Terms agreed to for Lomachenko vs. Kambosos lightweight title fight
Former champions will meet for vacant IBF belt in Perth, Australia
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Representatives for former lightweight champions Vasiliy Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr. have gotten all the details ironed out and their agreement will go to paper this week with a fight announcement and press conference expected next week, sources with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite.
Lomachenko and Kambosos will meet for the vacant IBF lightweight title on May 12 in Perth Australia, where it will be Sunday afternoon, with the fight to be televised live on ESPN on the night of May 11 in the United States, the sources said.
Kambosos, who is from Australia, announced on social media last week that he would meet Lomachenko on that date but did not identify the site other than Australia, although the details were not completely done at that time.
Now, however, Top Rank, which promotes Lomachenko and co-promotes Kambosos, and Lou DiBella, Kambosos’ co-promoter, have ironed things out, including for the site, where the state of Western Australia, where Perth is located, will help back the fight financially, sources said.
“Two warriors in a battle for the ages for the lightweight world championship in Australia,” Kambosos wrote. “Have a healthy camp Vasyl Lomachenko. See you soon Down Under.”
Because various members of the IBF will travel to the Perth for the fight, the organization on Friday notified those planning to attend its 39th annual convention that runs May 6 to May 8 in San Juan, Puerto Rico that it has moved its annual divisional ratings meeting up one day to May 8 to allow for the long trip.
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The IBF belt became vacant when undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney relinquished his remaining three titles in December just before moving up to junior welterweight, where he shut out Regis Prograis to take his title on Dec. 9. A month earlier he vacated the WBC belt.
Kambosos (21-2, 10 KOs), 30, was a mandatory challenger when he shockingly upset Teofimo Lopez to take his three unified titles and the lineal title in November 2021.
But then Kambosos lost the belts to Haney via one-sided decision in a unification fight for the undisputed crown in June 2022 in Melbourne, Australia, and then lost another one-sided decision in Melbourne in an immediate rematch in October 2022.
In his only bout since, Kambosos eked out a disputed majority decision over Maxi Hughes on July 22 in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Three-division champion and former pound-for-pound king Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KOs), 35, a southpaw from Ukraine and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was slated to challenge Kambosos for his unified titles in June 2022 in Australia, but he withdrew in order to remain at home in Ukraine due to the war with Russia, and Haney took his place and defeated Kambosos.
Lomachenko returned in October 2022 and won a much-tougher-than expected decision over Jamaine Ortiz, which he followed by challenging Haney for the undisputed title in May and lost a close unanimous decision in Las Vegas in an exciting pay-per-view headliner many thought Lomachenko deserved to win.
When Haney gave up the WBC title in order to move up in weight, Lomachenko could have faced Top Rank stablemate Shakur Stevenson last fall for the vacant belt, but he declined and elected to take the rest of the year off knowing there would likely be an IBF title fight available to him when he returned in 2024.
Stevenson instead outpointed Edwin De Los Santos on Nov. 16 to win the vacant WBC title.
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Kambosos as has no chance he is a one hit wonder
Perth? Kambosos is from Sydney - a 5 hour flight from Perth. Bali is famously a shorter flight time from Perth than Sydney is. Money talks. On this occasion, taxpayer money. Odd.