By Sean Jones: Undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney has arrived in Melbourne, Australia, for his October 16th rematch against George Kambosos Jr at the Rod Laver Arena.
Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) is facing former unified champ Kambosos Jr (20-1, 10 KOs) as part of their rematch clause from their first fight last June.
There hasn’t been nearly as much buzz for the second fight due to Kambosos Jr. staying silent.
The last time they fought, Kambosos singlehandedly created a ton of interest by giving many interviews and working tirelessly to get boxing fans excited about the fight.
Kambosos’ one-sided loss to Haney last June seems to have taken away the motivation to market the second fight like he’d done the first, so for that reason, a lot of boxing fans aren’t even aware the second fight is taking place on October 16th.
“George is a live body. He had the belts; he tasted what the belts was about,” said Devin Haney to Fighthype. “Now that he lost them, he wants them back, obviously. I can’t take him lightly. I know he’s going to come with a different approach, a different game plan, and come back more hungry than he did last time.
“No, I’m not surprised. He should have been quiet the first time,” said Haney when asked if he was surprised at how quiet Kambosos Jr has been during the build-up to this fight.
“I was very professional, and he got out of character trying to get me out of character. It kind of backfired on him. so it worked against him. Of course, he’s taking a different approach. A lot of the things he did wrong the first time, he’s trying to adjust.
“I’m not even thinking about a third fight right now. My main focus is on winning this. I don’t think there are any banana peels inside a boxing ring, so we don’t have to worry about that.
“My main focus is going in there and winning and then seeing what’s next. You can always improve and always get better. Like I said, he’s going to have a much more aggressive approach for this fight.
“A blind man could see the game plan that he had for the first fight didn’t work. He’s going to try something different. We all know what it is. It’s obvious he’s going to try to be more aggressive.
— George "Ferocious" Kambosos Jr (@georgekambosos) September 19, 2022
“He still makes a lot of mistakes that we knew he was going to do in the first fight, and he did. We planned for it well. This time around, we’re doing the same thing. We’re planning for the mistakes he made in the first fight and in the previous fights,” said Haney.