By Sean Jones: Undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney and former unified 135-lb champ George Kambosos Jr have their rematch in the works for October 15th in Melbourne, Australia.
Dan Rafael is reporting the news of the second fight between the unbeaten Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) and Kambosos (20-1, 10 KOs) being planned for October 15th at the Rod Laver Arena.
This is a considerably smaller venue than the previous fight at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.
The Rod Laver Arena seats 14,200 fans, whereas the Marvel Stadium has a seating capacity of 56,347. Due to the one-sided nature of Haney’s 12-round unanimous decision victory over the Australian Kambosos on June 5th, there is expected less fan interest in the rematch.
According to Rafael, the organizers of the Haney vs. Kambosos event are still working on the financing. That’s going to be tricky because if there’s scant interest from Australian boxing fans, the Haney-Kambosos rematch won’t sell on pay-per-view in that country, and the tickets might not sell for the small venue.
Last June, Haney trounced the hapless Kambosos, beating him by these scores: 116-112, 118-110, and 116-112. You can argue that Haney’s two previous opponents, Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz and Jorge Linares, were far more competitive against him than Kambosos in that fight.
Kambosos fought like an average run-of-the-mill bottom-feeder contender, but that’s not all that surprising because his best career wins before his upset against the injured & sickly-looking Teofimo Lopez were the old-timer’s Mickey Bey & Lee Selby. Both of those fights were razor close.
Ideally, Kambosos should redeem himself by beating a couple of solid contenders at 135 before facing Haney in their rematch. With that said, Kambosos would likely lose to the top contenders at 135.
“The sequel is being planned to headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Oct. 15 at famed Rod Laver Stadium — home of the tennis Australian Open — in Melbourne (where it will be Oct. 16 Australia time),” said Dan Rafael on Fight Freaks Unite.
“Organizers are still working through the financing of the event with the State of Victoria government.”
It’s understandable why Kambosos doesn’t want to give up on his contractual rematch with Haney because it’ll be a good payday, and it’s likely the last big one he’ll be getting.
Kambosos is arguably a one-hit wonder, a fighter that emerged from nowhere and got lucky by fighting Teofimo at the right moment in his career.
The best thing that Kambosos can hope for in the rematch with Haney is that he’s competitive enough to make it a close and exciting affair.
If it’s competitive, Kambosos will be helpful for the other top fighters like Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, Vasyl Lomachenko, and Ryan Garcia to use as a B-side prop to create superficial interest in their fights.
Unfortunately, Sean Jones doubts that Kambosos will make it even remotely close against Haney in their rematch in October because he’s not talented enough.
Kambosos had his 15 minutes of fame, and he’s likely to disappear into the sunset and be forgotten after he loses to Haney again.
