Promoter Bob Arum says a fight between Vasily Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr. is being negotiated to take place in April for the vacant IBF lightweight title in Australia.
Top Rank promoter Arum says they’re working on finalizing the Lomachenko vs. Kambosos Jr. fight for that month, and he’s hopeful it can happen.
If it’s made, the 36-year-old Lomachenko will be coming off a long 11-month layoff following his questionable 12 round unanimous decision Devin Haney last May in Las Vegas. The scores were 115-113, 116-112 and 115-113.
The loss upset Lomachenko and angered boxing fans on social media, who saw it as a robbery, with the A-side fighter Haney being given the victory by the Nevada judges.
Kambosos (21-2, 10 KOs) is coming off a controversial twelve round majority decision win over Maxi Hughes last July in Oklahoma. Hughes outboxed Kambosos the entire way in a fright that looked one-sided in his favor, with Kambosos fighting well enough to deserve one or two rounds at best.
Surprisingly, the Oklahoma judges gave him the decision by the scores 117-111, 115-113 and 114-114. This writer had Hughes winning 11-1. Kambosos was dominated by Hughes just as badly as he had been by Devin Haney in his two previous fights.
“We’re trying to finalize a world title fight between him and the Aussie, George Kambosos. I really believe we’ve made a lot of progress, and I believe that fight will take place sometime in April with Lomachenko in Australia,” said Bob Arum to Fighthype on a fight that he’s negotiating between former three-division world champion Vasily Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr.
Lomachenko & Kambosos Jr. are the two highest-ranked contenders in the IBF’s rankings to fight for the vacant belt. William Zepeda or Raymond Muratalla would be far better options for Lomachenko to fight rather than the former three-belt 135-lb champion Kambosos, who has lost two out of his last three fights and is coming off the aforementioned questionable decision over Hughes.
It looks bad when you have a fighter with a 1-2 record in his last three fights fighting for a world title ahead of unbeaten talents like Muratalla & Zepeda, both of which would likely make Kambosos look like a monkey inside the ring.
“Australia is a great country with great people. We’ve had marvelous success doing promotions in Australia, whether it’s Brisbane or Melbourne. Now they’re talking about another city in Australia,” said Arum.
“People don’t realize how huge of a country Australia is. It’s even bigger than the United States. So, it’s been a great experience for myself and Top Rank to have been able to see that great country and different regions, and I’m looking forward to it in April,” said Arum.
