After years of talk of a battle, George Kambosos and Vasiliy Lomachenko finally have a set date and location. The two men will battle over the vacant IBF lightweight title on May 12 in Perth, Australia. According to boxing reporter Dan Rafael, the final details have been agreed to and bout agreements will be signed this week.
Kambosos and Lomachenko were originally set to meet in 2022 after Kambosos became a three-belt unified champion with his upset win over Teofimo Lopez Jr. Just as things were lined up for Lomachenko to travel to Australia to challenge for the titles, the Russian invasion of Lomachenko’s native Ukraine happened and Lomachenko stayed in his home country to aid in the defense effort.
Kambosos instead defended his belts against WBC champion Devin Haney in a battle to crown an undisputed lightweight champion. Haney easily won the fight and repeated his performance in the rematch, both in Kambosos’ home country of Australia.
After those two losses to Haney in 2020, Kambosos only fought once in 2023, a majority decision win over Maxi Hughes this past July.
Lomachenko lost the WBA and WBO lightweight belts to Lopez in October 2020, ultimately setting Kambosos up to score the biggest win of his career.
After wins over Masayoshi Nakatani, Richard Commey and Jamaine Ortiz, Lomachenko earned a shot at undisputed champion Haney in May 2023. The result was one of the year’s best fights, a high-level tactical masterpiece that saw Lomachenko come up just short on the scorecards while showing that he still had plenty in the gas tank after a career that has spanned championship runs at featherweight, junior lightweight and lightweight.
Haney vacated his four lightweight titles after moving up to junior welterweight, resulting in the IBF title being in the wild and available for Kambosos and Lomachenko to battle over for another run as champion for the winner.
