The winner of the Lee Selby vs George Kambosos Jr. fight on October 31 will have the dubious pleasure of becoming the IBF mandatory challenger for newly crowned, undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez.
Selby and Kambosos clash in an IBF 135lbs final eliminator on the Oleksandr Usyk-Dereck Chisora undercard in less than two weeks’ time. Victory will pave the way for a shot at new superstar Lopez who backed up his boundless self-belief with a decisive points win over Ukrainian maestro Lomachenko at the weekend.
“Beating Lee Selby means everything to me,” said Australian Kambosos (18-0, 10 KOs). “I’m hungry, focused and have trained like a man possessed to handle business on October 31. This is a young man’s sport and Lopez proved that against Lomachenko when he became the unified lightweight world champion and I will prove it once again against Lee Selby.
“This hungry young lion will become mandatory, that is my complete focus, this is why I have sacrificed so much and then you best believe that ‘Ferocious Kambosos’ will be primed and ready to take all the belts off another hungry, young lion in Teofimo Lopez. Let’s see who the real king of the jungle is.”
Former IBF 126lbs king Selby (28-2, 9 KOs) pipped three-weight champion Ricky Burns on a majority decision at the O2 Arena last October to edge closer to another tilt at a world title. The Welsh stylist feels Kambosos is still an unknown quantity with a ‘padded’ record.
“He’s very confident in himself,” said Selby. “If you listened to him talk you’d think he’s the next Muhammad Ali – which he’s not. Looking at his record, it’s difficult to gauge how good he really is. His best win came against Mickey Bey when he was past his best at 36 and inactive. The rest of his record is padded.
“This fight has been a long time coming and I’m glad we’re just over a week away now. I’m one step away from a shot at the IBF lightweight world title and my dream of becoming Wales’ first ever two-weight world champion [Note: former super-middleweight champ Joe Calzaghe won a lineal crown at 175lbs].”