Vasily Lomachenko is expected to face four-belt lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. next on June 5th in his first title defense at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
Lomachenko has agreed to his side of the deal, and now they’re waiting for Kambosos to approve. As long as Kambosos Jr and his promoter Lou DiBella don’t have second thoughts, we should have the fight ready to be finalized soon.
Lomachenko is the frontrunner, but Devin Haney is still in the running for the fight.
It’s essential for Kambosos not to fall into the same trap as Teofimo Lopez in staying out of the ring for an entire year before defending his four lightweight titles after beating then-champion Lomachenko by a 12 round decision in 2020.
Should Kambosos fight Lomachenko, the loser in all this is WBC lightweight champion Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) and his promoter Eddie Hearn.
If Haney & Hearn don’t get the contest, which would appear to be the case, they’re going to have to look for another option. Both have been pushing incredibly hard for this fight with Kambosos, seeming very needy, as if their entire orbit revolved around this fight. Haney should be able to become a star without this fight.
According to Mike Coppinger, the deal includes a rematch clause for the unbeaten IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Kambosos Jr (20-0, 10 KOs).
The second bout will occur again in Australia if he gets beaten by the talented former three-division world champion.
It’s a brilliant idea for Kambosos to add a rematch clause because at least he’ll get a second payday if he loses to Lomachenko, which would seem very likely to be the case.
If Kambosos loses badly to Lomachenko, it might be a wise idea for him to forget another exercising his rematch clause because he won’t be able to sell the fight to his fellow Australians for a second stadium fight.
I mean, the Aussies will buy into it this time because Kambosos is coming off a massive victory over Teofimo Lopez and is still unbeaten. But it’s very likely the Aussies will avoid paying to see Kambosos Jr. a second time in Australia if he gets dominated by him on June 5th.
That goes for any fighter in any country. If you get battered & beaten by a warrior, the boxing fans will not turn up in huge numbers to watch you fight the same guy again.
Lomachenko will undoubtedly be installed as a huge favorite to defeat Kambosos, who is viewed as a guy that lucked out in facing an injured, undertrained and weight-drained Teofimo. It’s believed that if Teofimo had been firing on all cylinders that night, he would have run Kambosos over that night.
Lomachenko has looked as good as ever since having shoulder surgery following his loss to Teofimo in 2020. In Lomachenko’s last two fights, he’s quickly beaten Richardo Commey and Masayoshi Nakatani in one-sided fights from start to finish.
Lomachenko attempted to get a rematch with Teofimo, but there was no interest on his part.
Before Kambosos pulled off the upset win over Teofimo last November, his best wins were narrow split decision victories over 37-year-old Mickey Bey and 34-year-old Lee Selby.
Perhaps Teofimo lost to Kambosos because he likely overlooked him and did not take him seriously as a challenger.
Kambosos’ mediocre resume made it easy for Teofimo to look past him because he had just beaten Lomachenko, a pound-for-pound fighter.
If Kambosos is as good as he thinks he is, he’ll beat Lomachenko. Many boxing fans view Kambosos as having been in the right place at the right time in fighting the injured & weight-drained Teofimo.
“The fight will take place on Sunday afternoon in Australia to accommodate a prime-time U.S. telecast on Saturday. If Kambosos fights Lomachenko, the bout will be televised by ESPN,” said Mike Coppinger.