George Kambosos Jr was in attendance for Devin Haney’s win over Joseph Diaz Jr tonight in Las Vegas — and even did some analyst work for DAZN while he was there — and was happy to field questions about possibly fighting Haney next in what would be a full undisputed championship fight at lightweight.
Kambosos, who of course upset Teofimo Lopez last weekend, stopped shy of guaranteeing that Haney would be next, but did say he’s right in the mix and that he liked what he saw from the WBC titleholder on Saturday night.
On Haney’s performance against Diaz
“Good win, man. I’m not going to come here and out-shine him or take away from his win. It was good, he boxed well, boxed smart. He did take a few shots! We know JoJo’s not a natural (lightweight), but a great win. Full respect there. You can see the mutual respect. If we can get things sorted on the business side of things, because he wants it, I want it — we’ll make it happen.”
On whether he was impressed with Haney’s display
“Look, I love the sweet science, but I love the excitement as well. He showed a great boxing game plan, but again, he took some good shots, too. Full respect. I’m not going to try to diminish his win, I want to lift this win up, because it makes it even bigger if we do get it on.”
On how he thinks he’d do with Haney
“I’m a natural 135 lber my whole life. Every fight I’ve had has been at 135 lbs. Everyone saw what I did to (Teofimo) Lopez, saw his face, saw how hard I hit. Not only that, but the explosive speed and power was something he would have never seen before. So yeah, I saw some things. It’s exciting. But again, not going to take away from his victory. Great win, now let’s do the business side of things. Now we can talk.”
On what he and Haney said to one another after the fight
“Just respect, man. Mutual respect. I took the glasses off so he could see my eyes properly, and said, ‘Now we can talk.’”
On there possibly being other options
“I’m not going to say he’s the man straight away. But I liked what I saw and there is mutual respect. The business side has got to fit right and then we can get it done in Australia.”
On money not being the most important thing
“Money’s going to come with this fight, but it’s about legacy, it’s about what excites me. It’s what I know is going to excite the fight fans and do great in Australia. There are still a lot of different things I want to bring to the table, and we’ll go from there. We’ll see. I want to fight! I want to get in there right now!”
On the report about Teofimo Lopez’s health
“No comment. At the end of the day, all the best to him with whatever he does and the rest of his career. ... I wish him all the best. If he does ever decide to come back to boxing, all the best to him.”
On who he could fight instead of Devin Haney
“I think it’s Tank (Davis), because Lopez beat (Vasiliy) Lomachenko, he beat (Richard) Commey. It’d be Tank, but then again, Ryan Garcia, too. He’s got a big following, so if he can get a nice, good win, maybe early January, ASAP, and look good, he can be in the mix for sure.”
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