By Sean Jones: George Kambosos Jr says his opponent Maxi Hughes looked nervous and not overly confident during their face-off during Thursday’s final press conference for their fight this Saturday, July 22nd at the Firelake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Kambosos needs to shake his image of a one-hit wonder because he’s looked marginal in his last two fights and not shown the same ability that led him to an upset win over Teofimo Lopez in 2020.
Whether Kambosos saw fear or not from Hughes, he’s in a situation where if he loses, it could be game over for him. There may be no coming back.
Needless to say, this is a do-or-die fight for Kambosos. His promoters at Top Rank have chosen Hughes (26-5-2, 5 KOs) rather than one of the sharks in the division, like Keyshawn Davis, Shakur Stevenson, or Vasily Lomachenko.
This is a guy that Kambosos is supposed to beat, but he could lose because this is pretty much his level. If Top Rank thought Kambosos was good enough to beat one of the dangerous guys, they would have matched him like that.
Interestingly, Kambosos (20-2, 10 KOs) wore dark sunglasses during the entire press conference, and it appeared like he was trying to hide.
Could it be that the former unified lightweight champion Kambosos is still reeling from his two defeats against Devin Haney last year? In that case, wearing dark sunglasses makes sense, and one would expect them to be worn during the weigh-in on Friday as well.
For U.S. fans, the co-feature between 2020 Olympian Keyshawn Davis (8-0, 6 KOs) and Francesco Patera (28-3, 10 KO) is the one they’re interested in. Keyshawn has the potential to be a superstar.
He just needs more experience and time to build his profile. Ideally, Keyshawn should fight four to five times a year if he wants to reach the top rapidly, but he probably won’t be able to be that busy because it would require ESPN dates for his promoters at Top Rank.
Keyshawn’s opponent, Patera, has won his last ten fights and has looked impressive. Patera’s three defeats came against these fighters: Edis Tatli, Sean Dodd & Yvan Mendy.
“It’s good to be in the U.S. headlining, and I’m really excited, refreshed, and ready to handle the business on Saturday,” said George Kambosos Jr to Fight Hub TV. “I am [motivated] a small bit. I wasn’t showing too much, but again; you can already feel that aura, that presence. As soon as I walk into the room, I can feel that presence.
“I’m very, very focused. The tunnel vision is, and when we faced off, you could see that I’m there to fight. I saw his eyes too. I could see this is a big stage for him. He’s coming up against the elite. We’re ready.
“Whatever he brings and tries to try, we’ve seen it all before. We had an unbelievable camp, and we’re ready for this victory. I saw a guy that is really nervous. He’s going to try to hype himself up a little bit.
“As the days have gone past, that confidence is getting less and less because he’s getting closer to the time of the fight. This is not just a dream or something that’s been made. This is reality now.
“I saw what I saw, but on Saturday is where it matters most,” said Kambosos Jr.
