BoxRec

Vasiliy Lomachenko-George Kambosos fight set for May 12, sources say

The Vasiliy Lomachenko-George Kambosos fight for the vacant IBF lightweight title will take place May 12 in Perth, Australia, sources told ESPN on Sunday.

The fight will be televised on ESPN on the night of May 11 in the U.S.

Lomachenko, a future Hall of Famer, and Kambosos, the former undisputed lightweight champion, planned to fight in the summer of 2022 in Australia. However, Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KOs) elected to remain in Ukraine after the country was invaded by Russia.

In Lomachenko's absence, Kambosos, 30, defended his four titles against Devin Haney and was routed in June 2022. Haney returned to Kambosos' native Australia for another wide-points victory four months later.

Lomachenko, 35, is coming off a thrilling, razor-thin decision defeat to Haney in May. The two-time Olympic gold medalist is a three-division champion. He is ESPN's No. 1-ranked fighter at 135 pounds.

Kambosos (21-2, 10 KOs) won the undisputed lightweight championship when he defeated Teofimo Lopez in ESPN's 2021 Upset of the Year.

Kambosos, ESPN's No. 5 lightweight, is coming off a controversial decision win over Maxi Hughes in June.

The Moloney twins, Jason and Andrew, will appear on the undercard. Jason Moloney retained his bantamweight title Saturday night with a thrilling majority-decision victory over Saul Sanchez.

If it happens, respect to Kambosos if it does- He has other easier options that with still generate a decent payday.
I think over 12 rounds Kambosos would wait for Loma to slow down and then go at him and either drop Loma a few times and win a hometown Aussie win, or worse case, stop Loma.

Loma to produce his best masterclass yet.

either one is a very good fight

A great matchup. Intriguing, but I'm pretty sure in Loma. I guess, I'd call him an ATG, if he wins. He needs this comeback.

emallini wrote: ↑15 Feb 2022, 15:17 Loma to produce his best masterclass yet.

Oh dear, sorry to break it to you, but Loma has past prime.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑15 Feb 2022, 19:01

Perfect deal. Against the best in the world in usa but with rematch in aus (Loma gets a bit older and some home judging 2nd time) giving you a chance to get the belts back.

If you win it’s a massive win.

if you lose once then win once it’s massive and you still have the belts and can probably do a big trilogy in aus again (because you have the belts and power)

If you lose twice then you arnt the best but you get two massive pay days and have only lost to one of the best ever and can rebuild.

(Would also love this deal vs haney for true undisputed but this is better.)

Would be pretty nice. A great start to a career of extraordinary matchmaking.

Lackeos wrote: ↑16 Feb 2022, 00:19 Would be pretty nice. A great start to a career of extraordinary matchmaking.

ya great fight, who would you pick?

Those goddamn rematch clauses again. Anyway, Lomachenko is wise to agree on all terms, this can be his last chance.

This one is superhard to predict.

So Loma lost to Teo who lost to Kambo= Kambo beats Loma. But not that simple.

Loma utilized the wrong strategy vs Teo and probably came into the ring with an injured shoulder and unmotivated. Since then Loma has koed the big Japanese lightweight and healed up nicely.

Kambosos sparred hundreds of rounds vs Manny Pacquiao. Loma is like an improved version of Manny minus the power, Kambosos knows many things about dealing with elite southpaws inside the ring.

I think that Lomachenko will beat Kambosos by decision but we won't know till we know. Sadly I don't believe that this will be a very entertaining fight. One man will dominate the other from the first round I believe so either we will be seeing Kambo be made to look like crap for over 12 rounda or Loma being broken down for like 4 or 5 rounds before the fight ends.

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑16 Feb 2022, 00:35

Lackeos wrote: ↑16 Feb 2022, 00:19 Would be pretty nice. A great start to a career of extraordinary matchmaking.

ya great fight, who would you pick?

I wouldn't try to pick a match-up like this. Kambosos is a fighter with one win radically better than everything else he's done, and his scalp was Teofimo, who has one win radically better than everything else he's done. It's like... how would you rate Kelly Pavlik after he beat Jermaine Taylor, who beat Bernard Hopkins? Easy to guess wrong. How would you rate Antonio Tarver after he beat RJJ? And then Lomachenko is a great fighter who we're not sure if he's still gonna be prime in his next fight, like Golovkin or Wilder (or Bernard Hopkins at any point in the last 10 years of his career, or Pacquiao in his last handful of fights). I'm more confident that I know what Lomachenko's got, so I'd pick him, but it's very unpredictable.

makes sense, ya agree on kambo being a bit of a wildcard

I could be wrong, but I think no matter who gets the Kambosos fight will win, whether it be Garcia, Loma, Tank, or Haney.

If Kambosos barely beat a sick guy with lung issues that couldn't even spar leading up to the fight, he is highly over-rated.

KiwiRider wrote: ↑15 Feb 2022, 17:32

emallini wrote: ↑15 Feb 2022, 15:17 Loma to produce his best masterclass yet.

Oh dear, sorry to break it to you, but Loma has past prime.

He looked beautiful vs Commey

How you beat a guy like Loma is match his speed, have good footwork and punch with him. Kambosas has all the tools to beat Lomachenko, not to mention he's the naturally bigger man. I would still bet on Loma if I was a betting man, but this fight will most likely be very close and competitive.

Loma is a bigger name than Haney. I'm looking forward to see this fight.

apollo creed wrote: ↑16 Feb 2022, 13:45 Loma is a bigger name than Haney. I'm looking forward to see this fight.

Same here
Loma will be better entertainment than Haney I feel, I very feel.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑16 Feb 2022, 05:12

This is such nonsense from Haney. Reflects poorly on the man. He is not worth as much as Lomachenko, a Lomachenko fight is always gonna be bigger at this stage than a Haney fight. Haney should have said. Whatever he is taking I'll take one third of that or a quarter.

One thing that is interesting here is that this would be Lomachenko's best win. He would be beating the man that beat him at an advanced age and a high weightclass for his frame.

On the other hand this would only be Kambosos second best victory.

Yet most including myself are predicting a Loma victory.

Like the match up.
Loma has slowed a bit but technically he's still a very solid boxer.
Rematch clauses have been all the rage for years now, can't blame Kambosos for putting that on the table if he's able to do so, guarantees him a couple of decent paydays.