Lightweight contender George ‘Ferocious’ Kambosos Jr 21-2 (10) is at risk of burning himself out in the gym ahead of his fight for the vacant IBF 135-pound title against Vasiliy Lomachenko 17-3 (11) at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia on May 12.
That is the view of recently retired former three-weight world champion Jorge Linares.
The 38-year-old Venezuelan gave Lomachenko one of his toughest tests to date when they met for his WBA 135-pound title six years ago. Linares had the now 36-year-old Ukrainian southpaw on the deck in the sixth round before ultimately being stopped in the 10th in a fight that was even on the cards at the time.
Linares has never faced Kambosos in a boxing match, but he says he knows enough about the 30-year-old Australian to know how the fight will play out.
“I think Lomachenko wins that fight,” Linares said to ProBox TV. “I have to go with Lomachenko. I have seen Kambosos a lot of times and he… he always looks great in the gym, in training. He’s a world champion in the gym, but in the ring he is different.
“He just doesn’t do the same things that he does in the gym. He pushes all his focus into his training camp, his mentality, everything is in the gym. He loses everything, always in the gym. So that’s why, for me, I’m always with Lomachenko.”
Linares is leaning towards a decision win for Lomachenko and says he doesn’t have any concerns about the judging if the fight is close.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I just don’t see it. I think Lomachenko will come back in a good way, he showed that to everybody in the last fight. You saw how good he looked in that fight, so I think for me Lomachenko wins by decision.
“Maybe he wins by KO, but I don’t know.”
Kambosos knows the sort of challenge he is up against.
“The way I look at it, careers are on the line. I think you’ll get that competitive nature, but there’s a lot of respect there from both sides,” Kambosos said to TCB Network.
“There’s a lot of respect for what we’ve achieved and the kind of fighters we are – warriors who bring action and excitement to the ring. Inside that ring, that’s where the respect ends.
“That’s where he’s going to have to do what he does and I’m going to do what I do. He might not like it and I might not like it, but one of us is getting knocked out.”
Kambosos was last in action in July when he scored a disputed 12-round majority decision win over Maxi Hughes 26-6-2 (5). Lomachenko will be having is first bout since his disputed 12-round unanimous decision loss to undisputed then-lightweight champion Devin Haney 31-0 (15).