Vasily Lomachenko is amused by his opponent George Kambosos Jr. talking about sending him into retirement on Saturday in their fight for the vacant IBF lightweight title.
Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KOs) feels Kambosos (21-2, 10 KOs) is playing a game by saying outrageous stuff, but “it’s not serious.” It’s the Art of War mind tricks that Kambosos is using to try to throw Lomachenko off ahead of their fight at the RAC Arens in Perth, Australia.
Kambosos Resorts to Mind Games
Kambosos’ mind games worked well for him in his fight against Teofimo Lopez in 2020, but he was dealing with a guy who was easily broken mentally. It didn’t take much for Kambosos to cause Teofimo to second guess himself, and not fight at his best.
Against the two-time Olympic gold medalist and former three-division world champion Lomachenko, those mind tricks won’t work as well for Kambosos. Loma has been around, and seen it all by his opponents. However, Kambosos’s talking may help attract interest from fans, who see it as confidence on his part, even if it’s a false variety.
Kambosos is going to have to find the form that he had for his win over Teofimo because of the way he looked in his recent fights against Maxi Hughes and Devin Haney; he’s heading for a near-certain loss against Lomachenko.
Will the Tricks Work on Lomachenko?
Kambosos knows he’s up against it, and headed for his third defeat in his last four fights. If it’s a one-sided fight, as many believe it’ll be, it could be it for Kambosos, I don’t think he can absorb another defeat and get any more future world title shots.
Top Rank will still have Kambosos under contract, so they use him as a trial horse for their younger lightweight contenders, Abdullah Mason, Keyshawn Davis, and Raymond Muratalla to get some attention against a former world champion.
“This is what he thinks. It’s hard to explain. Why if it’s not happened, how is it going to be? So, it’s just talk. It’s not serious,” said Vasily Lomachenko to Top Rank Boxing, reacting to George Kambosos Jr. saying he’s going to send him into retirement on Saturday.
“You can’t show in the face-off how strong you are. It’s part of game.”
“I think he realizes the kind of guy he has in front of him. This is two warriors,” said Kambosos.
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