George Kambosos Jr. is already closing the door on a possible title defense against Ryan Garcia should he come out victorious on Sunday night against WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney in Melbourne, Australia.
The undefeated unified champion Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs) says #2 WBC Ryan Garcia will need to earn a title shot against him.
Kambosos will be fighting a rematch with Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) later this year, so the earliest he’ll be looking to defend his belts will be in the first half of 2023.
It might be a mistake for Kambosos Jr to be shutting the door on a fight against the unbeaten 23-year-old Ryan because that would be an excellent fight to sell on ESPN PPV.
As long as Ryan is still undefeated and highly ranked, he would be an excellent option for Kambosos in a winnable fight.
“It was a good come-back fight. I felt Tagoe was a better fighter than he showed,” said George Kambosos Jr. to Fighthype about Ryan Garcia’s recent fight against fringe contender Emmanuel Tagoe on April 9th.
“It was a bit too much for him, and he just didn’t let his hands go. I’m not going to take away from Ryan’s win. It was a good win,” Kambosos said.
“Tagoe is a high-level guy as well. So all the best to that win. We’ll see what’s next. Supposedly, he’s [Ryan] fighting again coming up. They’re going to announce something, so we’ll wait and see,” Kambosos said about the 23-year-old King Ryan.
Kambosos goes a little overboard in describing the 33-year-old Tagoe as a “high-level guy.” He’s more of a bottom fringe contender with no solid wins on his resume, and he was obviously selected for Ryan based on his lack of power.
“The whole division has moved on, and he will have to earn that shot. He will not just be given that shot because of his star power or social media base.
“Earn your shot, and then you’ll get an opportunity,” said Kambosos Jr., making it clear that Ryan Garcia won’t be given a title shot in a voluntary defense.
Likely, Kambosos won’t hold onto his four titles for very much longer, possibly not even past next Sunday when he meets up with Haney.
If Kambosos is serious about wanting to fight the best, he will run into significant problems against #1 WBC Vasyl Lomachenko or WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. Those guys are on another level than Kambosos, and it’ll be almost impossible for him to defeat them unless they’re injured.
Top Rank promoter Todd Duboef said to Sky Sports on Thursday that he will be speaking to Lomachenko on Sunday to find out if he wants to fight the winner of the Kambosos vs. Haney fight. DuBoef says Lomachenko is training, so there’s a possibility he could face the winner.
