Eddie Hearn believes George Kambosos Jr. will choose Devin Haney over Vasily Lomachenko for his next fight in June because he wants the undisputed lightweight championship.
DAZN and Hearn are in negotiations with IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO lightweight champion Kambosos Jr’s promoter Lou DiBella to put together a fight in June in Australia.
The streaming giant has taken an interest in making this fight, and they’re working with Haney to come to an agreement to get it done.
Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) had been considered as the frontrunner to get the fight with Kambosos, but Hearn and DAZN may have DiBella considering them as the better deal.
Kambosos has more to gain fighting WBC champion Haney because the winner of the fight would be the undisputed lightweight champion in the division. In contrast, Lomachenko would be a regular title defense for Kambosos.
Hearn expects Kambosos to pick Haney
“DAZN has gotten into the middle and is sort of talking to Lou DiBella and talking to us. They’d love to make the Devin Haney fight,” said Eddie Hearn to Secondsout about DAZN still wanting to put a fight together between Haney and Kambosos.
“Looking at it from the outset, I think Kambosos has two options. Lomachenko in a standard defense or Devin Haney in an undisputed, and I think he’d [Kambosos] will rather do the undisputed fight,” said Hearn. “Hopefully, we can get that.”
“Devin Haney is coming out saying he’ll take the same money. I think, all things considered, George Kambosos would rather fight Devin Haney to clear up the undisputed fight.
“It’s a tremendous fight, and George deserves his big night in Australia, and hopefully, we can get a deal done,” said Hearn.
It’s good that Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) isn’t pricing himself out of the fight by asking for crazy money to face Kambosos.
If Haney does get the chance to face Kambosos, he’s got to make it entertaining because his last two contests were boring against Joseph Diaz Jr. and Jorge Linares.
“The two main options for Kambosos were a unification-type fight against Devin Haney that would have settled the WBC championship once and for all, and a title defense against Vasily Lomachenko,” said Chris Mannix to The Volume.
Kambosos vs. Lomachenko possible for June
“In the last few weeks, Ryan Garcia has emerged as a possibility. I saw Oscar De La Hoya Tweeting out, ‘George Kambosos, the most lucrative offer for you is Ryan Garcia.’
“I don’t necessarily disagree with that, but I don’t think that’s a front-burner type of thing for Kambosos. It sure sounds like Kambosos is closing in on a deal with Vasily Lomachenko.
“Lomachenko has done everything that he possibly can to get this fight, whereas Devin Haney, you can make an argument has not,” said Mannix.
“The short answer is that come early June, he’s going to be defending his title against Vasily Lomachenko in Australia,” said Dan Rafael about what George Kambosos Jr will be doing next.
“They have a framework for a deal. The only thing that’s lacking is for George to sign off on it. Top Rank and DiBella have made their agreement with one another.
“One of the big factors that was keeping it to where it was getting to the point where it was necessary for George to give the sign off. In Australia, they had to get the AFL to move a game out of a stadium in Melbourne, and they were able to get that done.
“From what I have been told, they have received permission for the team to move their game. I do think it’s going to be a two-fight deal between DiBella and Top Rank and Lomachenko.
“If George loses, he’ll have a rematch clause. Keep in mind, one of the things that were important to Kambosos is that he doesn’t want to lose his belts. He doesn’t want to be stripped, and there was pressure behind the scenes between Top Rank and the WBO to call the mandatory, and Lomachenko is the mandatory. So that would satisfy that aspect also.
“If you’re going to have a mandatory challenger, he’s not one of these mandatory challengers that nobody knows about or cares about and doesn’t want to see.
“Vasily Lomachenko, even without belts, is the #1 lightweight in boxing in terms of his overall ability, talents, and who you would make in any of these match-ups, even if George has the titles.
“Ryan Garcia, without question, was #1 in terms of the negotiations. The one thing that made the difference is George didn’t want to have a meaningless fight against a tune-up or a regular guy, even if it was going to be a homecoming celebration.
“If he was going to go the Ryan Garcia route, it would have meant him fighting at home in Australia at sometime in that June timeframe against some other opponent because Ryan is coming back from the injury, and having his tune-up, shake off the rust, get to know Joe Goosen fight in April.
“So, George would have to win, Ryan would have to win, and then meet each other in the fall. Then, of course, there would be a rematch clause in that fight also. That would be more of a one-off, and then a two-fight deal with Golden Boy and Garcia.
“I had a feeling they [Team Kambosos] didn’t want to go that route unless the money was necessarily more. They didn’t want to have a regular fight. They wanted to have a big fight in the next fight, and I applaud George Kambosos for that.
“How many times have we seen guys reach the top, win a title, be the top guy, and then rest on their laurels, take a soft touch. I’m not even knocking that. I get it. This is a business, this is entertainment and you want to show fans something.
“But George is different from most guys. He wanted a real fight, be it against Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia against Vasily Lomachenko. He wanted a real guy in front of him in the next fight,” said Rafael.
