Lomachenko Opts Out; Devin Haney Offered June 5 Fight with George Kambosos
It seemed foregone that unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr’s (20-0, 10 KOs) next fight would be against Vasyl Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) on June 5 in Australia. Suddenly, things have taken a dramatic turn. Kambosos’ promoter, Lou DiBella, has informed ESPN that Lomachenko has decided to turn down a fight with Kambosos. Instead, “Loma” has opted to stay in his native Ukraine which is currently at war with Russia.
IT’S MORE THAN ABOUT BOXING
Lomachenko is making a stance. The fight with Kambosos was right there for him. But he’s dealing with things that precede The Sweet Science. Sensitive to his plight, DiBella says he completely understands and respects his decision.
“How can anyone question, the fight he’s going through right now is much bigger than any boxing match. We made a deal with him. The deal was literally done before the invasion. We wanted to give him any chance within reason with our allowable timetable.
We have nothing but the utmost respect for his decision. Kambosos wanted to make sure once we made that deal, that Lomachenko had ample time to decide.”
Kambosos also expressed empathy as he sent the following to Lomachenko on social media:
In February 2022, “Loma” joined the territorial defense battalion in reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to martial law, men in armed service are banned from leaving the country. However, his promoter, Bob Arum, disclosed they were in negotiations with the cultural minister of Ukraine for an exemption that would allow the three-division champ to train and fight abroad.
SECOND TIME AROUND?
As a result of this latest development, DiBella has now sent an offer to WBC lightweight champ Devin Haney (27-0, 15 KOs). There was a previous attempt to make a fight between the two world champions following Kambosos’ victory over Teofimo Lopez. However, negotiations stalled. Team Kambosos moved on and struck a deal to fight Lomachenko. The hope is that this time around, Kambosos and Haney can agree to a deal. The two champions have once again started to trade insults towards each other.
While thoughts certainly go out to Lomachenko and what he’s dealing with, this is the kind of fight that Haney has been craving. He’s been dogmatic about his pursuit to fight the best and become the man at 135 pounds and badly wants to have a go with the unified champ. Stay tuned to 3Kings Boxing for further updates.
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By: Michael Wilson Jr.
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