George Kambosos Jr. regards Devin Haney as a less dangerous opponent than Teofimo Lopez or Vasily Lomachenko.
The unified lightweight champion beat Lopez last year to claim belts from each of the four main governing bodies, but Haney holds the traditional WBC lightweight belt, meaning that their expected clash will settle who is the undisputed fighter at 135lbs.
In turn, Lopez had beaten Lomachenko back in 2020 in an upset victory amid the drama of the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, and the Ukrainian had been expected to agree a deal for a fight with the Australian.
However, Lomachenko returned to his homeland to take up arms when Russia invaded and he has turned down the offer from his government to let him leave the country to face Kambosos.
That led to Haney being presented with the chance to fight for more belts, and speaking to Fight Hype, Kambosos explained that he believed Lomachenko and Lopez were tougher fighters.
“I think he plays more into my hands,” Kambosos said of Haney. “We’ve seen in his last three fights, especially in the Linares fight and the Jojo Diaz fight — he thinks he’s a defensive fighter but gets caught, he gets caught a lot. There’s a lot of holes there so it’s gonna play right into my game.
“The pressure, the output that I have, the speed, the power, the explosiveness that I have, I’m really in my prime right now. I don’t feel like I was in my prime in the Lopez fight, I feel like I’ve really come into my prime now.
“I believe he will run, he’ll run for his life when he feels the power. And when it comes to his defensive skills, I don’t think they’re that great. In his mind he might think they’re great but we’ve seen it, he’s been hurt before, he’s been wobbled, he’s been rocked. And these guys, they’re way out of their prime or featherweights. So when a natural lightweight in his prime hits him clean and hits him multiple times, that’s when I’m excited to see how he reacts.”
While he praised Haney, he said he saw more weaknesses with the current champion.
“Look, every fighter is a threat and you got to respect them all, but I just see the holes,” he claimed. “I see more holes in Devin Haney than I did with the Lopez fight. I knew the Lopez fight, with his style and the size and the punching power he has, and that kind of tricky style he has as well where he can put you out at any time — I saw more danger in that fight. Really, I saw more danger in the Lomachenko fight.
“But, again, Haney is a good fighter, he’s got his style, but we see the holes. We’ve seen the holes for a long time and I’ve been looking at these guys for many years. I’ve got notes on all these guys as I was a rising contender. So we know what we have to do in this fight. We’re very excited, can’t wait.”