Today was not his day but George Kambosos Jr fought hard against Devin Haney and gracefully accepted his defeat when the American emerged as the new lightweight champion in a unanimous decision.
The Greek Australian had a home crowd of almost 50,000, with many of them having marched down Lonsdale Street to Marvel Stadium to support him.
And he walked the true warrior talk at the hardest moment, personally handing over his belts to his 23-year-old opponent, after the judges’ decision on his undisputed win was read out.
“I’m gonna give him full respect … it’s his day.
“Let’s do it again,” he said, promising a comeback tailored to Haney’s style of game to “get him back at the end of this year”.
Kambosos said that what matters most was that he fought all the way through and didn’t back down to the challenge.
“This is amazing for the sport.
“At the end of the day, I wanted to take the best test, the hardest test. I take the risk, I fight the best of the best, at the end of the day, I didn’t have to fight him.”
Even Haney praised the Greek Australian for putting his belts on the line to fight him, and confirmed he’d accept the invitation for a rematch.
“I take my hat off to him (Kambosos) because he’s a true warrior, it was nothing but respect throughout the whole buildup,” Haney said after his victory.
“A lot of these so-called champions wouldn’t give me my shot, but George has […] If the (rematch) fight’s meant to happen, if Allah wants it to happen, I’ll be back,” Haney said.
Kambosos entered the bout as the reigning IBF, WBO, WBA, The Ring champion and WBC Franchise champion.
Haney has now added these titles to his WBC belt, becoming the first undisputed lightweight champion in the four-belt era.
Outpointing Kambosos in the 12-round fight marked a new record for Haney, with a perfect 28 wins from 28 fights, while Kambosos’ defeat is the first in 21 fights.
But the 28-year didn’t leave empty-handed, reportedly earning A$10m for his performance, on top of 70 per cent of all pay-per-view revenue for the fight.
