By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing
Hall of Famer and ESPN analyst Andre Ward says undisputed WBA, IBF, WBO and WBC franchise lightweight champion George Kambosos he’s got the toughness, power, and grit, to win proposed fights against Vasiliy Lomanchenko and Devin Haney.
“You can’t lose with either one of those fights,” Ward told Max Kellerman. “Kambosos is flexing his muscles in this 135-pound division like he just beat Floyd Mayweather, but he will soon understand that if he is successful in his next fight, regardless of who it’s against, there’s a thing called mandatories.
“So, he’s going to have to pump his brakes and start fighting who the sanctioning bodies tell him to fight. But I like both of these fights (Haney and Lomachenko) for him. He should flex his muscles.”
Kambosos is tough, gritty, and has made a believer out of me. However, let’s not jump way ahead here and think he is the guiding light of the future undisputed champion. He beat Lopez yes, but some of the other future opposition he will face does not have Lopez’s style and could test Kambosos with his skills. We have seen in the past many fighters who looked real good against one fighter, and then get derailed by another. I am taking my time at this point to closely watch Kambosos before I jump to any conclusions.
I AGREE SCOOB… I WANT HIM TO FIGHT HANEY AND NOBODY ELSE AND CLEAR UP THE LIGHTWEIGHT PICTURE AND NOTHING ELSE… LET’S GET THIS MADNESS OVER WITH… LET’S HAVE A WORLD CHAMPION THAT HAS ALL THE BELTS WBC’S INCLUDED… THAT’S THE ONLY REAL WAY I’LL EVER SAY HE’S THE UNIFIED UNDISPUTED LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMP OF THE WORLD… UNLESS THAT HAPPENS THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A DOUBT AND AN ASTERISK… I MEAN LOOK HANEY IS 27-0-15… EVEN RING MAGAZINE IS STARTING TO PISS ME OFF BY NOT MAKING HIM HIS MANDATORY EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE HIM THE BOSS OF THE WBC TITLE….
Chip YOU ARE CORRECT. We need one champion. It’s crazy trying to explain to people that don’t know boxing how we can have up to 4 “world champions in one weight. that’s before we even talk about professional and AMATEURS and world boxing championships AAARRGGHHH..makes it look like wrestling. Embarrassing hey… KINDEST RGARDS ,Scotty toooooo hotty
yer georgie was awesum,he got wat he deserved 4 all the hard work he put in,it only gets harder from here tho.
So true! We too often anoint a guy after winning a fight against a top fighter only to lose right after that! Buster Douglas comes to mind
Scooby-Doo you raise some valid points . But I feel The way Kambosos won the belts. The lesson he taught Lopez in humility and the way he conducted himself after the fight should show what sort of a person he is. A champion is 80 percent boxing skills and 20 percent brains and attitude. Both Lopez and Kambosas will learn from that fight and both be better men. REGARDS Scotty To Hotty
Andre Ward-great fighter, not great fight predictor. I see no way Kambosos beats a healthy Loma and maybe can beat Haney but maybe Haney “outruns” him all night.
Kambosos great fighter earned all he has, I agree with other comments here. Haney is the next fight that makes sense, unify the division which is the true way to determine a champion in each division. Haney is going to be a handful for anybody and given the styles, I can see Haney boxing his way into a unification. Kambosos is legit though and not to be counted out, good for him he is in one of boxing most competitive and lucrative division.
Haneys belt means absolutely nothing. The email champ didn’t earn squat. Kambosos is the man that beat the man that beat the man. And that first man is coming to reclaim what is his. Loma is the only big money fight out there for kambosos and he knows it if he’s looking cash out now.
Unify all the belts, like that has any legitimacy, what a joke Haha, how should they unify, with a Twitter pole?
Haney is simply not established enough to bring big $$ to the table at this point either. Maybe in a couple years of he beats his own mandatories.
Im not sold on Kambosos. Good fighter, but let’s be honest. Lopez was totally unfocussed for that fight. It was called off several times. I know that Kambosos had to deal with the same issues, but Lopez went into the bout with no gameplan whatsoever and still almost knocked him out in the 10th. Lopez clearly struggled to make 135 and overtrained
Disagree Kp. Lopez has been at 135 his whole career, so complaining about weight is bullshit. He did have a game plan, it was to ko George in 1 and when that didn’t happen he didn’t know what to do. He looked past George and played the price for it.
Kambosos vs Haney. Yes I can see that, it makes sense.
I wouldn’t mind Kambosos vs Tank Davis either!
Haney is a tough opponent. Haney vs Lopez? That would be an interesting fight too.
López will never fight at 135 again. Maybe we see him against Haney at 140z
When a good boxer like Kambosos is has a great night, he won’t become great, no, he will still the same as a boxer, in this case the same one we saw struggling against Mickey Bey and Lee Selby.
We have seen this through history with Braddock, Schmeling, Leon Spink, Andy Ruiz, and the list goes on and on.
Kambosos has a great heart, but he is just a good boxer that could be outclassed by Lomachenko, if this fight happens, he is a lot better than Bey and Shelby and by far smarter than Lopez.
Still deserves a nice payday for snatching those belts.
No doubt. If someone deserves a good payday, is him, more than anybody else.
He beat both Bey and Selby.. in their back yards not in Australia…Same as Lopez in his back yard.. Just saying!! George has had no easy fights no favors done for him.. Just hard work and a great father. Sort of Polar opposite to Lopez in MSG with his hall of infamy father… One day if Lopez learns from that fight he will thank Kambosos. I hope Lopez bounces back. Kind regards Scotty to Hotty
Yes, Kambosos is tough, gritty, etc., but he will lose that title to Loma, Haney, and Tank. Lopez was unfocused for that fight and tried to walk him down and knock him out, and the plan backfired. You can’t beat a world class fighter with your hands at your hips and not expect to get countered.
spot on…But I think Kambosos will improve 10 percent now he truly believes he has the goods to beat any one. At the moment he can beat almost anyone. He should not fight Loma until he has at least two or three big pay days Haney Tank, Garcia.. then risk it all with Loma. SCOTTY TO HOTTY
George deserves to fight His first defense and total unification (Haney) in Australia to a sell out in Melbourne the second biggest Greek populated city in the world next to Athens(fact)..The only other Boxer the Australian General Public know is Tim Tszyu. Who looks like he is good enough to grab a minor world belt. Maybe they should get together a put on a double header if only money and egos would allow… Back to Kambosos if he beat Haney then he should go to the USA for Tank mega fight in Vegas or New York..If Kambosos beats Heney then Tank and only then he could have a Crack at Loma. As Loma is still a once in a lifetime boxer.
George has grit, determination, heart and belief in his skills. Loma is skill and is truly the one that all others should aspire to be like. KIND REGARDS SCOTTY TO HOTTY