George Kambosos Jr. Vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko Set For May 12th
George Kambosos Jr. and Vasiliy Lomachenko will fight for the vacant IBF lightweight title in Perth, Australia, on May 12, 2024.
Kambosos will aim to become a world champion for the second time after having shocked the world by beating Teofimo Lopez. The win earned him the IBF, WBA and WBO belts as he unified the division. Lopez subsequently moved up as the rematch never got made. Kambosos then faced Devin Haney for the right to become undisputed. The Australian came up short as he was comprehensively beaten in back-to-back fights in Australia.
As for Lomachenko, he also lost the right to become undisputed after losing to Haney via a unanimous decision. Despite this, most of the boxing community felt Loma should have been given the decision. He ultimately took a year out after being linked with a fight against Shakur Stevenson. After Haney moved up, the belts became vacant, putting Stevenson as the leading candidate to fight the next-highest-ranked opponent for the belt. That was Lomachenko, but the Ukrainian took time out as Shakur faced Edwin De Los Santos.
Arum On Lomachenko
“I met with Egis before he went off to Poland for the Usyk fight. We tried to make the fight between Shakur and Loma. And Egis told us that Loma has decided that he’s not fighting again this year. So, the fact that they’re talking about a fight with Loma and Kambosos is nonsense. Egis would not mislead us, and he told us that Loma wants to take the rest of the year off,” Arum said
But Loma’s manager, Egis Klimas, did indicate that his fighter is targeting a return in 2024. This was to win a world title and put himself back in the conversation for some of the biggest fights.
Lomachenko’s Aim
“We should expect him to be back some time next year. After that not a loss – but a “loss” – he just said he’s not gonna do anything until the end of the year. He’s taking it easy. [He’s] doing whatever he does at home. And next year we’re gonna come and start looking into the fights. We’re not gonna fight just any fight, he wants to fight for a world title. 135, yes,” Egis Klimas (Loma’s manager) stated
The winner will put themselves in line for a unification fight against Shakur Stevenson or Gervonta Davis, the latter of whom is the WBA champion. It still needs to be clarified if there is a rematch clause in place, but the fact that the fight is taking place in Australia suggests that Kambosos is the A-side.
A win for either fighter puts Bob Arum in a strong position since he has Loma, Kambosos and Stevenson all contracted under Top Rank. But that could be about to change with reports that Stevenson has one fight left under his deal. But that may end up creating a fight between Shakur and Loma vs. Kambosos for the chance to unify.
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