Despite having been beat handily George Kambosos has activated his rematch clause to fight Devin Haney once again.
On June 5 at The Marvel Stadium the American walked into the lion’s den in front of 41,000 fans and walked out as undisputed lightweight world champion. Haney never looked like getting beat during the 12 rounds and had the Australian’s number after a dominating performance.
Kambosos was always going to be given the opportunity to go again because of the paperwork drawn up beforehand and the former champion confirmed to NewsCorp he intends to do that.
“Yes, the rematch is happening, 100 per cent. I have activated the rematch clause.”
“The Emperor is dead, but Ferocious is still alive and I will be back.”
“We haven’t finalised a venue. There’s options for Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. It will be in Australia which is great. I know I can win a rematch. I will make some changes, and this is my destiny to show how great I am and get those belts back.”
Kambosos, who excels in self-confidence, continues to believe that he can beat Haney and said his performance first time around was ‘just off a touch’.
“He did what he had to do with his jab, he is a smart operator, but I have to be smarter at my game plan next time. I am blessed to get the shot again and not many Australian boxers can say they’ve had three world title fights in a row.”
“I shocked Lopez to win the belts, I lost them to Haney but now I will be working on a game plan to get the belts back. I have the eye of the tiger again.”
During an interview last week Haney didn’t commit to the rematch 100% on camera while speaking to ESPN’s Mark Kriegel. The Las Vegas man hinted at moving up to 140lbs to try and become a two-weight undisputed champion:
“It’s very much possible for me to move up to 140.”
“Like I said we’re gonna sit down with the team and figure out what’s next for me. I’ve been at 135 for quite a long time now since the amateurs, over six-seven years so it’s not the easiest weight for me to make and I accomplished the best accomplishment at 135 out of everything. ”
“I’m the top dog, no one else has a belt. I have everything at 135 but I still want to make the biggest fights possible. So, if it makes sense for me to stay at 135 then I’ll stay. If not, we go to 140, we’ll see.”