Bob Arum is not so sure that it is in the best interest of George Kambosos to dive immediately into a rematch with Devin Haney.
Kambosos, the Australian native, lost a unanimous points decision to Oakland’s Haney in their undisputed 135-pound title fight earlier this month at Marvel Stadium Melbourne, Australia. In order to challenge Kambosos, who had the WBO, WBA, and IBF lightweight titles, Haney, who had the WBC belt, needed to agree to give Kambosos an immediate rematch in the event that Haney defeated the Aussie.
Kambosos, 29, recently disclosed that he had “activated the rematch clause,” telling News Corp that while a venue has not been finalized yet, the fight, which contractually must take place in Australia once more, may end up in either Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane.
“I know I can win a rematch,” Kambosos said. “I will make some changes and this is my destiny to show how great I am and get those belts back.”
But given how lopsided the first fight was and how ineffectual Kambosos looked at times, there has been plenty of chatter in the boxing world suggesting a rematch would be redundant.
Arum, who promotes the 23-year-old Haney, seemed to hint at this line of thinking in a recent interview with a group of reporters after the final press conference at Madison Square Garden in New York City for the light heavyweight unification bout between Joe Smith Jr. and Artur Beterbiev.
Arum believes Kambosos (20-1, 10 KOs) would be better served taking on a “tune-up” fight – as a way to rebuild his confidence, say – before jumping back into a fight with Haney (28-0, 15 KOs). Arum made it clear that such a decision would have to be agreed upon by all parties so that there would be no breach of contract; Kambosos is promoted by Lou DiBella.
“There is a contract for him (Haney) to fight Kambosos again in a rematch,” Arum said. “ Again, when sensible people have a contract and there is another way to go, you might be able to do that.
“In other words, nobody is talking about breaching a contract, but it might be worthwhile for Kambosos to take another fight as a tune-up fight and then fight the winner of Haney and who Haney would be fighting. All that would be possible.”
At the same time, Arum noted that if the rematch happens, Haney would be more than willing to go back to Australia to fight Kambosos.
“But is there a contract for a rematch?” Arum said. “Absolutely. And knowing the Haneys and what honorable people they are, they are not going to breach that contract.”