By Jack Tiernan: David Benavidez is picking Devin Haney to defeat George Kambosos Jr. this Sunday to become the undisputed lightweight champion of the division in their 12-round contest on ESPN+ and ESPN.
The two-time WBC super-middleweight champion Benavidez views the younger, faster, and more highly skilled WBC 135-lb champion Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) as too talented for IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO champion Kambosos Jr. (20-0, 10 KOs).
Benavidez feels that the 28-year-old Australian Kambosos won’t have the element of surprise as he did in his last fight when he upset four-belt lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez on November 27th in New York.
Going into that fight, Kambosos was seen as an ordinary fighter that had clawed his way to the IBF mandatory spot by narrowly beating aging fighters Mickey Bey & Lee Selby by a pair of split decisions.
There was nothing in Kambosos’ past that would suggest that he would do what he did against the unbeaten Teofimo, but fans failed to know that Teo was injured, weight drained and coming off a long layoff.
Any one of those things would be enough to cause Teofimo problems, but he was saddled with three of them.
“The fight with Haney and Kambosos, Devin Haney has the edge in every category. He’s faster, and I feel like the power level is about the same,” said David Benavidez to K.O. Artist Sports.
“Devin Haney is way more elusive. It’s going to be a different look because Devin Haney does NOT fight anything like Teofimo Lopez,” said Benavidez.
Haney will have a massive advantage in this fight compared to Teofimo because he won’t be weight drained.
Teofimo was essentially a boiled-down light-welterweight when he took on Kambosos, and he should have made a move up to 140 after his win over Vasyl Lomachenko in October 2020.
Teo had outgrown the division and asked for trouble staying on for one more fight against Kambosos.
“Teofimo Lopez went into that fight [with Kambosos Jr. last November] extremely confident, just trying to knock him out, and I think he gassed himself out,” said Benavidez.
“He wasn’t expecting Kambosos to look that good, and now that everybody knows that Kambosos is no joke, I think Devin Haney is going to put a game plan together.
“I like Devin Haney, he’s a good friend of mine, and I feel like he’s going to win. It’s going to be a great fight for all the marbles on the line. It’s going to be a great fight.
“Just seeing Kambosos in how he goes about his business, he’s very dedicated and very motivated. It’s going to be a great fight. Both of those guys are extremely motivated and dedicated, so it’s going to be a great fight for sure,” said Benavidez.
Kambosos will have the crowd on his side on Sunday night at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, and that could help influence the way the judges score the contest if they’re focusing on the noise.
