George Kambosos ’wonderful victory expands the lightweight department to even more fun options

A year ago, the lightweight boxing division seemed ready for a big boom. 23-year-old Teofimo Lopez defeated 135-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko to unite three of the four championships around the world, with Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia and Gervonta also taking part in a “Tank” that seemed to be the last start of the youth moment. “Davis. Then he came George Kanbosos to throw some chaos in the mixture.

The landscape of the lightweight division remains intriguing after Kanbosos ’shocking incident against Lopez last Saturday in New York. However, the texture of the map has changed significantly.

After the fight, Lopez, Teofimo Lopez Sr. along with his father and coach, he began conspiracy talks that he deserved the victory, but a system that was working against him suggested that he had cheated. Boxing powers aside from the nonsense that a young, charismatic and heavy American star wanted to lose against a low-value Australian, the biggest thing to get out for the future was when Lopez and his father said the plan was now. To move up to 140 pounds. It’s a sensible decision and it’s likely to come as a winner or a loser, because Lopez has made an effort to maintain his weight as the man has grown.

Suddenly, three of the four lightweight world championships remain in the hands of Kanbosos, a man whose name has not been included in the debate about the bright future of lightweight.

Cambodians now have a lot of power, as a man with a belt usually does. In boxing it would not be uncommon for Cambodians to face a lower level opponent in the next fight than Haney, Garcia or Davis. Kanbosos said after his fight that his opponents could come to Australia. It is likely that one of the top 135-pound names – or their promoters – would agree to these terms, and in the future Kanbosos is likely to rule that out. At first, however, it could be an Australian fight against an opponent of an “appropriate” ranking in the WBA, WBO or IBF. The fight between Shuichiro Yoshino and Masayuki Ito on December 29 is set to face Cambos ’first challenge for a small WBO title.

Haney and Davis are ready to take the next steps in their careers this coming weekend. Haney will defend the WBC lightweight title on Saturday, with Joseph “JoJo” Diaz Jr. taking against. It’s an unusual fight because Diaz had to deal with Ryan Garcia because of a hand injury that required surgery before Garcia had to get out of the fight. Despite being the champion, Haney Diaz began to publicly demand to face him.

Haney is an undeniable talented fighter, but one who has struggled to get famous opponents, even though the division has been filled with them. Winning Diaz, Haney places the four-belt unification fight with the Cambodians for a potential fight, an exact type of mega-fight that Haney has insisted will move forward. Of course, boxing hasn’t been anything but full of grief lately and Haney was shaken badly by Jorge Linares in the May clash. Winning Diaz would remove another name in the division, with the hitherto incomprehensible Diaz against Kanbosos with four world titles.

For “Tank” Davis, the fight with Isaac Cruz could be an exciting one on Sunday night. Davis has walked in the final parts, showing that his tremendous power — the power that has made him a rising star in the sport — can carry weight. Although there has been a lot of talk about the belts gathered by Davis, his lightweight and junior welterweight titles are secondary belts, not real world championships.

If he did as expected and sent another legitimate opponent to Cruz, Davis could finally start looking for a real world championship at 135 pounds. Or maybe all three, if he won the Kanbosos draw.

Garcia also remains in the mix as a young superstar with great skills and tremendous marketability as one of the few boxers who takes full advantage of the power of social media. His last win, the knockout of Luke Campbell, which Garcia had to pull off the canvas, was the best of his career. However, more attempts to achieve that victory came to a halt when Garcia struggled with Haney and took time out of the ring to deal with mental health, with much of the boxing criticizing the decision, fair or not. base. The planned fight with Diaz would have been horrible, but the injury again delayed his return.

Of course, Garcia was quick to point out that he wants to face Kanbosos after recovering from a hand injury, with more evidence that his members consider Kanbosos to be a real king.

All the speeches of the young core of the stars ignore the potential for the return of the former king. Vasiliy Lomachenko will face former world champion Richard Commey on December 11th. Lomachenko was a major force and was arguably one of the best pound fighters in the sport before meeting Lopez in October 2020. Lopez fought back. to score the sorrow of his life that night, but Lomachenko returned in dominance against Masayoshi Nakatani in June, easily handling a fighter who attacked Lopez.

Lomachenko will not be on anyone’s most coveted opponent list, with real elite skills that allow anyone to look bad on any night. But with Commey winning, it will be hard to deny him the chance to ascend his throne again.

Although Cambodian grief has shaken things up with a light weight, even though Lopez allegedly bounced back to 140 pounds, the portion remains healthy, intriguing and full of opportunity. It’s time for the best lightweight to organize everything in the ring, starting this weekend with Haney and Davis.