This Saturday October 15 [October 16 in Australia] sees a rematch at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia, as Devin Haney and George Kambosos Jr clash for a second time, with the undisputed lightweight world title on the line.
Sky Sports televise live Haney vs Kambosos in the UK, with ESPN having the USA rights.
In fairness, this sequel only takes place due to contractual obligations, as the first meeting was a pretty one-sided affair.
The lightweight title picture has been a bit of a merry-go-round of late, and it began with Teofimo Lopez sensationally dethroning Vasyl Lomachenko in October 2020 to unify the WBA ‘super’, IBF and WBO belts.
Kambosos Jr (20-1, 10 KOs) was working his way into title contention at the same time, and two weeks later, the Sydney native was at Wembley Arena, diffusing Lee Selby in a split decision victory that made him IBF mandatory.
When the Australian got his shot in November last year, few gave him a chance to become unified world champion, but he dropped Lopez in the opening round, before being decked himself in the tenth, and then took a famous split verdict win.
The 29-year-old’s first defence would come against WBC champion Haney (28-0, 15 KOs), in a big homecoming in Melbourne in June.
‘The Dream’ largely dominated, and made a fifth defence of his crown with a comfortable win on the scorecards.
Prediction: I can’t envisage that Kambosos Jr has made the wealth of adjustments needed to defeat Haney, with the first fight between the two only four months ago. Haney can win in even better fashion this time, and I fancy the 23-year-old to retain with a late stoppage.
Moloney twins return
Jason Moloney is on a run of three straight wins, and is in line for a third world title shot, should he overcome Nawaphon Kaikanha (56-1-1, 46 KOs), a former world title challenger who fights outside of Thailand for the first time.
It’s a twelve round WBC title eliminator at bantamweight. Moloney (24-2, 19 KOs) has only lost in good company, to Emmanuel Rodriguez 2018, and Naoya Inoue in 2020.
Prediction: I favour Moloney to take a points win in this one.
Andrew Moloney contests the vacant WBO International super flyweight title against Norbelto Jimenez.
Moloney (24-2, 16 KOs) has also won three on the spin since a trilogy against Joshua Franco where the Aussie lost twice with one no contest.
Jimenez (31-9-6, 16 KOs) has twice fallen short in world title attempts, but did hold four-weight world champion, Donnie Nietes to a draw last year.
Prediction: Moloney can outscore Jimenez after ten tough rounds.
Johnson defends world title
Charneka Johnson (14-1, 6 KOs) defends her IBF super bantamweight title for the first time, and she should overcome two-time former world champion, Susie Ramadan (29-3, 12 KOs) via decision.
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Remaining Undercard
In eight round bouts, Hemi Ahio (19-0, 14 KOs) should take his heavyweight contest against Faiga Opelu (14-3-1, 10 KOs) inside schedule, and Lorenzo Simpson (11-0, 7 KOs) can do the same in his middleweight encounter against Marcus Heywood (6-4-1, 4 KOs).
The remainder of the card are six round affairs.
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David Nyika (4-0, 3 KOs) should remain unbeaten, and he can stop the undefeated Titi Motusaga (4-0, 3 KOs) at cruiserweight.
Amari Jones (7-0, 7 KOs) may need the distance for the first time to see off Tej Pratap Singh (16-5-3, 8 KOs) at super welterweight.
At super lightweight, Adrian Sosa (12-0, 9 KOs) can outscore John Manny (6-0-1, 4 KOs).
