Lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr reportedly has a date and a venue for the first defence of his world titles.
ESPN’s Mike Coppinger says the WBA, IBF, WBO and WBC ‘Franchise’ champion is slated to return on June 4 at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs) has continually stated that he will fill an outdoor stadium in his home country for his next fight. The venue has a capacity of over 53,000 and would be the biggest boxing event in the country since Jeff Horn defeated Manny Pacquiao at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium in 2017.
Devin Haney, who holds the WBC lightweight championship, was the long-time front runner but negotiations appear to have broken down. Coppinger says that while the American is still in the frame the favourite to face Kambosos is Vasiliy Lomachenko.
In October 2020 Lomachenko lost to Teofimo Lopez in a lightweight unification super-fight. His comeback has seen him fight twice and win both against Masayoshi Nakatani and Richard Commey, respectively.
Lopez reign as champion lasted 13 months when Kambosos stepped into the Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York to wrestle the belts from the local favourite in a memorable encounter.