After winning consecutive battles overseas, undisputed lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr is to defend his title at home at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium in June.
Kambosos Jr, 28, is likely to be up against Ukrainian star Vasiliy Lomachenko and his WBA, IBF and WBO belts. Initially, American Devin Haney, who holds the WBC belt, was to fight Kambosos but Lomachenko (16-2), who lost his titles to Lopez but had previously been rated as one of boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighters, has now emerged as the leading candidate.
The Greek Australian has always talked about wanting to fight in a major stadium event in Australia and according to his promoter Lou DiBella, it is finally happening. The most likely date is 5 June, as reported by ESPN.
“I can tell you now, unequivocally, that George’s first defence will be in Australia. You can take that to the bank. We want to make the biggest splash we can and that is on the instructions of the fighter,” DiBella told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
“When I met George, there was no television behind him, he fought for small purses, he travelled the world, he paid his dues. Now it’s time for him to reap the rewards.”
With Melbourne being home to the biggest Greek population outside Greece Kambosos Jr’s is expected to gather major support. When he recently attended the Australian Open to watch Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas the crowd got so excited cheering him on that he had to vacate Rod Laver Arena to avoid disrupting the flow of the match.
