George Kambosos vs. Devin Haney: Why Emperor George can beat favourite Haney, Paul Kent
Devin Haney is deserved favourite to be the undisputed lightweight world champion, but there’s one thing George Kambosos has that gives him an edge, writes PAUL KENT.
Boxing/MMA
Don't miss out on the headlines from Boxing/MMA. Followed categories will be added to My News.
In the moments after he won all those belts, George Kambosos stood centre ring and the television announcer planted a microphone under his nose to try to eke a few pertinent thoughts from the young Australian.
It was a woeful mismatch.
Kambosos roared about his own greatness.
“Look at me now, I’ve got all the jewels,” Kambosos hailed.
“I’m not the King, I’m the Emperor because I come to every country and take them out one by one.”
Emperor George was entitled to enjoy his moment.
Before beating Teofimo Lopez in Los Angeles last year to take all the jewels, Kambosos had spoken of taking down the “Four Kings” of the lightweight division, declaring he would start with Lopez.
Which he did.
The reference to the Four Kings was a quiet homage to the original Four Kings, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran, the Hands of Stone, who provided one of the most storeyed chapters in boxing history.
Alone, they elevated the sport. Together, they rolled it in magic dust.
Watch one of the biggest boxing fights ever in Australia: George Kambosos Jr. vs. Devin Haney, Sun 5 June with Main Event on Kayo Sports. No Kayo subscription needed to order. ORDER NOW >
They all dominated various divisions at various times but there came a time in the 1980s when they matured and all fought each other as middleweights, in what some believe was the last golden age of boxing.
For just a small glimpse of how closely they were matched and of what they could bring out in each other, consider that Sugar Ray was the only fighter to beat all the other three. Duran was the only fighter to lose to all the other three.
Yet Duran was the only fighter among them to beat Leonard.
And now Emperor George, having stunned the world last year when he beat Lopez, is looking at taking another scalp on Sunday when he fights Devin Haney at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, in front of what will be the biggest ever Australian crowd at a fight.
The lightweight division is currently among the best in boxing.
Kambosos (20-0, 10KOs) is the WBA, IBF and WBO world champion and also the Ring Magazine champion.
Haney (27-0, 15KOs) is the WBC champion and Ring has ranked him third among the lightweights.
Between them are Lopez (16-1, 12 KOs), whom Kambosos beat to claim the belts, and Vasiliy Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs), who Lopez beat to claim the belts.
Lomachenko was regarded as the best in the world in Ring’s pound for pound rankings before Lopez took his titles and yet he still sits in the top 10, at seven, in the pound for pound rankings.
Lurking behind them and fourth in the Rings rankings is Gervonta Davis (27-0, 25 KOs) who last week stopped Rolando Romero with a devastating knockout.
The lightweight division’s four kings, whom Emperor George is hunting.
What all this means in boxing terms is what it always means in boxing: money.
Kambosos plans to take down Haney on Sunday and work through the rest of them.
It can go two ways.
Victory over each will announce him as a genuine superstar.
If Kambosos knocks over Haney then the next big fight for him would appear Lomachenko.
The Ukrainian fighter remains the class in the field and would further underscore Emperor George’s claims.
If the unspoken happens, though, then the field could open up in a Four Kings scenario among the lightweights and they might start teeing off on each other.
It could also be financially beneficial, if not ideal.
In pure terms, Haney is the favourite for very good reasons for Sunday’s fight.
He is the more technical fighter and has first class defence. A strong, hard jab and a right hand that comes in nicely behind it, good footwork, clean combinations.
All add up to an ability to control the fight’s tempo.
From a technical point of view he holds the better cards.
But Emperor George has a heart that would power Phar Lap and a belief in himself that goes beyond the usual boxing self-confidence.
There are few athletes anywhere in the world, in any sport, that have the genuine belief in themselves that Kambosos has in Emperor George.
It has its own presence, pouring from his skin.
That quality more than his boxing ability was what led to victory over Lopez.
Kambosos’s game plan was to take the fight to Lopez and back himself all the way. He was not intimidated because he genuinely believed he was the better fighter.
Such confidence helps fighters through the big shots, the dark moments like when Emperor George was out down late in the fight and got up to come back and win the fight.
There hasn’t been a fighter in Australia with the same confidence in their ability since Jeff Fenech was working through the bantamweights and featherweights.
The same as there hasn’t been a talker like Kambosos since Fenech loved us all.
As his ringside interrogator found out after he took down Lopez, the punishment begins at the first syllable and is unrelenting.
What does not exist in Kambosos is what former trainer and now fight commentator Teddy Atlas calls the “silent contract”.
It is the silent agreement early in a fight once dominance has been established and it goes that the losing fighter will stop trying to win the fight and the winning fighter won’t try to knock him out.
Earlier this week Kambosos claimed he wanted to win so much he was willing to die in the ring, which sounds like hyperbole.
Many fighters say the same, although not all carry it through.
I have heard fighters say it over the years and thankfully none have been put to the test, although I do remember one middleweight contender saying it and then taking a knee with 10 seconds left in the first round, later explaining he went into the fight with injured rib cartilage.
There is no doubt, though, that in his head Emperor George genuinely believes he will do all that is necessary to win, no matter where it takes him.
And for all the advantages Haney has inside the ring, he does not have that.
HOW NRL CAN CRACKDOWN ON GREEDY MANAGERS
Restraint of trade and all that, the arguments are endless about what the NRL can’t do to reel in the player managers.
It is well known around the game that several banned player managers, and even an unaccredited one, are still working as if nothing has happened.
One manager sits at a desk he shares with a colleague and when a player calls, the colleague simply takes the call on speaker phone and talks through the deal with the banned manager.
It was all kind of accepted by the game, but it has taken an uglier turn in recent years with managers effectively encouraging their players to break contracts midterm so they can get upgraded deals.
The motive is greed, pure and simple.
The irony, in some cases, is it was the manager who did the bad deal yet they somehow convince the player the club has done them a bad turn.
Legal action for encouraging the player to break his contract can’t be taken out by the NRL, it would have to be instigated by the club, and clubs prefer not to go this way as, firstly, they don’t want to retain a disinterested player and, secondly, they are looking to keep relations cordial to get the best possible outcome for them and their cap.
The simple way to begin controlling the managers is to not punish the manager but the company.
If a manager is found guilty of an offence worthy of him being suspended, the players should all be released from their contracts and free to sign with another manager, and the company should be banned from operating for that period.
This would force managers to regulate their own employees, in effect working with the NRL and clubs instead of against them.
More Coverage
Originally published as George Kambosos vs. Devin Haney: Why Emperor George can beat favourite Haney, Paul Kent
Grim warning for Tszyu ahead of toughest test of his career
More than a few experts say this will be the toughest fight of Tim Tszyu’s career, with Bakhram Murtazaliev unlike anyone the Australian has ever fought.
Wild scenes as boxer rushed to hospital
In never before seen scenes, a boxer was rushed to hospital after suffering a freak injury when he was pushed over the top rope.