George Kambosos Looking To Return in May and Wants No Tune-Up
Three-belt unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr (20-0, 10 KOs) has become the toast of his native Australia. That’s due to his title win over Teofimo Lopez on November 26, 2021. Fighting on Lopez’s home turf of New York City and an underdog going in, the 28-year-old knocked Lopez down in round one. Kambosos survived some shaky moments in the tenth but recovered to outbox the favored Lopez to score what is largely viewed as 2021’s upset of the year.
Following a triumphant welcome home, the new champ sat down with Fox Sports Australia to reflect on his win. There’s a sense of extreme pride in achieving his dream of winning a world title. Still, Kambosos is far from satisfied, understanding more work is in store.
STAYING HUMBLE YET HUNGRY
“It’s a good feeling, having all these belts around me. We’ve reached the top of the mountain. On the other side, there’s another mountain. I didn’t see that one. I gotta climb that one as well.”
The new champ is adamant the hunger he carried on the climb up will remain. Describing himself as stubborn, he said when something is in his grasps, he wants to hold to it until infinity. Now that he has the titles in tow, his goal is to remain a champion for as long as possible. Part of that goal is to stay humble and carry the attitude that there’s always room for improvement.
“If you think you’ve achieve something and you can’t get any better, and you become too big for your own shoes, that’s when you’re going to fall over. That’s not me. A warrior continues to grind and sharpen the sword, and that’s what I’ll continue to do to get better and better.”
DESIRES TO FACE THE BEST
As far as the future, Kambosos says his next fight will be in May. While no opponent has been named, he says his doors are open, and he doesn’t want any tune-ups. WBC champ Devin Haney and three-division champ Vasyl Lomachenko both have expressed an interest in facing the Aussie. For Kambosos, he is down for whoever wants the smoke.
“I’m coming for the big names, and we are in negotiations with everybody. I love the Haney fight, I love the WBC piece. I love the Lomachenko fight, a big name worldwide. “Tank” Davis as well. Ryan Garcia, he’s got a huge name. I want to see him back in the ring first.
We are sitting here negotiating, making sure that they are going to come to Australia first. That is the most important, that they will travel down under. I know for a fact that Haney will and Lomachenko will. So, that is a big plus straight away.”
The rise of George Kambosos is quite amazing. He has gone from relative unknown to the center of the lightweight division. If the state of 135 is a game of chess, he controls the board. It will be interesting to see what his next move is. Stay tuned to 3KingsBoxing to see what that move will indeed be.
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By: Michael Wilson Jr.
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