George Kambosos Jr is ready for Devin Haney, and says he did try to help with Bill Haney’s issues entering Australia.
George Kambosos Jr is already preparing to hear excuses if (in his mind, when) he beats Devin Haney in their June 4 undisputed lightweight championship bout in Melbourne, Australia.
Haney will be without trainer Ben Davison and his father Bill Haney, who also works in the corner and can’t get into Australia because of something on his criminal record. Yoel Judah will be the chief second for Haney on fight night.
Kambosos says he’s actually reached out to “a few high-profile people” to try and help the Haney situation, but that ultimately it’s not his problem, and that he’s been in similar situations before:
“I know there will be a whole lot of excuses once I destroy Devin Haney: about the father, about the trainer, about the jet lag, about everything. ... At the end of the day, everyone is parading Devin for making the trip to Australia, but they forget that I’ve been [fighting overseas] for five years. I’ve had to go without my father when I’m going over there. Obviously, my father has been a massive part of my career, but I’m a man and I’m always ready to fight by any means, to fight by myself.”
Kambosos (20-0, 10 KO) added that he’s ready to “dismantle” Haney (27-0, 15 KO) in what is the highest-profile fight, at least internationally, to take place on Australian soil since Jeff Horn controversially upset Manny Pacquiao in 2017.
Kambosos upset Teofimo Lopez last year to win the WBA, IBF, and WBO titles, while Haney has held the WBC belt since being elevated from interim to full titleholder in 2019, after the sanctioning body “promoted” Vasiliy Lomachenko to “franchise champion,” a designation they’ve made up to help favored star fighters avoid mandatory defenses they don’t want to do for whatever reason. There have only been two such cases: Lomachenko at lightweight, and Canelo Alvarez when he was still at middleweight, which resulted in Jermall Charlo being promoted as Haney was.
However you see the lightweight “undisputed” claim now, it will be fully settled on June 4 (June 5 Australian time, as the card has been put on early in the day to accommodate prime time TV in the United States).
And end of the day, Kambosos is right — it’s his job to show up and fight, as it is Haney’s.
For whatever it’s worth, Haney arrived in Australia three days ago, so he will have a good window to adjust to the time difference:
From here, all they can do is have the fight and settle the dispute. It should be a good one.
