The lightweight division in professional boxing has recently gotten very busy, with a number of mouth-watering fights shaping up the pecking order, with an undisputed championship fight on the horizon. Meanwhile, English boxing promoter and Matchroom MD Eddie Hearn has made a massive hint, that we might be just six months away from getting boxing’s first undisputed lightweight champion in 30 years.
In professional boxing, the last pugilist to be crowned as undisputed lightweight champion was the late Pernell Whitaker, who became the WBC, WBA and IBF champion in August 1990 and reigned as undisputed until January 1992.
Meanwhile, the lightweight division has been shaping up like this- George Kambosos Jr defeated Teofimo Lopez on 27th November to become the new unified WBA (Super), WBO and IBF champion, while WBC champion Devin Haney secured a win over interim champion JoJo Diaz on 4th December to unify the green and gold belt. A day later, Gervonta Davis defended his WBA “Regular” championship against Issac Cruz, and former three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko is set to fight ex-IBF titleholder Richard Commey on 11th December for the WBO Inter-Continental belt.
Kambosos vs Haney can head for Australia but Eddie Hearn mentions America and Middle East as alternates
The winner of Lomachenko vs Commey will become a promising opponent for Kambosos for his first title defense, the Aussie fighter has recently expressed his desire to take on the other two elites- Davis and Lomachenko, as well as adding the name of former WBC interim champion Ryan Garcia in his list.
Out of all them, the Haney fight proves to be the most exciting as it would mean that the two will be contesting for the undisputed lightweight crown- with Haney’s WBC title up against Kambosos’ WBA (Super), WBO and IBF titles.
On the same notion, Eddie Hearn believes May next year is the perfect time for the four belt title fight, but he also mentions late April to be a probable time as well. And with Kambosos wishing the fight to take place in his home soil, it could mean the fight may head for Land Down Under.
“I think realistically, end of April earliest. But realistically, May is probably the right time for the undisputed fight,” Hearn said in a recent interview with Boxingscene.com, while keeping in mind the onset of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus which might disrupt things next year. If travel restrictions make Australia unavailable to host the fight, Hearn has also picked America or Middle East as alternate options.
“Obviously, both are coming off tough fights,” the Briton went on, “Kambosos tougher. He got marked up pretty bad. Realistically, we’re looking at May for Devin. I’d like to see Devin take a nice break, get back in camp maybe early February. The issue we have to resolve is the travel issue with the pandemic. Right now we can enter several parts of Australia without quarantine but that could change.”
“We don’t rule out doing the fight in America or the Middle East. It’s the undisputed championship. It’s an important fight all around the world. We’ll explore all of those. It’s not just, we’re packing our bags and going to Australia. That’s where George would like to do it. We have to be represented properly in this situation as well, make sure it’s the right situation for Devin Haney to be in. There might be many offers,” Hearn added.
Highlights:
- Eddie Hearn hints George Kambosos vs Devin Haney for the undisputed lightweight title in May next year
- The fight may take place in Australia but America or Middle East are also viable options
- Kambosos defeated Teofimo Lopez to become the unified champion in late November, while Haney defended his WBC belt against former interim champion JoJo Diaz on 4th December
