It took almost two years, but the showdown between Vasiliy Lomachenko and George Kambosos, Jr. is finally set.
Lomachenko and Kambosos, two of boxing’s best lightweights, will meet on Sunday, May 12 in Perth, Australia. ESPN’s Mike Coppinger was the first to report the fight was over on Saturday’s ESPN broadcast in Quebec City, Canada.
Kambosos made an announcement on his social media on Monday morning.
“Two warriors in an eternal battle for the world lightweight championship in Australia! Have a healthy camp @VasylLomachenko See you soon in Australia.”
The 12-round fight, with the vacant IBF lightweight title at stake, will likely air live on an ESPN platform on Saturday, May 11 in the United States, as Top Rank has an exclusive deal with ESPN.
Two warriors in an eternal battle for the world lightweight championship in Australia! Have a healthy camp @VasylLomachenko See you soon in Australia ☦️🏆🇦🇺 #kambososlomachenko #FerociousPromotions #7x pic.twitter.com/9nXNi7i7a5
– George “Ferocious” Kambosos Jr (@georgekambosos) January 15, 2024
Devin Haney vacated the IBF title after he decided to move up in weight to challenge Regis Prograis for the WBC junior welterweight world title, which he won by decision on December 9.
The Lomachenko-Kambosos fight is also a clash between contenders ranked in the top 10 by The Ring. Lomachenko and Kambosos are ranked 1 and 8, respectively.
The clash was originally scheduled for June 2022, but Lomachenko had to withdraw from the fight after the conflict between Ukraine and Russia began weeks earlier. Lomachenko, heavyweight contender Oleksandr Usyk and junior middleweight contender Serhii Bohachuk, among others, would travel to Ukraine to report for service in its military.
Instead of Lomachenko, Haney fought and defeated Kambosos by a 12-round one-sided decision, and did so again in their rematch four months later. Both fights between Haney and Kambosos took place in Australia.
Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KOs), now residing in the Los Angeles suburb of Camarillo, challenged Haney for the Ring lightweight championship on May 20, losing a close, though contested, unanimous decision.
In his previous fight in October 2022, his first since returning from service in the Ukrainian army, Lomachenko, 35, who has won world title belts in three different weight classes, overcame a slow start to defeat Jamaine Ortiz by unanimous decision. .
Since the loss to Haney, Kambosos (21-2, 10 KOs), who resides in Sydney, Australia, returned to the ring on July 22, winning a narrow majority decision over Maxi Hughes in an IBF world title eliminator fight. , in a fight The media and boxing experts thought Hughes did enough to win.
The 30-year-old earned the best victory of his career in November 2021, overcoming a knockdown to defeat Teofimo López and win the Ring lightweight championship. López had defeated Lomachenko in October 2020.
Coppinger also reported that twin brothers Andrew and Jason Moloney will fight in separate bouts on the May 12 card. Jason Moloney fought last Saturday in Quebec City on the undercard of the Artur Beterbiev-Callum Smith fight, successfully defending his WBO bantamweight world title by defeating Saul Sanchez by unanimous decision in an all-action bout.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County, California, Star newspaper. He can be contacted at [email protected]
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