By Jack Tiernan: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is hopeful that he can put together a fight between Vasily Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr. next for Australia.
For Arum to set up the Kambosos vs. Lomachenko fight, he’ll need to act fast because he’s got competition in the form of WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has gotten off to a fast start with negotiations underway between his fighter Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) and the undisputed lightweight champion Kambosos.
Based on the highly publicized bickering between Haney and Kambosos that took place last Sunday, it looks like things are going well in their negotiations.
Despite the negotiations that are taking place between Kambosos Jr (20-0, 10 KOs) and Haney, Arum hasn’t given up on the idea of setting up a fight between #1 WBC, #1 WBO ranked Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs).
That would be a considerable coup for Arum and Top Rank if he were able to snatch the Kambosos fight from Matchroom Boxing and Haney right from under their noses to give it to Lomachenko. Still, it wouldn’t be the first time the wise old owl promoter has stepped in to outmaneuver one of his less-experienced competitors.
“Lomachenko wants to fight Kambosos, and we want to do that fight in Australia, and we can raise a lot of money to do that fight, but we can’t do it in the face of COVID,” Arum said to World Boxing News. “The (Australian) government won’t give us money with Covid rampaging now through Australia.
“I’d like to do the fight in Sydney. We’ve explored ways that it could be done. I’m very optimistic. I know (Kambosos manager) Peter Kahn is optimistic, but let’s see.”
If this is only about money for Kambosos Jr, Arum has got a great chance of putting together an offer to his liking for him to face the two-time Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko in April.
However, assuming that Kambosos, 28, and his promoter Lou DiBella are counting on winning the fight, that hurts Lomachenko’s chances of getting the battle because it’s common knowledge that Loma would be a nightmare for the less-experienced Australian fighter.
Kambosos stands a much better chance of beating Haney than he does Lomachenko, but he’d still likely be the underdog against him.
If Kambosos, you got to figure that you’re probably going to lose against Haney as well because his boxing skills are top-notch, and his fighting style would neutralize the best aspects of the Australian’s game.
In the long run, it would be better for Kambosos to take the offer from Arum to face Lomachenko if the money is to his liking.
Losing to Lomachenko won’t hurt Kambosos’ career nearly as much as it would be for him to get beaten by the 23-year-old Haney, who hasn’t been around that long and has never beaten the types of opposition that Loma has during his career.
Boxing fans will respect Kambosos more if he chooses Lomachenko as his next opponent because he’s considered by many as the #1 fighter in the 135-lb division.
At best, Haney is viewed as #3 in the weight class behind Lomachenko and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
The way that Haney has been repeatedly hurt in his last two fights against Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr. and Jorge Linares suggests that he’s probably not going to beat Lomachenko, Tank, Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, or Ryan Garcia.
However, Haney will likely do well against Kambosos Jr because he’s not a puncher and is more of a boxer.
As good as Kambosos’ skills are, he’s NOT going to outbox Haney, and he doesn’t have the power or the hand speed to hurt him as Linares did.