George Kambosos Jr. says he was just playing a game when he came in overweight by a fraction of a pound on Friday for his undisputed lightweight fight against Devin Haney on Saturday night.
Kambosos said what he was doing was out of the “Art of War” playbook, which was written during the sixth century by military strategist & philosopher Sun Tzu.
It’s hard to see how unified lightweight champion Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs) came out ahead by intentionally coming in overweight at 135.36 lbs. How goes Kambosos gain from this?
Yeah, Kambosos took the weight off and came back 75 minutes later to successfully weigh in at 134.49 lbs, but this writer doesn’t see how he gained anything.
If Kambosos follows Sun Tzu’s 13 chapters military treatise, ‘The Art of War,’ his deception failed to stress the 23-year-old Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) to potentially throw him off his game.
The only thing that it may have helped was put more of a spotlight on Kambosos by boxing fans. However, Kambosos could have done something a little more over the top to get fans to notice him rather than coming in overweight.
“Come on; this is nothing; wait until tomorrow. It’ll be 50,000+,” said George Kambosos Jr. to Fight Hub TV when told that it seemed like a ‘world cup game’ with how he missed weight on Friday.
“We’re ready. Weight has never been an issue. I’ve been hydrated and eating all week, so we had to have a little bit of fun with it today. Play some games. Art of war, baby. Deception” said Kambosos.
It seems like an odd plan if this is something that Kambosos cooked up to mess with Haney’s mind because he didn’t look worried at seeing the Australian miss weight.
Arum predicts a win for Haney
“I’m assuming when the bell rings, they’re each going to be confident of their ability,” said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum to Fight Hub TV about the Haney vs. Kambosos Jr. fight.
“I think Haney is a better fighter, so I like Haney to win the fight, but I’m a little prejudice,” Arum continued. “It would be a big victory, and we’d have a huge audience in the United States because it’s prime time in the United States.
“If Haney wins, it’ll certainly help his career. I’ve seen it so often where a fighter doesn’t make weight, and if it were a couple of pounds, it would be cause for concern, but it was a fraction. I like Haney to win a decision,” said Arum.
