The lightweight division is experiencing a reset due to Devin Haney’s departure to 140 pounds.
Former world champion’s George Kambosos Jr and Vasiliy Lomachenko square-off for the IBF Haney has recently vacated on May 5 in Perth, Australia. Kambosos unexpectedly secured three belts at 135lbs when defeating Teofimo Lopez over the distance in New York two years ago.
Lomachenko had torn through his opposition at 126 and 130lbs securing world titles in both divisions. The two-time Olympic gold medalist became a three-weight world champion when he took on the WBA beltholder Jorge Linares at Madison Square Garden, New York.
“I think Lomachenko wins that fight,” Linares said, in an exclusive interview for ProBox TV. “I have to go with Lomachenko. I have seen Kambosos a lot of times and he… he always looks great in the gym, in training. He’s a world champion in the gym, but in the ring he is different. He just doesn’t do the same things that he does in the gym. He pushes all his focus into his training camp, his mentality, everything is in the gym. He loses everything, always in the gym. So, that’s why, for me, I’m always with Lomachenko.”
Linares secured his first belt (WBC) at lightweight with a fourth-round knockout over Mexican Javier Prieto in Tokyo, Japan. He defended the green and gold belt with stoppage victories against Kevin Mitchell and Ivan Cano Garcia. Linares then snatched the WBA title from Anthony Crolla with back-to-back unanimous-decision wins in the champion’s Manchester backyard, defending his belt twice until facing Lomachenko, losing by 10th round stoppage in May 2018.
Lomachenko will be fighting on away territory in Kambosos’s native Australia. The world title fight has also been partly funded by the Western Australian Government.
“I don’t think so,” Linares said in response to the possibility of Lomachenko being robbed on the scorecards. “I just don’t see it. I think Lomachenko will come back in a good way, he showed that to everybody in the last fight. You saw how good he looked in that fight, so I think for me Lomachenko wins by decision. Maybe he wins by KO, but I don’t know.”