By Sean Jones: George Kambosos Jr is in a must-win fight this Saturday night against Max Hughes in a twelve round bout for the IBO lightweight title on July 22nd at the Firelake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Kambosos vs. Hughes event will be shown this Saturday night on ESPN and ESPN+ at 10:00 pm ET/7:00 p.m. PT. You can’t count out Hughes in this fight, as he’s coming off a win over Kid Galahad.
Kambosos has been retooling his game after losing his last two fights against Devin Haney in 2022.
Some believe that Kambosos is patterning his new fighting style after Vasily Lomachenko, with the movement, speed, and combination punching.
Undercard:
- Keyshawn Davis vs. Francesco Patera
- Giovani Santillan vs. Erick Bone
- Troy Isley vs. Antonio Todd
- Amron Sands vs. Hemi Ahio
- Roney Hines vs. Michael Pirotton
- Stephan Shaw vs. Joseph Goodall
- Jeremiah Milton vs. Willie Harvey
Some have joked, saying Kambosos = Walmart Lomachenko, but even that would vastly improve the stiff that lost twice to Haney.
If Kambosos can become a knockoff version of Loma, he might be able to resurrect his sinking career before he hits rock bottom, but it’s unlikely to happen. He’s not interested in moving down to 130 or 126, and you can’t blame him.
All the money fights are at 135, and Kambosos won’t make the same kind of dough at super featherweight that he’s made at lightweight. Kambosos is likely already set for life as a millionaire from his two fights with Haney last year.
It’s a bit late in Kambosos’ career to be making major changes to his game, but he’s got to do something because he’s not good enough to beat most, if not all, of the top ten contenders at lightweight.
Given the huge pool of quality fighters in this weight class, Kambosos lacks the talent to be a major player at 135.
George’s win over a sickly, weight-drained, ring-rusty & uninspired Teofimo Lopez in 2020 was a case of being at the right place at the right time.
Most would agree that Kambosos needs to move down in weight to 130 if he wants to save his career because if he stays at 135, he’s going to wind up a journeyman within a couple of years, particularly if Top Rank matches him against good opposition.
Kambosos’ days as a headliner could be over if he loses this fight against Hughes (26-5-2, 5 KOs) or looks bad in winning.
Top Rank in a salvage mission, having signed the former unified lightweight champion Kambosos (20-2, 10 KOs), and they obviously have something planned for the 30-year-old Aussie.
