By Jim Calfa: Devin Haney’s promoter Eddie Hearn says a fight between the WBC lightweight champion and four-belt champ George Kambosos Jr. is what he’s hoping to make for April or May for the “real undisputed” 135-lb championship.
Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) appears to have the most substantial interest in facing Kambosos next among the six Kings in the lightweight division, and his promoter Hearn is backing him all the way.
Hearn needs Haney to take this fight because it’s the fastest way possible for the British promoter to turn the 23-year-old into a star. The Matchroom promoter Hearn has recently compared Haney to boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr. in terms of talent, but he’s not popular with U.S fans the way that he was.
Boxing fans and the WBC are already calling Kambosos (20-0, 13 KOs) the “undisputed lightweight champion” after his upset 12 round unanimous decision win over IBF, WBA, WBC Franchise & WBO champion Teofimo Lopez on November 27th.
According to Hearn, Kambosos, 28, still needs Haney’s WBC belt to be called the “real” undisputed champion at 135-lb, and he’s planning on making it worthwhile for the Australian fighter to face Devin in the first quarter of 2022.
“Devin Haney has one fight for him, George Kambosos, in Australia in April or May for the real undisputed lightweight world championship. Let’s get it on,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV.
Hearn has a good chance of making the Kambosos-Haney fight happen next year if he makes an offer that Team Kambosos can’t refuse.
Right now, Haney is seen by some as being in the pole position to get the fight with Kambosos, simply because Hearn has the deep pockets to make that fight a reality.
The other fighters that are in the running for the Kambosos fight aren’t viewed as having a great chance of getting the match. It would be too costly for their promoters.
These are Haney and Hearn’s competitors to try and land the fight with Kambosos:
Vasily Lomachenko
Ryan Garcia
Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz
Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis
Former WBC interim lightweight champion Ryan Garcia (21-0 18 KOs) has expressed interest in the fight with Kambosos. With that said, the 23-year-old Golden Boy fighter hasn’t fought in eleven months, and he’s pursuing a match against Pitbull Cruz (22-2-1, 15 KOs) for April.
If that fight gets made, you can remove Cruz and Ryan from the running for Kambosos’ next match.
Lomachenko’s promoters at Top Rank aren’t likely to throw a lot of money into the fight with Kambosos because it’s not a pay-per-view worthy fight in the U.S.
Although Kambosos made a minor name for himself with his victory over the previously unbeaten Teofimo Lopez last November, the casual boxing fans in the U.S still have no idea who the Australian fighter is.
For that reason, Top Rank couldn’t sell a fight between Lomachenko and Kambosos on ESPN PPV because very few U.S. boxing fans would purchase it.