Devin Haney travelled to enemy territory and walked away as the undisputed lightweight champion of the world with a dominant victory against Australia’s George Kambosos Jnr, in front of a crowd of over 40,000 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.
Haney fought a crisp and technical gameplan, where he utilised his jab in particular to neutralise Kambosos who failed to push forward and land his shots.
By the time the final bell went, it could only go one way as Haney was awarded the victory with scorecards of 116-112, 116-112 and 118-110.
Haney moves his unblemished record to 28-0 and also becomes the youngest boxer to become the undisputed world champion in the four-belt era. Kambosos loses for the first time as a pro to drop to 20-1.
“I want to thank George Kambosos [Jnr] and all of Australia for coming out. Thank you George, for giving me the shot. All of these so-called champions would not give me my shot. But George was a true champion, and he gave me my shot. Thank you for this.”
If it’s meant to happen, if Allah wants it to happen, I’ll be back,” Haney added on talk of the rematch.
When the bout was signed, there was a rematch clause in the contract which is something Kambosos is keen on acting upon.
“We’ll do it again. Look, I gave him the shot. If I hadn’t given him this shot, he wouldn’t have had his moment right now. So, we’ll do it again.”
Kambosos though was not going to take away the moment from Haney who was the better boxer on the day.
“I’m going to give him the full respect after his victory today. Let him have his time, and we’ll do it again. I have to implement a few things, but I thought the fight was very close. I’m not going to wreck his moment. I’ll let him have his moment. Last November, my moment was wrecked, so let’s let him have his moment, and I’ll see you again real soon.”
The official crowd came in at 41,129 which comes in at number two for Australian boxing with only the Manny Pacquaio vs Jeff Horn crowd (51,025) eclipsing it.
Notably, on the undercard, Jason Maloney put in a claim for another title shot with a third-round stoppage over Filipino Aston Palicte.
- Devin Haney def. George Kambosos Jnr via Decision (Unanimous)
- Jason Maloney def. Aston Palicte via TKO, Rd 3
- Lucas Browne def. Junior Fa via KO, Rd 1
- Andrew Maloney def. Alexander Espinoza
- Hemi Ahio def. Christian Tsoye via TKO, Rd 1
- Terry Nickolas vs. Lachlan Higgins – DRAW
- Taylah Robertson def. Sarah Higginson via Decision (Unanimous)
- David Nyika def. Karim Maatalla via Decision (Unanimous)
- Yoel Angeloni def. Ken Aitken via Decision (Unanimous)
- Pom Thanawut Phetkum def. Hussein Fayad via Decision (Unanimous)
