By Jim Calfa: Eddie Hearn says Devin Haney is the frontrunner to fight George Kambosos Jr. for the undisputed championship at lightweight and will likely face him next.
According to Hearn, After Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) defeats Kambosos, he’ll defend against WBO mandatory Vasily Lomachenko. Hearn says Haney won’t have any problems about taking the fight with Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) because he’s courageous.
Lomachenko, 33, would obviously like to fight Kambosos next so that he can collect his four titles himself, but it’s a longshot for him to get the fight.
The way that Lomachenko took apart Richard Commey last weekend was too impressive, and that may have doomed him as far as getting the title shot against Kambosos.
The Australian Kambosos is a big talker, but he’s limited talent-wise and would be over his head if he were to face the former three-division world champion Lomachenko.
Kambosos matches up a lot better with Haney, who is easier to hit, less technical, has slower feet, and weaker power than Loma.
Hearn: Haney is the frontrunner for Kambosos
Promoter Hearn seems to be ultra-confident that Haney will be the one that gets picked by Kambosos, but he could be right. Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis won’t go to Australia, and Ryan Garcia hasn’t fought in a year, and he’s not going to take the fight.
The only options for Kambosos are Lomachenko and Haney, and Hearn seems very confident his fighter will get picked.
“The Arum’s pushing of Lomachenko is good news for us because he really has two options,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing Social about George Kambosos Jr.
“He fights Devin Haney for the undisputed championship in Australia or he has a defense of his titles against Vasily Lomachenko, probably in America or wherever. That’s his options.
“Knowing Kambosos, knowing he had the chance to be undisputed, knowing he has a chance to do an easy deal for a lot of money in Australia, Devin Haney is a great frontrunner. He’ll be here this weekend, Haney.
“So, we’ll talk next week [with Kambosos’s management]. This is the fight to make, and I’m confident that George has enough about him to say, ‘Yeah, get me undisputed,’” said Hearn.
I wouldn’t add the word “great” when calling Haney the “frontrunner” for the Kamnbosos fight, as Hearn is doing. Haney is definitely in an excellent position to get the fight with Kambosos, but it’s hardly a “great” fight.
If Kambosos is still under the illusion that his next fight will pull in 80,000 to fill a stadium, he may need to come down to earth because that number is too ambitious given his past numbers.
You don’t go from fighting in front of smaller crowds to suddenly battling in front of 80,0000 fans overnight just because you won a handful of titles against an injured/weight drained fighter in Teofimo Lopez.
Haney could fight Lomachenko AFTER Kambosos
“I know there’s the argument, ‘Should be,’ but this is it,” said Hearn. “This is the undisputed fight and afterwards, Lomachenko will be mandatory for the winner of that fight [Kambosos vs. Haney], and I know Devin Haney will fight him like that. Kambosos has big balls too.
It’s hard to believe that Hearn would let Lomachenko get a crack at Haney in his first fight after dethroning Kambosos.
Hearn is a predictable promoter, and he’ll give a speech justifying him matching Haney against Ryan Garcia or one of the other contenders rather than Lomachenko.
It’ll be one of those, ‘We’re moving Haney in the way we want to make him a global superstar’ type of speeches from Hearn.
The result will be, Haney NOT fighting Lomachenko, and going in a different direction. When the World Boxing Organization orders Haney to defend against Lomachenko, he’ll probably vacate the WBO belt.
Loma is not in the immediate mix
“By the way, Lomachenko is a brilliant fighter,” said Hearn. “I just don’t see him in the immediate mix with all those names, but he might beat all of them.”
It’ll be interesting to see what Hearn says if Haney gets his hands on Kambosos’ four titles. Will he continue to box out Lomachenko using some flimsy excuse about him not seeing him among the ‘Four Kings’ despite being the WBO mandatory.
If Kambosos were a better fighter, there wouldn’t be any discussion about Haney getting his hands on his four belts and avoiding risky guys like Lomachenko. But as we saw in Kambosos’ fight against the drained and injured Teofimo Lopez on November 27th, he’s vulnerable.
In boxing, promoters can’t treat their champions like they belong to an exclusive club with a membership that they hand-pick. That’s why there are sanctioning bodies to prevent promoters from wrecking the sport by excluding risky fighters that might beat their fighters.
Hopefully, Hearn doesn’t attempt to box out Lomachenko from competing for the lightweight titles if Haney gets his hands on the four belts in Kambosos’ possession.
Hearn can delay Lomachenko getting a title shot for a while, but at some point, Haney will need to defend against him. It’ll be interesting to see if he does or if he chooses to vacate after being instructed to do so by his promoter.
“The great thing about the global project with DAZN and the global platform is we get to see where it’s flying,” said Hearn when asked if the Kambosos Jr. vs. Haney fight will take place in Australia.
“So obviously every time we do an event, we see the sign-ups, we see the viewerships. Australia every time obviously for the Kambosos fight. But this is a very important market for us in the summer of this year. We got Brock Jarvis, we got Dempsey McKean, Ebanie Bridges, and we’re looking to sign Sky Nicholson.
“You got Liam Paro fighting this weekend, and you got Kambosos, not with us but still a huge name. You got Bruno Tarimo that might be coming mandatory this weekend. So that’s a massive market for us and we will be there hard next summer doing Haney for the undisputed in a stadium with 50 or 60,000 people, which would be a dream come true.
“I’m very excited about that market, as I am about a few markets, but that one is a major focus for us in 2022,” said Hearn.