By Huck Allen: Tim Bradley says he was surprised at how easy it was for Devin Haney to defeat George Kambosos Jr. on Saturday night in a “masterclass” performance in their undisputed lightweight championship.
Bradley, who works for ESPN, felt it was going to be a harder fight for WBC lightweight champion Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) against unified champion Kambosos (20-1, 10 KOs), but it turned out to be a total route. If this was a battle, it would have been a real slaughter.
The scores didn’t tell the whole picture of how one-sided the fight was, as the judges had it 116-112, 116-112, and 118-110.
Kambosos fought well enough to win one round, and even that would be pushing it. Huck Allen scored it 11-1 for Haney because he dominated with his jab, and Kambosos fighting at the wrong distance, not attacking the way he needed.
“It was a masterclass performance by Haney. I didn’t think it was going to be that easy,” said Tim Bradley to Fight Hub TV, moments after Devin Haney’s win over George Kambosos Jr. on Saturday night.
“I did think if he got his jab going, he was going to be a nightmare for Kambosso,” Bradley continued. “Just little tactical, technique things that he does wrong.
“He carries his hands low, allowing openings, and he leans a little on the front foot, which brings his head closer to the jab. Haney had the reach, Haney had the height advantage as well, boxing ability, athleticism, he had it all.
“I thought Kambosos was going to let his hands go a little bit more. He stood at a range where he shouldn’t have been. I was wondering, ‘What the hell is your game plan? Eventually, you’re going to have to close the gap.’
“When he closed the gap, he would come in a bit too close, and give his hands away. Then Haney would be able to tie him up. When he reacted, a lot of times it was with one or two shots.
“He wasn’t being creative with his combinations at all. Attack that body. You’re a guy that moves and is so elusive. You got to attack that body.
“That’s the biggest target that you have because you’re going to have a hard time attacking the head, and you saw. He had a hard time locating that head.
“Everytime you get hit with a jab, you got to reset your feet, you got to reset everything. Him being a counter puncher, thinking of countering first, you get hit with that jab, ‘Oh my goodness. Now I got to move.’
“Now you got to try and track him down and recalibrate the distance again and try to get in. But there’s time where you got to sellout. You got to go forward. You’re going to get hit no matter what.
“When you do attack, you drop some feints on there, you drop some probs, and get off to the side and then attack. Just try various ways. It’s endless possibilities,” said Bradley.
