By Sean Jones: Devin Haney took to Twitter on Sunday to expose Australian George Kambosos Jr. as “ducking” him and he thinks that he doesn’t want the undisputed clash after all.
Haney sounds like he’s at the end of his rope, having agreed to the travel and vaccine requirements to fight the Aussi Kambosos in his native country Australia for a stadium fight.
If Haney, 23, is just being strung along like a puppet controlled from above by Kambosos, he needs to cut the strings that bound him, quit this game, and move on.
Haney’s promoter Eddie Hearn needs to come up with someone else for him to fight because he can’t afford to waste months on Kambosos if there’s no real interest on his part.
Good options for Haney’s next fight:
- Ryan Garcia
- Michel Rivera
- Vasily Lomachenko
- Richard Commey
- Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz
- Jorge Linares
If WBC lightweight champion Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) is right about his belief that Kambosos Jr. doesn’t want the fight, it’s not that surprising.
This is Kambosos’ 15 minutes of fame, and the chances are high that he loses “them beautiful belts” of his in his first fight as the undisputed 135-lb champion, which is why he might be dragging his feet.
Haney told @SInow that he has received one shot of a two-dose COVID regiment and intends to get the second, a requirement for fighting in Australia. https://t.co/KKxp5ilFi6
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) January 16, 2022
Knowing that Kambosos will be taken apart by the highly technical Haney, it could be that he’s only going through the motions of putting a fight together with him.
It’s a great opportunity for Kambosos to get some clout without having to fight Haney and risk losing his bargaining chips for big money.
Kambosos hasn’t had the chance to milk his titles for two or three easy fights before putting a cash-out match against Haney.
It could be that Kambosos is interested in getting in two or three easy paydays against bottom feeders in the lightweight division first before he sets up a bidding war between Haney, Ryan Garcia, Vasily Lomachenko, and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
If Kambosos doesn’t fight Haney, he can always face the highest bidder for his four “beautiful belts”. Kambosos’ best chance of making the most money possible is to fight one of the three kings:
- Ryan Garcia
- Gervonta Davis
- Vasily Lomachenko
Kambosos might be better off milking his titles for three or four easy fights against the most beatable contenders in the top 15.
Contenders for Kambosos to milk his titles:
- Maxi Hughes
- Lee Selby
- Guillaume Frenois
Haney will need to be careful though because he’s looked chinny lately in getting hurt in his last two fights. If he can’t fight hard without getting hurt, he’s not going to stay the WBC lightweight champion for long.