Devin Haney (29-0, 15 KOs) defended the undisputed world lightweight title for the first time in his professional career and won in 2022 by defeating Australian George Kambosos (20-2, 10 KOs). He defended her against the same Kambosos in the same Australia. Even the war city was the same – Melbourne. And the result is the same.

But the fights were different. Although not much.

Kambosos was better prepared for the second meeting. But still little

It’s unclear what prevented George Kambosos from outperforming his opponent in the first fight. Devin Haney easily outstripped the Australian and volunteered for a rematch due to the relevant clause in the contract used by Kambosos. So there is no logic in the second war – it was much better than its American counterpart.

But the other party is an objective reason. If everything goes like this, it’s impossible to fight him. I got into the ring – and it has a much better counterpart. But there was also a subjective reason – George was either physically or mentally or both and very poorly prepared.

Before the first fight, Kambosos talked a lot, promised a lot, but in the end he did very little. I mean, it seemed to be doing a lot, but not everything was there and on target. Because everything looked bad.

Another person came out to take revenge. George was prepared. He almost didn’t comment. Continuously educated. And even spent the night in the hall to fight to the end. He did. Everything else is like that.

It cannot be said that Kambosos did not work selflessly. And it tried for the first time, but this time it worked to the end. From the first seconds he rushed to the opponent, began to create problems and hit the trunk. Sometimes even to the head. It was also interesting to change the shelves and try to be unpredictable.

But still it didn’t work. You can train anything in boxing, but not skill. It either exists or it doesn’t. He’s fine with it and training. With him and uneducated – not so much. Without it and educated – no problem. The variant of Kambosos is the third. He works, he tries, he wants. But when a talented and hardworking competitor emerges, he can’t get out.

After a few rounds, Haney got it. I understood what was happening, why the opponent changed his stance and how he started to approach. And I started messing with it. The most compelling thing is that Devin has come up with completely understandable solutions to these problems. For example, two. It is impossible to count how many times a pair of straight lines hit the target. Sometimes it flew to the left. And of course, jab. Haney’s performance is called excellent and it’s hard to argue here.

At some point, Kambosos realized that things were not going the way they should and stepped forward. Taking even more blows, George tried to reach the opponent and pile on him. Because it hits a lot and accurately.

It turned out different. Very good in the ninth round. The Australian caught up with the opponent and displayed a colorful mahach at medium and close ranges. Several times Kambosos went outside to get a small cut in Haney’s eye. There were a few hits in the hull and maybe not a big deal for the American, but it was still tough.

But in all other respects, only George understood. He sincerely tried, sincerely wanted, but could not. It lacked everything: from speed to size. From a punch to an adequate knockout punch. He also lacked the ability to maintain numbers and speed of attacks, so it was not easy for the opponent.

And very briefly, George Kambosos lacked the level of boxing. The Australian is not a good boxer to beat an opponent like Devin Haney. It came out with Teofimo Lopez, albeit with certain details. Here – no, and he could not.

The final score of the judges: 118-110 and 119-109 twice. While there is more competition, there is absolutely no luck.

What’s next?

For Kambosos – anything. He can box without a belt where, with whom and as much as he wants. There are enough options in lightness, George will not go on. He will choose his counterpart, bring him to Australia and beat him.

Kambosos is still a good boxer. Losing at the top doesn’t make you a bad athlete. It doesn’t make sense to take the belt while Haney is there. Yes, George said he was hoping for a trilogy, but there’s no logic to it. He will lose for the third, fourth and tenth time.

Haney has options. The most obvious is Lomachenko. Negotiating with Vasily is easy, convenient and fast. They will box in a month – Loma fights on October 29. So the recovery time is approximately the same amount. And Vasily will make concessions, if necessary, in order to have a duel for the absolute.

The unspecified option is anyone other than Gervonta Davis or Lomachenko, in this or the next weight. Haney wasn’t going to move on yet, but he’s a big man, anything can happen. There are enough other competitors and the meeting with Davis is here only because Devin calls his name a competitor he can make money from. And Haney sees her style as kryptonite for Gervonta.

However, this is fantasy. If Lomachenko beats Ortiz, he will fight for the absolute title. It is first in the ratings and has supporters who will negotiate quickly and efficiently. Will Lomachenko be easy? No way. Haney was just confident and now boxing perfectly.

But it will be possible to talk about a Ukrainian in any way only after meeting with Ortiz. Which is stylistically completely different from Haney.