By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing
IBF #5 lightweight George Kambosos junior (17-0, 10 KOs) talks with Fightnews.com® and says he will be ringside to watch IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey defend the title against Raymond Beltran on Friday at the Pechanga Casino and Resort in Temecula, California. He says he’ll get his shot in next twelve months and in the meantime has targeted two-time world champion Jose Pedraza, who he’s confident of defeating by KO to make a statement in America under new trainer Javiel Centeno of Miami.
“I will be in the front row on Friday to watch the IBF lightweight title bout between Richard Commey versus Raymond Beltran with my eyes obviously on the winner of that fight,” said Kambosos. “My promoter Lou DiBella also promotes Commey so that fight with me could be done in-house.
“Mayoshi Nakatani and Teofimo Lopez will fight their IBF eliminator next month and I am IBF#5 right behind them. The winner of that fight will fight the winner of the Commey versus Beltran fight for the world title.
“I would like to fight Jose Pedraza. He holds a lot of strength with the IBF. I am very confident I would defeat him. I watched his last fight and all due respect to him as a two-time world champion, but he is very slow. He does a few good things right, but there is nothing special. Lomachenko struggled with him.
“In my head, if I can get the fight with Pedraza across the line I will KO him and that’s why I will be in LA next Thursday to sit down with Lou and Top Rank and try and put this fight (Pedraza-Kambosos) together. It would make a good statement in the US if I knockout Pedraza in five or six rounds which I am confident I can do.
“My recent win in Greece last week over Pena was a good victory. Pena was a solid fighter. We tried to get rated top ten fighters but they all turned down the fight. They didn’t want to come to Greece to fight. Pena with his long reach was similar to Pedraza and that’s why we picked him. It is a good tune up fight for Pedraza. Pena gave it his best shot. After he was knocked down in round four he got up and kept trying to win. I put him down with a hard jab in round four.
“I didn’t spar Manny Pacquiao for the Pena fight. I have finished working with Pacquiao. I’m still on great terms with Manny. I worked with Manny for three of his fights but I don’t want to be known as a sparring partner. Javiel Centeno from Miami is my new trainer. I am not training with Justin Fortune now. Javiel is focused on me 110%. Javiel worked with Randall Bailey previously. Miami is a better place to train.
“When I stopped working as a sparring partner to Manny they brought in Tim Tszyu as a sparring partner. The only reason he got that job was because George Kambosos Jr. wasn’t available anymore. Tim owes me. He should buy me a nice expensive bottle of alcohol. Look at all the publicity he got.
“I had three or four fights with Justin and soaked up everything I could, but I needed a change. Justin did a great job and helped my career with over 250 rounds sparring Pacquiao. I love Pacquiao and hope he knocks Thurman out.
“I’m now George Kambosos the world lightweight contender not just a sparring partner to Manny Pacquiao. Everything happens for the right reasons. Lou DiBella is a big time player and we are very close to the IBF. It’s a very exciting time. Pedraza is on my hit list. They call him the sniper, but you cannot hit what you cannot see. I will air strike him. Lou DiBella has confidence in me. I am building up a good fan base around the world. Lou says I have star power and I am confident I will be world champion.”