Vasily Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr. will fight on May 12th, nine weeks from now, at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, for the vacant IBF lightweight title.
The former unified 135-lb champion Kambosos Jr. (21-2, 10 KOs) is confident that he will be ready for the Eastern European style that the two-time Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KOs).
It would be a massive upset if the 30-year-old Kambosos does win, given that he’s looked dreadful in three consecutive fights since his victory over Teofimo Lopez in November 2021.
If you view Kambosos’s last fight against Maxi Hughes as an actual defeat, as many do, he’s been winless in his last three fights. He’s on skidrow, exposed, and done as a fighter heading into the Lomachenko clash on May 12th.
A Mismatch in the Making?
Fans overwhelmingly believe this fight is a mismatch, that Kambosos Jr. is hopelessly deluded and has no shot whatsoever of winning, and that Maxi Hughes should face Lomachenko for the vacant IBF lightweight title.
Kambosos Jr. defeated Hughes by a highly questionable twelve-round majority decision last July in Shawnee, Oklahoma. If you saw that fight, you had to be thinking, ‘Were the judges asleep?’
Advantages for Kambosos:
- Fighting at Home in Australia
- Youth
- Size
- Self-belief
It’s not just the Hughes fight that makes fans view Kambosos as out of his league against Lomachenko. George’s performances in his two defeats against Devin Haney, apart from another questionable decision, also make fans view him as not having a true shot at winning.
Hopefully, we don’t see a repeat of the Hughes fight, with Kambosos getting dominated and then still being given a victory by the judges.
Kambosos Jr.: “I know that style”
“I come from that Russian kind of style. I know that style very well,” said George Kambosos Jr. to TCB Network, indicating that he will be comfortable with Vasily Lomachenko’s Eastern European fighting style in their clash nine weeks from now, on May 12th.
Fans will have to take Kambosos at his word about knowing the Eastern European style of Lomachenko because he’s never faced anyone during his 11-year professional career who fights this way.
“I had ten years with that style. Pick up more artillery. Things sometimes happen, and God works in mysterious ways,” said Kambosso Jr., sounding confident.