George Kambosos Jr is vowing to become the first fighter to stop Ukrainian legend Vasiliy Lomachenko when they square off for the IBF lightweight world title.
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The pair will meet at RAC Arena in Perth on May 12, and Kambosos said he's looking to send the 36-year-old three-division champion into retirement.
A sell-out crowd of almost 16,000 is expected, coming on the back of the Sydneysider's two huge Devin Haney fights in Melbourne in 2022, in which then-unified world champion Kambosos relinquished his belts to the American.
As well as regaining world champion status, Kambosos sees victory over the two-time Olympic gold medallist as a stepping stone towards a place in boxing's Hall of Fame.
He said he could carve out his own piece of boxing history against Lomachenko, whose professional record stands at 17-3, 11 KOs, but whose amateur results show a stunning 396 wins to one loss.
"We're coming to win this fight," Kambosos told AAP.
"There's not one bit of doubt in my head that I will not only win this fight but I'm very confident I can be the first to stop Lomachenko and send him to retirement."
Under the guidance of new Russian coach Anton Kadushin, the 30-year-old Kambosos said he started preparing months before the fight was announced.
He said he sparred more than 200 rounds in camp, importing a partner from Russia he dubbed 'Lomachenko 2.0'.
"The biggest thing of this whole camp was discipline and hard work, and that's what we have lived by," he said.
"If Loma thinks this is an easy fight, or he thinks this is a holiday, that's fantastic - because he has a man willing to do whatever it takes to win this fight.
"I'm back better than ever."
Kambosos is rated a 6-1 chance by bookmakers but dismissed the odds, given he was a 13-1 hope of beating Teofimo Lopez back in 2021 - which he did to claim the belts.
Lopez had outboxed Lomachenko to win the IBF, WBA and WBO straps the previous year.
Kambosos (21-2, 10 KOs) pointed to last weekend's shock result, when the previously unbeaten Haney lost to Ryan Garcia.
"It's the theatre of the unexpected - everyone thought Haney was going to win that fight quite easily," he said.
"It just shows it's only one punch that can really change the fight.
"We saw it in my Lopez fight, that first shot in round one when I was able to put him down, it changed the whole tempo of the fight.
"You can never count anyone out, the result is never concrete.
"On May 12 I'm the big underdog and we're going to see it again."
Australian Associated Press
