Haney repeats against Kambosos Jr. to retain lightweight belts

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Devin Haney marked his name as the current lightweight king of boxing after taking down George Kambosos Jr. for the second-straight time via unanimous decision.

The technical tactician replicated his masterful performance during their first fight despite a newly-devised Kambosos Jr. strategy that went effective for the first two rounds.

The Australian superstar disrupted Haney’s rhythm and negated his solid jab game after deciding to pull off a ‘switch-stance’ technique where he fought in a combined southpaw and orthodox style.

According to boxing legend Jeff Fenech and Australian journalist Ben Damon, Kambosos Jr.’s strategy is a controlled aggression style used to counter jab-heavy opponents.

During their first slugfest, Haney won the fight via a hundred connected right and left jabs and the Kambosos Jr. camp made it known what adjustments they made heading into the second encounter.

Kambosos Jr. had a commanding start after ending the first round by pinning Haney to the ropes while connecting on several right-hand straights.

However, Haney was quick to bounce back in the next rounds and countered back to negate Kambosos Jr.’s technique by timing his signature right-hand bombs.

Every time the Australian switched stance and was ready to engage quickly, Haney was always ready to unload that right hand that destroyed the whole Kambosos Jr. game plan.

Kambosos Jr. showed some signs of life during the eighth round after landing a solid body punch to Haney that put the crowd to their feet.

Haney backpedaled for a couple of seconds before re-engaging with Kambosos Jr. and told the crowd that he was fine.

After his moment in the eighth round, Haney retook control of the whole fight and bullied Kambosos Jr. in the last four rounds with his calculated jabs and well-timed right hooks.

With the win, Haney retained his World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Organization (WBO), and World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight championship belts.