PERTH, Australia – When George Kambosos steps into the ring on Sunday (Saturday, 10 p.m. EST in the U.S., ESPN/ESPN+) to face Ukrainian megastar Vasily Lomachenko, his attention won’t be on winning the vacant IBF title in lightweight who is in front of us grabs. There will also be no mention of the upcoming payday of the monster he calls “the biggest fight in Australian history”. Instead, Kambosos focuses on one thing and one thing only: its heritage.
How he is perceived as a fighter, both now and after he hangs up the gloves, is something Kambosos (21-2, 10 KO) has been focusing his attention on since the megafight with Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KO). officially announced in January. Each media appearance during the preparations gave Kambosos the opportunity to discuss how significant a victory over the two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-division champion would be and what impact it would have on his mark on the sport.
“For me, it’s about legacy. Nothing more,” a defiant Kambosos said earlier this year. “He made money, I made money. He won the belts, I won the belts. I’ve been in substantial fights [and] he fought the best. I’ve won substantial fights and lost substantial fights. But this is the legacy here; the fate of both boys. We don’t have to exaggerate or create any stories or headlines. These are two warriors coming together to fight.”
The legacy Kambosos is alluding to and seeking is a place in the coveted International Boxing Hall of Fame, an honor that has so far been bestowed upon only five Australians – Jeff Fenech, Kostya Tszyu, Peter Jackson, Youthful Griffo and Les Darcy.
Kambosos and his camp are convinced that a victory over the great Lomachenko, even though he is 36 years aged and in the twilight of his career, will strengthen his resume to such an extent that his entry into the ultra-exclusive fight club will become undeniable.
“This fight cements me in the Hall of Fame, I truly believe in it. They can’t deny it,” Kambosos said. “What I’ve achieved, the fighters I’ve been able to fight, the events I’ve been able to bring to Australia… how can they deny Kambosos’s resume?”
The problem with legacy is that it doesn’t just trend in a positive direction. And while Kambosos will rightfully throw flowers at his feet if he manages to upset Lomachenko, a loss will only reinforce the narrative of one great fight that many have formed over the past 24 months, which have been rather disappointing.
Kambosos rose to fame in November 2021 when he caused not only ESPN’s 2021 Upset of the Year, but also one of the biggest boxing upsets of the 21st century. The unheralded Sydneysider traveled to Fresh York and handed unified American star Teofimo Lopez his first – and still only – defeat by split decision. It was the fight that earned Kambosos the spoils of the lightweight championship belts and launched his international boxing career.
But two and a half years later, that night begins to seem more anomalous than usual.
Kambosos lost his belts six months later after a one-sided 116-112, 116-112, 118-110 loss to Devin Haney in Melbourne. His rematch with the undefeated American four months later was even more lopsided, with Haney once again humiliating the former champion in his home country 119-109, 118-110, 118-110.
Kambosos was scheduled to return to the ring in mid-2023 when he faced Maxim Hughes, and the fight ended in a highly controversial manner. The Englishman put in the best performance of his career, passing Kambosos and leaving him bloody and bruised, but it was the Australian who nodded 114-114, 117-111, 115-113 as a chorus of boos rang out around the Firelake Arena in Oklahoma.
Controversy aside, the victory breathed life into Kambosos’ career. Attention Lomachenko.
Kambosos and Lomachenko, the former longtime unified lightweight champion, were scheduled to fight for the undisputed honors of the Australian summer of 2022. However, those plans were thwarted when Lomachenko opted to return to his family during the war in Ukraine, opening the door for the fight for Haney to step in and fight Kambosos. Although the fight between Lomachenko and Kambosos did not materialize, it remained on boxing’s radar and was eventually considered the main act of a blockbuster bill in the Australian city of Perth.
The biographies of Kambosos and Lomachenko may be completely different, but both players have one thing in common: defeats against Haney. But unlike Kambosos, who was completely outclassed twice, many felt Lomachenko had done enough to earn the judges’ approval when he fought Haney last May. This was the last we saw of Lomachenko in the ring and it was a performance that certainly showed he still had a lot left in the tank.
For that reason, and with the increasing likelihood of a Lomachenko-Shakur Stevenson mega-fight if the Ukrainian is able to make the salute, Kambosos has been listed as a 7-1 underdog by oddsmakers for Sunday’s fight, per ESPN BET. And as was the case when Kambosos fought Lopez at Madison Square Garden in 2021, few would argue the Australian can pull off an upset. But it doesn’t bother him. In fact, Kambosos is enjoying his underdog status and plans to withdraw his highly credible opponent.
“Once I beat Lomachenko, there will be no way for him to go,” Kambosos said at an official press conference in Perth on Thursday afternoon, during which both fighters stared down for three minutes. “It’s retirement for him, I really believe that.
“The way I spar, the way I fire up every engine. The speed I have… he’s never seen that kind of speed and explosive power. The will, the heart that I have, the desire to win it I want it very badly. I prepared extremely demanding for this fight.
Kambosos knows perfectly well that a high-profile fight with Lomachenko gives him a chance to regenerate his boxing career and regain his position as one of the top fighters in the division. However, a third loss in four fights would be a hammer blow to his career, one that would send him tumbling down the lightweight rankings and almost certainly banish him from future world title fights.
“[After this fight] only one of us will continue his career,” Kambosos said. “One of us won’t go where we want. So I’m very motivated. I know he’s motivated.”
Soslan Asbarov has suffered a huge blow to his once promising career.
The undefeated cruiserweight was handed a six-year suspension for violating the policy of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA). Test samples taken from October 28vol The fight with Alexei Papin ended with a positive result for the presence of an unspecified banned substance.
Asbarov was previously credited with a ten-round unanimous decision victory over his compatriot in Moscow. Russian Boxing Federation manager Dmitry Antonov confirmed to The Ring that the verdict was changed to no-contest on April 15 after verification of the test result.
Antonov was not allowed to confirm the substance in question due to confidentiality clauses in RUSADA’s testing policy. RUSADA officials only confirmed to The Ring that the result was first discovered on December 22 last year and later verified.
“RUSADA has overturned the decision by which the athlete Soslan Asbarov was excluded from competition for six years,” a RUSADA spokesman confirmed to The Ring. “Decision [was made] on April 15, 2024, with credit for the period of fleeting suspension completed [backdated to] December 22, 2023.”
Asbarov is currently ranked No. 8 in the cruiserweight division by The Ring Magazine, although that will change soon.
The 32-year-old boxer was found to have violated RUSADA anti-doping rules 4.1 (presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers in a sample collected from the athlete) and 4.2 (Utilize or attempted employ by an athlete of a prohibited substance or a Prohibited Method). Both clauses impose full responsibility on athletes for any substance detected in their body.
This development crushes the initial momentum of the two-year pro, who quickly managed to break into competition.
Asbarov’s second professional victory was an eight-round knockout of veteran fighter Dmitry Kudryashov in September 2022.
Just six months later came a victory over another cruiserweight brute. Asbarov defeated Brandon Glanton by ten-round majority decision on March 18 in Dubai. For now, this is his last victory in history.
Asbarov defeated Papin in the second round of their October 28 fight, en route to a ten-round unanimous decision. This feat caused him to shoot up The Ring’s rankings, and Papin dropped out of the top ten. The matter is currently up for a vote on the ring’s ratings panel, and Papin is expected to return after this week’s update.
Carl Frampton has urged Tyson Fury to rematch Oleksandr Usyk after seeing him “throw away victory”.
Usyk won his undisputed heavyweight title fight in Riyad, Saudi Arabia – where Frampton was ringside – but to do so he had to come from behind after a challenging first six rounds.
He threatened to stop previously undefeated Furia in a dramatic ninth round, but both fighters entered Saturday’s fight with contract clauses that would force a rematch at the end of 2024, increasing the likelihood that they will fight again.
When Fury spoke in the ring after the fight, he spoke about his belief that he, not 37-year-old Usyk, deserved to win, and also stated that he wanted a rematch. When he then spoke at the post-fight press conference, he was reluctant to reveal his plans and, after long preparations for the biggest fight of his career, instead talked about resting before deciding on his next move.
Ahead of his first fight against Deontay Wilder in 2018 – previously the biggest he had been involved in – Fury appeared on the undercard of Frampton’s victory over Luke Jackson at Windsor Park in Belfast when he passed Francesco Pianeta, with Frampton saying: “I think that he can win the rematch. I think he turned the fight down.
“I don’t want to hurt Usyk – he won. Halfway through the distance, they approached me as an expert and I had my fourth fight [rounds to] two to Fury. Usyk was injured on the body; he went into some uppercuts. I indicated that it would be challenging for Usyk to come back and I didn’t really see a way to do it, but he dug deep and did exactly that, and I gave Usyk the fight for a round – six rounds each and a ‘knockdown’ was the difference for me.
If he does win, I still think he’s a must-have as one of the top heavyweights [ever]. Either way, he would definitely be among the top ten greatest heavyweights. If she beats him in the rematch, it will be a massive fight and it will be another fight if she beats him in the rematch because both of them are not like Leo Santa Cruz – they want to settle scores, not just [having won] one by one.
“I love Usyk. I love everything about him – he’s a phenomenal fighter.
“AND [also] I think it was good for [Fury] be delicate. Performance was high. That suited him.
It was in the days before the retired Frampton’s victory over Jackson of Australia that it became clear that Fury – at this stage just one fight away from returning after almost three years of inactivity, during which he became suicidal, abused drugs and alcohol and rose to approximately 30 – He was next scheduled to fight the fearsome Wilder.
If fighting one of the most unsafe boxers in history represented a significant and premature risk that could end his comeback, then his participation at the age of 35 in the first undisputed heavyweight title fight since Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield in 1999 was again more than justified a risk that ultimately became one of the most vital chapters of one of the most fascinating stories.
“I was surprised,” Frampton reflected on his reaction to the news in August 2018. “He didn’t look impressive in any of the fights he had before Wilder after a long layoff. I knew he was a brave man, but I was surprised.
“The first fight, of course, ended in a draw, but the whole world knew that Fury won the fight. But [I was] surprised that he was fighting a guy like Wilder at this stage – for both careers – and in my opinion beat him.
“There was a lot of hype about Wilder’s presence [in Belfast]and about Fury. I really thought it was probably too early for him, but he proved me wrong and as he said before this fight, he’s up to the challenge and he did it against [in 2015, Wladimir] Klitschko; he did it in three fights with Wilder.
“Other fights, e.g [Derek] Chisora; [Dillian] Whyte, he does all the work. When the pressure is on on massive, vital nights, he rises to the occasion. If he gets a chinlock then [against Wilder in December 2018]I think the comeback has already come.
“It’s an incredible journey that Fury has been on. Wilder’s fights, and even if Chisora and Whyte weren’t the ideal opponent, they were massive fights in vast stadiums. The Usyk fight is probably the biggest fight of my life; the biggest one I have ever participated in as a broadcaster [for TNT Sports]. I was buzzing about it – absolutely buzzing.
“It’s been an amazing journey – it really has been. Look at his state at one point after Klitschko’s massive victory when he really went crazy. He grew taller, out of shape and as if he would never fight again, and looking at how bad he looked back then, the change was phenomenal. I believe he is one of the greatest heavyweights who ever lived – truly. He could compete – you could argue he could beat anyone who ever lived in the heavyweight division.
“It’s weird [that so significant a fighter fought on my undercard]. It’s one you can tell your grandchildren about, you know what I mean? “Fury fought on my card.” He will be remembered. To say he fought for me with the main support at Windsor Park – huge.
One of the greatest rivalries in the history of mixed martial arts will begin again next month.
Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will face Chael Sonnen in a boxing bout on June 15 in Brazil, the Spaten Fight Night promotion announced on Sunday. Silva, 49, teased the end of his career earlier this week, claiming his last fight would take place next month in his native Sao Paulo.
Sonnen (47) confirmed his participation on social media.
“Oh, Anderson, yoohoo,” Sonnen said. “It’s me again. See you on June 15.”
Silva (34-11) and Sonnen (30-17-1) created one of the most memorable two-fight rivalries in UFC history. Silva was in the midst of a UFC-record 16 straight wins when he met Sonnen in 2010. The outspoken title challenger from West Linn, Oregon was a massive underdog entering his first UFC 117 meeting.
Sonnen shocked the world for 23 minutes of the fight, dominating Silva with takedowns and ground strikes before Silva secured a back triangle choke. The UFC is scheduled to induct the fight into its Hall of Fame in delayed June.
They met again two years later at UFC 148 in a blockbuster rematch in Las Vegas. Silva knocked out Sonnen with a knee to the chest after Sonnen lost his balance, throwing a spinning back fist.
Silva left the UFC in 2020, but has since boxed professionally four times. He has a 2-1-1 record in the ring, with his only defeat coming to Jake Paul via decision in 2022. Sonnen retired from MMA in 2019 after five appearances with Bellator MMA. The former collegiate wrestler has never boxed professionally.
In 2010, Silva was widely considered the greatest fighter of all time, but Sonnen’s ability to promote the rivalry with trash talk about the Brazilian legend helped propel him to stardom.
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