2022 is a great year to be a boxing fan, as many of the most anticipated fights have already been confirmed and promise to provide memorable postcards. One of them is George Kambosos Jr. vs Devin Haneyon June 5, in Australia, a commitment that became a reality in large part due to the great effort made by the American fighter to make it happen.
Kambosos Jr. comes into this bout as the A-side of the equation, as he holds the WBA, IBF, and WBO Lightweight belts, after taking them from Teofimo Lopez in 2021. The current record of the Australian, who will have the support of his people on June 5, is 20-0-0.
Devin Haney is the current WBC Lightweight Champion at 23 years of age. The Dream has an impressive 27-0-0 record, having defeated former world champions such as Yuriorkis Gamboa and Jorge Linaresin his previous fights.
What had to happen for Kambosos Jr. vs Haney to become a reality?
Originally, the plan was to pit George Kambosos Jr. against Vasyl Lomachenko, a fight that, while not giving boxing its first Undisputed World Lightweight Champion in the 4-belt era, did pit two real trains against each other. However, the conflict in Ukraine opened the door for Haney to enter the equation, although it was not an easy road for him to make the June 5 fight in Australia.
It is in that sense that Devin Haney’s willingness to sacrifice in many aspects so that boxing could have this mega-fight must be valued, taking into consideration that The Dream is not a contender or a rookie, but one of the most solid champions today.
“To be honest I pretty much agreed to everything they wanted. No matter what it was I didn’t argue. We didn’t get nothing our way but we didn’t do no arguing. We just say whatever we can do to make the fight happen, If I had to go over there orIf I had to make a networkwith another promoter or broadcaster to make the fight happen so be it. If I had to rematch twice in Australia, so be it.”, said Haney in an interview for Fight Hype.
The San Francisco native has only one goal in mind, and he is showing that he is doing everything he can to achieve it: “I just want the belts. I want my name in the history books forever. There have only been six men that have achieved it (being Undisputed Champions in the 4 belts era) and I want to be the next. There will finally be one king in the Lightweight division, and it is going to be me“.
George Kambosos Jr defeated Teofimo Lopez in 2021. (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
