By Sean Jones: Tim Bradley says WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney will be the favorite to defeat four-belt 135-lb champion George Kambosos Jr in their undisputed match-up this summer in Melbourne, Australia.
Haney’s skill advantage is the reason he’s going to be viewed as the favorite by the bettors and the boxing public against IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Kambosos Jr. (20-0, 15 KOs).
Bradley worries that Haney’s stamina problems may surface in the later rounds, causing him to be stationary and vulnerable to the powerful & highly accurate right hand from Kambosos.
Although not known for his punching power, Kambosos hits harder than people think. Bradley feels that Kambosos’ power is underrated, and he thinks that he can do damage right his right hand.
To be sure, we saw Kambosos drop Teofimo Lopez in the first round and make a bloody mess of his face in the later rounds of their fight last November.
The Kambosos vs. Haney fight is still being negotiated for June 5th at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. It was only last week Vasyl Lomachenko revealed that he would be staying in Ukraine to defend his country against the Russian invasion.
Until last week, Lomachenko had been in the pole position to face Kambosos on June 5th.
Bradley: Haney will be the favorite
“I’m going to let you know right now that, even though Kambosos is the champion, the favorite is going to be Haney,” said Tim Bradley to Fighthype on the potential June 5th fight between George Kambosos Jr. and Devin Haney.
“I’m going to say that because of superior overall skill and just a pure boxer, a lot of people are going to favor him to win the fight,” said Bradley.
“You can put a poll up right now, and I bet you that 60 to 70% are going to say ‘Haney.‘ But Kambosos is tricky, and he’s showing confidence right now. He put on the best performance of his life against Teofimo Lopez, and you can’t take nothing away from him for that.
“He’s gained so much notoriety, and he has those belts around his waist, and that does something to you mentally when you know you’re the man,” Bradley said about Kambosos Jr. about the popularity that he’s achieved since dethroning former four-belt lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez on November 27th.
Kambosos’ right hand will be a problem
“So, it’s not going to be easy. I think Kambosos brings a different element,” Bradley said. “I think that he can punch, and I think that his speed is underrated, his punch is underrated, his chin is underrated, his combinations are underrated.
“He’s quick, dude. He’s quick,” Bradley said about Kambosos. “He has fast hands; they’re to the target. He’s accurate with those shots too.
“He has a really good team with him, too; his team is solid all the way across the board from nutrition to stamina & conditioning, cardio, you name it. He has everything set in stone for him to be successful, bro,” said Bradley.
If Kambosos can put hands on Haney the way that Jorge Linares and Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr. did in the later rounds of their fight, it’s going to be bad for him.
Linares had Haney badly hurt in their fight last May, and the only reason he did finish him off is that he didn’t fight through the nonstop clinches that Devin initiated in rounds nine through twelve when he was hurt.
“He’s going to be tough, he’s going to be at home, and if Haney doesn’t get a knockout, a blowout, or box his ears off, it’s going to be tough to win there at home [in Australia], it really is,” said Bradley.
“I haven’t studied film. I know both guys’ styles and what they bring. I’m worried about the right hand getting in on Haney; I really am. Just from watching his previous fights, he gets hit with the right hands.
“When he got hit by Linares, it was a right hand. It was vicious; it was on the inside. I know he was standing his ground. That’s the thing with Haney. He has some snap on his shots, but there comes a time when he gets bored.
“He doesn’t get bored, but a lot of the things he does, it’s repetitive, and you can catch on a bit later, especially when he slows down a bit, slows his feet down, and becomes stationary at times.
Haney vulnerable late
Bradley feels that Haney wears down in the later rounds, not moving as much, being forced to stand in the pocket against his harder-hitting opposition.
We saw in Haney’s recent fights against Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr. and Jorge Linares that he was vulnerable in the later rounds when he faded and was unable to move as well as he’d done earlier.
“Those are the vulnerable moments that I see for him in this fight,” said Bradley. “That’s when I see Kambosos come on during those moments late in the fight where he [Haney] has to stand his ground and can no longer move to try to find ways to exit and get out of the way.
“You can only move and run for a certain period before a guy catches up to you, and a guy that I think has good feet, a guy that has power, like I told you, speed, confidence, fighting at home [in Australia] with the crowd boosting you, that’s Kambosos, dude.
“So, I can’t give you a prediction right now. I’ve seen Haney before, but it was when he was younger. Haney has done some remarkable things business-wise and boxing-wise; I think he’s done some remarkable things in the sport.
“Being as young as he is, and climbing the way he climbed and doing it the old way, that’s the way Roy [Jones Jr] did. Having his own thing, doing his own thing, and not really being connected.
“He has Eddie Hearn [of Matchroom Boxing], and he’s getting paid good money, and he’s fighting quality opponents,” said Bradley about Devin Haney.
