By Sean Jones: Eddie Hearn says George Kambosos Jr. has no choice but to force the rematch with Devin Haney because if he doesn’t take the immediate second fight, he’ll look “weak,” and he may never get another opportunity.
Earlier today, former unified lightweight champion Kambosos (20-1, 10 KOs) revealed that he’d be exercising his rematch clause to fight undisputed 135-lb champion Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) again. He said the match couldoccure in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne, Australia.
Hearn says it would have been a mistake for Kambosos to have chosen not to take the rematch because of the perception of weakness.
With that said, what Hearn is failing to see is the complete lack of interest the boxing public has in seeing Haney defend against the woefully over-matched Kambosos in an immediate rematch.
How will the promoters sell a second fight between these two after the one-sided match that fans witnessed on June 5th? At least if Kambosos took a tune-up and looked sensational winning it, that would help create interest in a rematch between him and Haney.
The main problem with Kambosos taking a tune-up is that for it to help rebuild his credibility, he would need to beat a talented lightweight contender.
Unfortunately, Kambosos lacks the talent to defeat a quality135-pounder. It would be too risky to throw him in with anyone halfway decent because he’s likely to lose badly and worse than he did against the light-hitting Haney.
In an ideal world, Kambosos would beat one of these contenders to rebuilding his destroyed image to create interest from fans in a second fight against Haney:
- Ryan Garcia
- Michel Rivera
- Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz
- Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr
- Jeremiah Nakathilia
- William Zepeda
- Jamaine Ortiz
- Frank Martin
- Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero
- Teofimo Lopez
There’s not a chance in a million that Kambosos, with his inadequate power, speed, arm-length, and talent, will beat any of those fighters.
The fighters would have a field day against a limited guy like Kambosos, and it wouldn’t even be sporting. It would be a feeding frenzy if you tossed Kambosos in with one of those talents.
The only guy Kambosos would have a shot at beating is Teofimo if he’s injured & weight drained again like he in their fight in November of last year.
“Yeah, it went like I thought it would go, but probably a little bit more dominating,” said Eddie Hearn to Fighthype when asked about his view of the Devin Haney vs. George Kambosos Jr. fight on June 5th.
Hearn must have been kidding himself if he expected the Kambosos vs. Haney fight to be thrilling on June 5th because if he’d bothered to look at the two fighter’s past contests, they’ve always been boring to watch.
“Devin Haney boxed a very clever, a very skillful fight,” said Hearn. “George never got into the fight. I think he’ll be disappointed in his performance, but you can’t take away from the brilliance of Devin Haney as well,” Hearn continued.
“I think sometimes you can get ahead of yourself, lose yourself. I see George; George is such a fired-up personality. A lot of what you see is front, and a lot of what you see is him.
“I think he’s a great guy, but I just feel like looking across his social media, he just got carried away with himself. When he went into the [Teofimo] Lopez fight, if he’s honest, he probably had a different mentality than when he went into the Haney fight.
“For me, he has the rematch. He has to exercise it. Whether they think he can win or not, you only get one shot. He’s one fight away from being undisputed.
“It’s going to be a very difficult fight, but what you can’t do is miss this opportunity and let them talk you into a warm-up or a step [aside]. 100% because you may never get the opportunity again,” said Hearn when asked if it’s the right thing for Kambosos to go straight into the rematch with Haney.
“When you look at when Anthony Joshua lost to Andy Ruiz. He got stopped. He got dropped five times. Everyone said, ‘He needs to go away and rebuild his confidence and have a couple of warm-ups.’
“You may never get a shot at a world title again. They may tell you will, but trust me, if it’s there, you’ve got to grab it. So if your Kambosos, if he doesn’t take the rematch, it’s so weak. It’s like an admission, ‘I can’t win the fight.’
“What’s he going to do, have a warm-up fight? He doesn’t need a warm-up fight, and he can get it in Australia again. So take the rematch, and make the adjustments. It’s going to be very difficult for him all around, but make the adjustments and make it happen.
“George could have taken a defense after the [Teofimo] Lopez fight; he deserved one. Respect to him [for not taking a tune-up]. So don’t start changing now and going, ‘I’ll take an easy fight.’ You don’t need an easy fight.
“You’ve got to switch it up, change and try and find a way to beat him. It’ll be difficult to do, but he should definitely exercise that rematch,” said Hearn about what he suggests Kambosos do next.
“Devin has a fantastic jab. Sometimes with these fighters that are slick, the criticism with Devin is that he’s boring. He’s just very good. I believed he’d win the fight [with Kambosos going in].
“But it’s not as easy. When a fighter is defensive, people think you have to be aggressive; You have to set about. It’s the same thing when AJ fought Usyk. People said, ‘What AJ needs to do is go in and steamroll him.’
“These fighters are very clever, and sometimes that can let them set traps for you. I think he [Kambosos] has to fight with a higher work rate, and I think he has to take more chances.
“But it’s a weird fight, a poor fight in terms of the excitement, especially coming off the Teofimo fight. George is clever, I’m sure they’ll come again and make Devin a big favorite in the rematch, but he’s got a shot,” said Hearn about Kambosos.
