George Kambosos may be the man in the lightweight division right now, but to Ryan Garcia the Aussie champion is also something of a one-hit wonder.  

Garcia, the social media upstart from Victorville, California, thinks Kambosos was the beneficiary of some good fortune with his upset over Teofimo Lopez in their entertaining lightweight bout last November at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Kambosos, a fairly big underdog, outpointed and knocked down Lopez en route to a unanimous decision. Not to diminish Kambosos’ achievement, but it turned out that Lopez had been dealing with health issues – and a host of familial problems – before and after the fight that reportedly nearly cost him his life.

“That was a very weird fight,” Garcia said on the Boxing with Chris Mannix podcast. “Don’t get me wrong. Kambosos, kudos to him for winning. I don’t think he’s as skillful as Teofimo. I still don’t think he’s as skillful. I think he caught Teofimo at the right time, that’s all. I really do believe that.

“Again, it’s just my opinion based on just – I know boxing. I can see it. You know what I mean?”

Garcia believes that while Kambosos is not naturally gifted as Lopez, his work ethic is certainly elite.

“The thing that I like about Kambosos: he might not be the best talent but he probably works super hard,” Garcia said. “He beat talent when talent didn’t work hard. You can never knock a guy on that. I wish that he makes a lot of money in the sport and that he can take care of his family forever.”

Kambosos is reportedly scheduled to defend his WBC Franchise, WBO, WBA, and IBF lightweight titles in early June at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. Vasiliy Lomachenko was supposed to be the original opponent, but the Ukrainian is engaged back home helping defend his country from the Russian military invasion. The frontrunner to face Kambosos next is WBC lightweight champion Devon Haney.

There have been whispers that Garcia could also be a candidate at some point to face Kambosos later in the year.

Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs), who is scheduled to face Emmanuel Tagoe April 9 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, said he would love to demonstrate his superiority over Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs).

“I will show him that he does not belong in the ring with me,” Garcia said of Kambosos. “I will get him out of there. For sure. And I’m not just talking like Teofimo. I’m actually going to do it.”