Vasily Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr. will compete for the vacant lightweight title this Saturday, May 11th, on ESPN at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. The event starts at 10:00 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+.
This is the IBF 135-lb belt vacated by Devin Haney when he went up to light welterweight. Lomachenko had lost to Devin by a controversial decision last year in May, so now he gets another chance to win one piece of the four belts that were previousley held by him by his conqueror.
Kambosos on Shaky Ground
Technically, former unified lightweight champion Kambosos will be fighting at home, but he’s from Sydney, so he’s not in familiar territory. Still, if the fight goes to the cards and if it’s anywhere close, you have to figure Kambosos will be given the decision.
Hopefully, it’s not a controversial outcome because that would look bad, especially if Lomachenko gets the business, as he did in his last fight against Haney. Lomachenko won that fight in the eyes of many, but the judges gave it to the younger fighter.
It’s unclear why Kambosos isn’t fighting in Sydney or Melbourne, but it could be a sign that he’s not as popular as he once was after his two losses to Haney and his questionable win over Maxi Hughes.
Kambosos looked really bad, getting dominated by Hughes as badly as he did in his two losses to Haney, but the judges gave it to him. I had it 11-1 for Hughes.
It’s safe to say that Kambosos’ Cinderella moment is gone, and he’s returned to the ham & egger fighter he was before his surprise upset win over Teofimo Lopez in 2021. That was the perfect storm that worked in Kambosos’s favor, with him winning against Teo, who was weight drained, ring rusty, injured, and he took him lightly.
If it were just two of those things, Teofimo would have won, but he could with all four of them going against him.
The undercard for Saturday night is a mixed bag of fights that hardcore boxing fans would like, but not casuals.
Undercard
Andrew Moloney vs. Pedro Guevara
Imam Khataev vs. Ričards Bolotņiks
Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne vs. Hemi Ahio
Faiga Opelu vs. Joe Goodall
