Devin Haney will return to Australia to defend his four lightweight titles even earlier than the undisputed 135-pound champion expected.

Multiple sources have confirmed to BoxingScene.com that the immediate rematch between Haney and former champion George Kambosos Jr. will take place October 16 in Melbourne. The second 135-pound championship bout between Haney, of Henderson, Nevada, and Sydney’s Kambosos will headline a Foxtel Main Event pay-per-view show in Kambosos’ home country.

ESPN will televise the Haney-Kambosos rematch live the night of October 15 in the United States.

Big Fight Weekend’s Dan Rafael first reported that October 16 is the target date for the Haney-Kambosos rematch.

Their second lightweight title fight in barely a four-month span will be held at Rod Laver Stadium, a venue primarily known as one of the sites of the annual Australian Open tennis tournament. Rod Laver Stadium, which has a retractable roof, should be able to accommodate between 16,000 and 17,000 fans for boxing.

Their first fight, which Haney won by unanimous decision June 5, attracted an announced crowd of 41,129 to Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. The Victoria State Government has made substantial financial commitments to bring both Haney-Kambosos bouts to Melbourne in efforts to promote tourism in Australia’s second-most populous city.

The 23-year-old Haney owes Kambosos an immediate rematch in Australia as part of the multi-fight promotional agreement he signed with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. and DiBella Entertainment late in March. A hungry Haney agreed to give Kambosos an immediate rematch in Australia because he didn’t want anything to prevent the former champion from granting him a shot at becoming boxing’s undisputed lightweight champion.

The Oakland native convincingly beat Kambosos last month to retain his WBC world lightweight title and win the IBF, WBA and WBO belts from Kambosos (20-1, 10 KOs), who lost the three titles he won when he upset previously undefeated Teofimo Lopez (16-1, 12 KOs) by split decision November 27 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York. Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) won their 12-round bout by scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112 and became boxing’s eighth fully unified champion of the four-belt era.

The 29-year-old Kambosos made it clear during their post-fight press conference that he would exercise his contractual right to a lucrative immediate rematch, but he initially indicated that it would take place sometime in November.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.