By Dan Ambrose: Devin Haney says he’s ready for anything former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr brings to the table in their rematch on Oct. 16.
Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) prepares to fly to Melbourne, Australia to defend his undisputed 135-pound championship against the ever-confident Kambosos Jr (20-1, 10 KOs) at Rod Laver Arena.
Kambosos, 29, has a second chance after losing his precious belts to Haney last June in a 12-round unanimous decision loss in front of a huge crowd at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.
The way Haney dominated Kambosos, it will be difficult for the Aussie to make the necessary adjustments to his game to emerge victorious in the rematch.
If Kambosos had more punching power and hand speed, he could potentially hurt Haney like Jorge Linares did.
At this point, Kambosos isn’t going to suddenly transform into a puncher like Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis or Ryan Garcia, which is what he would need to have a chance of beating Haney.
The only reason this fight is happening is that Kambosos Jr had a rematch clause in his contract for his fight against Haney.
If not for that, Haney would have moved on to a bigger fight against the likes of Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz or Vasyl Lomachenko. Those are two guys Haney wants after his rematch with Kambosos.
“Obviously he’s going to come with a better game plan, so I’m going to have to be better than last time,” Devin Haney told iFL TV of his October 15 rematch with George Kambosos Jr.
“Life has not changed. Of course, I have the belts. It’s obvious. I worked hard for it and I knew the time would come, so nothing has changed,” Haney said. “It is still the same. It’s still tunnel vision. Now is the time to defend and emerge victorious.
“I knew if I just stuck to the game plan and worked on the things that worked in the gym, the fight would be easy,” Haney said of his victory over former unified 135-pound champion Kambosos Jr. last June.
“I can’t say what you can do differently because I have all the answers for anything you bring to the table. We’ve been studying it like crazy. We know what he does. We know the mistakes you make and the habits you have.
“We know the things he does well too. So we are prepared for whatever he brings.
“I thought that shit was funny,” Haney said when asked about her thoughts on Kambosos as an excuse to lose weight on her first try last June.
“I knew he was a little crazy. He knew he was a bit delusional. He didn’t just acknowledge his mistake. When he tried to give her a reason, I knew he hadn’t gotten there.
“We have to see,” Haney said when asked if he could stop Kambosos. “He’s a tough guy.”
