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Devin Haney hadn’t agreed to the financial offer from George Kambosos Jr.’s promoter as of Monday night.
The unbeaten WBC world lightweight champion indicated, however, that there is no way he’ll pass on the opportunity to become boxing’s first fully unified lightweight champion of the four-belt era. Haney responded emphatically on Twitter to Kambosos’ Tweet about the length of a flight from Las Vegas, where Haney resides, to Australia, where their proposed June 5 fight would take place.
“I know how long the flight is … long as my D!CK!,” Haney stated in a Tweet sent out Monday night. “Don’t try to talk me out of it. BITCH I’M ON MY WAY!”
Sydney’s Kambosos mostly has fought in the United States since his first 13 professional fights took place in Australia. He trains at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California.
If Haney accepts the aforementioned offer, he and Kambosos would headline a card DAZN would stream from Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. Kambosos-Haney would take place the night of June 4 in the United States.
In the Tweet to which Haney replied, Kambosos pointed out that the transpacific flight from Las Vegas to Melbourne takes 19 hours and 35 minutes. The distance, according to Kambosos’ message, is approximately 13,140 kilometers, or 8,165 miles.
“Oh She’s A Long One,” Kambosos stated in his Tweet. “Done It Countless Times Across The Pacific.”
The Twitter exchange notwithstanding, Haney’s team still must accept the terms of the deal proposed by Lou DiBella, Kambosos’ promoter, to DAZN, which has streamed Haney’s past six fights. DiBella told BoxingScene.com that he has offered the same financial package for Haney (27-0, 15 KOs) that Vasiliy Lomachenko accepted before he withdrew from the Kambosos bout over the weekend to continue supporting military efforts in his war-torn home country of Ukraine.
Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) returned to Ukraine from Greece late last month, reportedly to become part of a territorial defense force near Odessa. The 34-year-old Lomachenko won two Olympic gold medals for Ukraine and has joined three other prominent retired or active boxers – former heavyweight champions Vitali Klitschko and Wladimir Klitschko and current heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk – in Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion.
DiBella and Bob Arum, Lomachenko’s promoter, were hopeful that the three-division champion would leave Ukraine to train for the Kambosos bout because Lomachenko had been granted permission to do so by Ukrainian government officials. Ultimately, however, Lomachenko’s courageous commitment to his country kept him from moving forward with a chance to regain the IBF, WBA, WBC franchise and WBO 135-pound championships he lost to Teofimo Lopez by unanimous decision in October 2020 at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
Lomachenko clearly is a more accomplished boxer than Haney, but Kambosos-Haney, short of a draw or no-contest, will create complete championship clarity in the lightweight division.
The 23-year-old Haney is commonly considered the WBC’s legitimate lightweight champion, even though Kambosos beat the man (Lopez) who beat the man (Lomachenko). Haney’s championship reign has been questioned, too, though.
Haney stopped Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (15-1, 9 KOs) after four one-sided rounds to win the WBC interim title in September 2019 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York. The WBC eventually elevated Haney to the status of world champion and named Lomachenko its franchise champion, once it became clear Lomachenko would pursue a showdown with Brooklyn’s Lopez (16-1, 12 KOs), who owned only the IBF belt at the time, rather than making a mandated defense against Haney.
The 28-year-old Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs) later became the IBF’s mandatory challenger for one of Lopez’s championships. Lopez was a 10-1 favorite, but Kambosos dropped Lopez in the first round, got up from a 10th-round knockdown and upset him by split decision in their 12-rounder November 27 at Hulu Theater.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.