and eventually fail to fulfill his obligations, the Australian managed to get into Lopez’s head with his trash talk and antics. Kambosos, who was almost a +600 underdog entering the fight, scored an early knockdown en route to a well-deserved split decision win.
When Kambosos vs. Lomachenko collapsed due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Kambosos used his power as unified champion to force Haney to come to Australia for a fight to crown an official undisputed champion at 135 pounds.
Haney defeated Kambosos in the first meeting before doing the same in the rematch – also held in Australia during negotiations for the first fight.
Lomachenko had the chance to become undisputed when he was Haney’s first opponent after the Kambosos fights. Haney vs. Lomachenko was a fantastic fight that saw two masterful boxers operating at the top of their craft. Haney passed by decision, although many fans felt Lomachenko had done enough to fulfill his dream of being undisputed champion.
On Saturday, Lomachenko will go to Perth, Australia, while Kambosos once again fights a big fight in his home country. Two men who have spent years in each other’s orbit will finally clash with one who has emerged as world champion once again.
“I’ve been in this sport for a long time. We’re both professionals. We know boxing,” Lomachenko said at this week’s press conference. “We know strategy. It will be very, very interesting for both of us. It will be very, very interesting for all boxing fans. Good luck. Good luck to both of us.”
Lomachenko vs Kambosos fight card, odds
- Vasiliy Lomachenko -650 vs. George Kambosos +450, vacant IBF lightweight title
- Andrew Moloney vs Pedro Guevara, interim WBC super flyweight title
- Nina Hughes (c) vs. Cherneka Johnson, WBA bantamweight championship
Viewing information
- Date: may 11
- Location: RAC Arena – Perth, Australia
- Start time: 10pm ET
- How to watch: ESPN, ESPN+
Prediction
Kambosos deserves all the respect in the world for his difficult path to a place where he not only won the unified lightweight title, but also has the power to be the hometown fighter against some of the best boxers in the world. He managed to do all of this without being an elite fighter in any technical aspect of boxing. Kambosos does not have great power, nor is he particularly fast, nor is he a strategist. Kambosos is a brave guy whose self-confidence has taken him to heights most boxers have never experienced.
That said, self-confidence is not enough to beat a master boxer like Lomachenko. The best chance for Kambosos to beat Lomachenko is that Lomachenko’s age of 36 and the miles on his body have caught up. This, combined with Lomachenko’s propensity for slow starts, opens up a narrow path for Kambosos to pull off yet another comeback.
Lomachenko is probably still too good for Kambosos. The last time we saw Lomachenko, he was giving Haney all he could handle in their fantastic battle. Haney’s loss to an overweight (and potentially PED abusing) Ryan Garcia may have changed some’s minds about how valuable Lomachenko’s performance was, but it was a performance that showed a lot still in Lomachenko’s tank.
Lomachenko is not a fighter prone to making mistakes like López, which allowed Kambosos to achieve the best victory of his career. This looks to be a difficult battle for Kambosos, who will have to take advantage of every little opening that Lomachenko offers to try and win. Pick: Vasiliy Lomachenko via UD
