Report- Lomachenko Out For George Kambosos June Defense

Undisputed Lightweight champion George Kambosos has been seeking an opponent for his return to Australia title defense this June. And, a report on Monday afternoon says it won’t be against former Undisputed champion Vasily Lomachenko of Ukraine.

Keith Idec of boxingscene.com wrote Monday that Kambosos’ team has been informed by Lomachenko’s representatives that Loma will not leave his native Ukraine, while it is still currently under attack from neighboring Russia.

Lomachenko Staying In War-Torn Ukraine, Kambosos To Pursue Unification Fight With Haney https://t.co/ooh7LyaEgz pic.twitter.com/p5F7IglGEN

— BoxingScene.com (@boxingscene) March 21, 2022

From Idec’s article,

Lou DiBella, Kambosos’ promoter, informed BoxingScene.com on Monday afternoon that Egis Klimas, Lomachenko’s manager, informed him earlier Monday that Lomachenko will not leave war-torn Ukraine to train for a June 5 fight against Kambosos in Melbourne, Australia. DiBella and Bob Arum, Lomachenko’s promoter, agreed to terms last month for Lomachenko to challenge Kambosos in a 12-round, 135-pound title fight ESPN agreed to televise from Marvel Stadium.

Once Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) returned from Greece to help support military efforts in his native Ukraine, it became unclear if the three-division champion would move forward with the Kambosos bout. DiBella and Arum held out hope until Monday that Lomachenko might decide to remain in the fight, though they both repeatedly expressed respect for the three-division champion’s stance on Russia’s invasion of his homeland.

I spoke to Egis Klimas and he confirmed that Loma would not be available to fight George next,” DiBella said. “He thanked me and thanked Kambosos for giving him ample opportunity to make up his mind, and he thanked us for doing the deal in the first place. We had an inkling the other day, when the [Ukrainian] government had said it was OK [for Lomachenko to fight], but we didn’t hear an affirmative response [from Lomachenko], we had a sense that this was likely. So, we were not shocked.

“But Egis confirmed today that he’s gonna stay in the Ukraine. We commend him. We think the fight he’s fighting is much bigger than boxing. And our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family, and with the Ukrainian people. What they’re going through obviously is far more significant than any boxing match.”

As we wrote previously Kambosos, 20-0, 10 KOs, has been playing out his options on whom to defend his title against in what will be a massive homecoming at an Australian outdoor stadium the first week in June This after he upset former unbeaten champ, American Teofimo Lopez last November. And, now, that opponent looks to be WBC secondary Lightweight world champ and unbeaten American Devin Haney.

Haney, 27-0, 15 KOs said directly to Kambosos, as they stood side by side in Las Vegas on the DAZN streaming coverage of Haney’s title win over Jo Jo Diaz back in December, that he would be fine “going to Jupiter” to have the fight with Kambosos if he had to do so.

Instead, Kambosos has secured a massive outdoor venue for the first week in June.

Melborune’s Marvel Stadium has a 53,000 seat capacity for most events and is primarily the home to several Australian Rules Football Clubs, including the likes of: Essendon, Carlton and North Melbourne that play in the league annually.

The venue has previously held a UFC pay per view in October 2019, which broke the venue’s all time attendance record with over 57,000 there.

Now, we wait to see if Kambosos and Haney’s camps can make the deal for just over two months from now in what would be a wild first Undisputed defense for the Australian.