George Kambosos is prepared for a “blood bath” in his upcoming unofficial world title eliminator.
The Sylvania boxer will meet Canadian Tony Luis at the Quaycentre, Sydney Olympic Park on April 14, with Kambosos defending his World Boxing Association Oceania lightweight title for the second time.
Luis, ranked No.11 in the WBA, will also put his WBA NABA lightweight title on the line, with the loser likely to fall out of world title contention.
Kambosos is ranked No.5 in the WBA and could jump as high as No.3 which would set up an official world title eliminator potentially against Englishman Anthony Crolla.
Kambosos has shown an ability to conquer challenges in recent years, scoring impressive wins over Qamil Balla and Brandon Ogilvie to become Australian champion.
Luis will be Kambosos’ biggest challenge yet but the 24-year-old will be in peak condition, undertaking a five-week training camp in Los Angeles with Freddie Roach and Justin Fortune.
And Kambosos believes what he has learnt from Manny Pacquiao’s team – who he sparred as part of Pacquiao’s preparation for his bout with Jeff Horn – and two-time world champion Gairy St Clair at his Gymea base, has given him the ability to change his approach against Luis if needed.
“I just box. I box smart. But we’ll see,” he said.
“Maybe the first round I might feel like just standing in the middle of the ring and going toe to toe with him. And creating a blood bath. We might have a war come round one. Or I might just box him apart.
“I’m going to box his head off. I know he’s been quoted that if I’m going to teach him how to box he’s going to teach me how to fight. Cool, that’s what I want you to do. I want you to teach me how to fight because I’m going to teach you how to box.”
“Out of the top 15 guys, not many have fought for world titles. But Luis has. He fought Derry Matthews in the UK. He’s got some big, big wins. He’s got a NABA WBA title which is very big in America. And he’s been there before. Since he’s lost the world title he’s six [fights] undefeated. So this is the fight we wanted. A good step up for us and will push us to higher contention for a world title.”
The first round I might feel like standing in the middle of the ring and going toe to toe with him. And creating a blood bath.
- George Kambosos Junior
A win would take Kambosos’ unblemished professional record to 14-0 and continue to turn heads as well as continue his march up the rankings.
It is his desire to fight the best that Kambosos believes sets him apart from fellow Australian fighters.
“A lot of Aussie fighters are fighting c-class fighters and just building records up and they’re tricking the fans. [I fought] Ogilvie, Balla, now we’re taking Luis, and then we want the big names straight after that,” he said.
“Bigger names, Anthony Croller, [WBA champion Jorge] Linares. All these guys we want to fight. That’s what I want. A hard fight like this, a challenge, a fight were people think it’s going to be 50-50 and people might think I’m going to lose this fight. It motivates me, it gets me out of bed in the morning. It makes me want to train.
“You can see it. All the hard training sessions, the late night runs. The travelling overseas, sparring Pacquiao, sparring all these top guys. Now you can see that final stretch. I’m there now.”
