By Dan Ambrose: Bill Haney believes former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. is a “desperate man” heading into a rematch with undisputed 135-pound champion Devin Haney on October 16 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia.
Kambosos’ career is basically on the line for this fight, as he is expected to retire if he loses to Haney again. If Kambosos wins, he will have all four belts and a reason to continue his career for a while longer.
However, Kambosos is the underdog, and given the way he looked in a one-sided loss to Haney last June, the chances of him winning the rematch next month are slim.
The 23-year-old Haney will once again travel to the neck of the Kambosos forest to fight him in Melbourne, Australia. The pro-Kambosos crowd didn’t help him last time against Haney, and they’re not expected to make a difference this time, either.
Kambosos got lucky with his win over a sick and injured Teofimo Lopez in November 2021. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
When Kambosos faced Haney last summer, his true limitations as a fighter were exposed for the world to see. In the rematch, it will probably be worse for Kambosos because Haney is sitting down with his punches a lot more, and this time it is expected that he will take the fight to him instead of boxing.
“To see Devin fulfill his dream of being undisputed, but to do it in a relatively short amount of time at 23 years old,” Bill Haney told Fight Hub TV.
“Now, go back to the other side of the pond to defend it. Only a few, if any, have done so. He knows exactly who he is and exactly what is here for his purpose. Once you have your purpose, then you have your plan.
“It’s that age; It’s that time, you know what I mean? It’s that summer, and things are clicking. He’s healthy,” Bill said when asked about Haney looking for explosives in the gloves. “We’re working on some things in camp that we want to do different.
“When you talk about the first fight, even the world, including you and everyone else, didn’t expect him and Kambosos to fight the way he did. We don’t know what George Kambosos will bring.
“We know that he is a desperate man, a hungry man, a man who has nothing to lose. Similar to when he fought Teofimo López. You have to get all the tools ready, polish everything to the best of your ability, and then let Devin make the adjustments on October 16 to whatever George brings.
“The goal is to win,” Bill Haney said when asked if the goal is for Devin to knock out Kambosos. “He is at number 29. he is young; he is 23 years old. We always say that winning is what you most want to do.
“You can’t necessarily dictate what George is going to do. You have to make the adjustments. So you go in there and you do that. You don’t go in there and necessarily go for the knockout. You let it come is how I learned the game.
“You don’t want to say harder because one thing, when they bring you harder, you get smarter. I know we will make the right adjustment. I don’t think there’s anything I can do that Devin hasn’t seen before.
“It’s just about getting into the arena and performing and performing and entertaining and having fun. We know that George is good at his one-liners and quotes from him. They almost seem related to the movie.
“This guy, now that we know him as George, seems more like something out of the Rocky movie. He comes with a chip on his shoulder; he is talking less. It’s just about being prepared and ready to make the adjustment for him and now underestimate all that he brings.
“When you are walking with your mind, there is something the opponent does to make the adjustment that the fighter does. That’s what we love about the sport we’re in.
“You have to tune in on October 16 at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia to see it. You will see the growth and development of Devin. You will see the maturity of Devin.
“You have the opportunity to see something here that we want to present that night as well. We are looking forward to it. God willing, both fighters make weight.
“It hasn’t been the easiest thing for Devin either. We’re also not ha-ha, hee-hee about George doing the weight. You have two fighters who are true 135-pounders, if not 135-pounders going up.
“Absolutely. For Vasyl and the world to find respect in Devin for being great for Lomachenko, that means everything in the world to us, coming from where we come from to be here.
“It has forced us to look at George Kambosos as a professional, as a trainer and a fighter so as not to disrespect the game and to look beyond George Kambosos to look at a fighter as talented as Vasyl Lomachenko.
“Absolutely, getting into big fights, whether it’s there at 135 or where Devin goes at 140,” Bill said when asked if the plan for Haney is to fight Lomachenko if he beats Kambosos on Oct. 16.
“We’ve also seen Ryan Garcia, Teofimo Lopez, Tank Davis fight at 140 pounds. That is something we hope to do. Good times to be in the Devin Haney business.
“Everything has been lining up where we find success and hopefully that will continue to happen. This is a crazy, crazy business, this boxing business.
“Will we ever see Devin in the ring with some of those fighters?” Bill said when asked if Ryan Garcia and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis will ever fight Haney. “I’ll tell you one thing: if they don’t fight Devin and lose, you’ll see us fight the winner.
“So it’s going to be them or someone who beats them because all we want to do is be in the big fights. We saw the thing with Teofimo López.
“You saw it with Vasyl Lomachenko. We wanted Lomachenko, and he wanted to fight Teo. He loses to Teo. We want to fight Teo, and Teo loses to Kambosos. Kambosos says that he wants to fight Vasyl, but he ended up having to fight us. So you see how things worked out,” said Bill.
