By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing
It’s still up in the air who undisputed IBF, WBA, WBO, and WBC franchise lightweight champion George Kambosos will defend his championship belts against. But he says both former world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko or WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney are still in the running.
“I think Lomachenko has started to creep close to the finish line and that excites me big time because Lomachenko is a hell of a fighter, a guy who’s won two Olympic gold medals, multiple world titles,” Kambosos told the ABC. “But Devin Haney excites me a lot, too, because he does have that small, other little piece that he loves [the WBC belt]. He never really earned it in the ring but he does love his piece and I’d love to splatter his face across the ring and take that off him as well.
“There’s only ever been two names that I’ve ever been interested in. I’ve only ever been interested in Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko. People are going to say ‘Wow, Kambosos is crazy. He’s taking a massive risk to fight one of these guys in his first defense.’
“But you’ve got to be a little bit crazy in this game. They said I was crazy when I said I was going to be better than Lopez in every single aspect and I proved them wrong. I’ll prove them wrong again. I don’t plan on handing these belts over, ever. These belts are mine!”
Loma is in his home war-torn country looking to defend his people against an invading army that will kill anyone including civilians. Surely Kambosos and his team know this, why call out Lomo?
i agree loma is fighting for his country kambosa fight somebody else
Because Loma is no where near the war. Loma just had a picture taken with the military unform just for show. The guy has been critized by his people by not being outspoken about Russia.
He mentioned 2 names,your just creating hype!!
@Gary Pine: Kambosos and his team are trying to create hype by calling out Loma’s name as well, knowing he is not available now.
the WBC president has already said Kambosos is the WBC champion and should be considered as such he does NOT need to fight Haney who was handed a junior version belt and fought an unranked fighter in the process so why give Haney a shot at a title he will immediately vacate and jump to 140
I think Lomachenko is the best fight, but he may not be available anytime soon. They couldn’t come to terms with Haney after it seemed like he was their first choice, so it’ll be interesting to see, if it comes to that, who would be option #3. If they’re looking for the biggest name, Kambosos might end up waiting for Ryan Garcia.
Kambosos is losing the momentum of his greatest achievement, because he will end up fighting at the end of this year, when his victory against Teofimo Lopez would be just a reference, not exciting any more. Fight someone else and then the big names
Agreed. Don’t be like so many of these other fighters just waiting around for 12-18 months. Fight a mandatory and Im sure he’ll get a big name towards the end of the year.
That’s part of the reason why I like the Lomachenko fight so much for him because right now Loma is Kambosos’ only active mandatory. The WBA just announced an eliminator yesterday and the IBF has Lemos – Selby coming up at the end of the month so whoever wins that most likely won’t be ready for May/June.
Forgot to mention that this fight will be Down Under.
This one hit wonder has gotten more annoying than Teo Lopez. Both Loma and Lopez used the franchise nonsense to not fight Haney, Mauricio Sulaiman verified this. Ryan Garcia was the mandatory and chose to avoid Haney. If he’s just an “email ” champion, fight him and prove it. Kambozo is looking to cash out his belt to the highest bidder.
LOMACHENKO Let’s GO
Kambosos in 2!
Haney’s a coward and all talk like Queenry. Lome will step up and take the fight.
Lomo fighting a war in his country is a publicity stunt. He not out there busting no guns
You don’t know that and have no way of knowing that.
I hate how boxer call themself the “A-side”, publicly acting like they’re kings and only them and there pockets mathers. The guy won ONE big fight and his acting is way overblown. It’s direspectfull for the other fighter and for the fans. We pay big bucks to see them fight carrefully (majority of the time) and they don’t care that we pay too much for them to get overpaid. The sport is dying and some act only for themself (Floyd started it, Canelo’s doing it and the other tries to cash to the max their name and belt) when like suckers we pay the big price. UFC is underpaid while boxing is ridiculous. Can’t wait to see Kambosos out of the picture, the guy talk to much shit and we all know that the end of his starpower is near.
Already bored of this twat
first off kambosos is backing out of a fight he said he’d do which is fight haney… he’s afraid of haney so go fight the other guy scared-y cat… maybe kambsos will wait for some other fighter’s country to have a war and start talking about fighting that person next… kambosos is a bum
Kambosos is full of shit. He knows Loma isn’t available and he’s bullshitting with Haney. He doesn’t want that fight. He’s no better than Lopez.
Lomo is awsome but Small