George Kambosos Jr. will look to reinvent himself by moving up to 140 to face fringe contender Mathieu Germain in February in Australia.
It’s a long move by the Aussie Kambosos, as he’s not cut out for the well-stocked lightweight division, and he has to compete in a weight class with more opportunities for a fighter of his talent level.
Former IBF and WBO lightweight champion Kambosos (21-3, 10 KOs) must make drastic changes to save his sinking ship, which may be unsalvageable.
Boxing News broke the story of Kambosos moving up to face 35-year-old Germain, who is ranked #12 in the IBF at light welterweight. Germain (25-2-1, 10 KOs) is a Canadian with knockout losses to Yves Ulysse Jr and Uriel Perez.
Germain has never beaten any notable fighters so he was ranked #12 by the IBF, but that probably doesn’t matter. Kambosos Jr. use him to get his feet wet in the 140-lb division.
Mathieu Germain’s recent victories
– Cristian Palma
– Zsolt Osadan
– Jose de Leon Jasso
– Steven Wilcox
With an abysmal 1-3 record (it should be 0-4 if you count the Maxi Hughes fight as a loss), Kambosos Jr’s ship has reached the waterline and is about to go down. Moving up to 140 is the last hope for the ‘Emperor’ Kambosos.
The “Emperor” Kambosos’ decline
Since his upset win over a ring-rusty, unmotivated and mentally disengaged IBF/WBO 135-lb champion Teofimo Lopez in 2021, Kambosos has suffered two losses to Devin Haney and a knockout loss to Vasily Lomachenko.
In his last fight, Kambosos was stopped by Lomachenko in the 11th round on May 12 in an unsuccessful bid to capture the vacant IBF lightweight title in Perth, Australia. The way Loma dominated Kambosos was worrying because it wasn’t even mildly competitive. Lomachenko looked like the same fighter he was when he started his professional career in 2013.
There isn’t much chance of Kambosos losing to Germain, but he needs to impress in this fight to be taken seriously as a viable opponent for one of the champions. He is likely to target WBO champion Teofimo Lopez for a rematch as this is a match that will pay.
Moreover, Kambosos has already beaten Teofimo once, so he might be second time lucky if Teo turns up in the same form as their clash three years ago.
Kambosos has made millions from his fights against Devin Haney, Teofimo and Lomachenko, so if he doesn’t succeed again, he can live well as a rich millionaire in Australia.
