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Devin Haney was ready to fly to Australia to fight George Kambosos Jr for the undisputed lightweight championship on Saturday night. This proved to be a very profitable decision for Haney as he dominated Kambosos for 12 rounds and won all four world championships at 135lbs.
Haney is only the ninth fighter to combine all four recognized titles in any weight class and the second youngest at just 23 years old.
There was very little drama in the fight and Haney immediately put down a brilliant jab that prevented Kambosos from ever getting his offense going. As the jab landed, Haney fired left lead hooks and straight right hands from behind, each shot keeping Kamboso from releasing with the right hand he seemed to have loaded all night.
In the end, Haney took the unanimous decision win with official scorecards of 116-112, 116-112, and 118-110.
“I got in the way of his best game,” Haney said after the fight. “He wanted to land the upper hand right and the big left hook. I disabled him. I fought both ways. If I had gone left, I would have fought his right hand. If I had gone to the right, I would have fought his hooks. He couldn’t land either one.”
Haney, who competed with the WBC championship, wasn’t the man originally set to face Kambosos after Kambosos, shockingly upset at Teofimo Lopez, won to win the WBC franchise championship and the WBA, IBF and WBO – to hold the world title. The original plan was for Kambosos to defend against former champion Vasiliy Lomachenko. When Lomachenko withdrew from the fight to stay in his native Ukraine after the country’s Russian invasion, Haney had an opportunity to silence critics who claimed his WBC title was illegitimate when he was released from the interim Champion was raised when Lomachenko was named WBC franchise champion.
After a rocky build up to the fight, with Kambosos using trash talk a lot, Haney’s father arriving the night before the fight and Kambosos losing the weight on his first try, Haney was calm from the jump and looked every bit a master boxer , as he completely shut down Kambosos and marked the Australian’s face with a steady diet of jabs.
Kambosos will have an opportunity to retaliate as the fight with Haney included a rematch clause which also said Haney would have to return to Australia should he win the first round.
Kambosos made it clear that he had every intention of activating this clause when speaking after the fight.
“I will give him full respect, give him his time and we will do it again,” said Kambosos. “I thought the fight would be very close but I’m not going to ruin his moment. … I shall see him very soon.”
Stephen Fulton dominates Daniel Roman
Kambosos vs. Haney wasn’t the only fight on Saturday night with multiple world championships at stake. Stephen Fulton defended his WBC and WBO super bantamweight titles against Daniel Roman in Minneapolis.
Similar to Haney’s win, Fulton used movement and a stiff jab to set the tone for all 12 rounds of action, with Roman trying to apply pressure but stifling any attempt to get going.
Fulton outclassed and passed Roman at every turn, turning what had the potential to be one of the best of the year into a one-sided loss. The official scorecards for the fight are 119-109, 120-108, and 120-108.
Fulton is now turning his attention to his goal of meeting WBA and IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev in a four-belt unification later in the year.
CBS Sports was with you all the way through both events on Saturday, so be sure to follow the live scores and highlights below.
results, highlights
- Devin Haney (c) defeated. Georgie Kambosos Jr. by unanimous decision (116-112, 116-112, 118-110)
- Stephen Fulton (c) defeated. Daniel Roman by unanimous decision (119-109, 120-108, 120-108)
