Undisputed lightweight world champion Devin Haney says he has “all the answers” to George Kambosos as they clash in a title rematch in Mel-bourne on Sunday.
The unbeaten American toppled the Australian on unanimous points in June to become the first undis-puted lightweight champion in modern boxing his-tory, since Pernell Whitaker in 1990.
A rematch was in his contract and they will meet again at Rod Laver Arena, best known as centre court for the Australian Open tennis and significantly smaller than the 41,000-capacity Marvel Stadium that hosted the first bout.
“Obviously he’s going to come in with a better game plan, so I’m going to need to be better than I was last time,” Haney, who has a 28-0 record with 15 KOs, told reporters.
“Life hasn’t changed. Of course I have the belts. I worked hard for it, and I knew the time would come, so nothing has changed. Now it’s time to defend and come out victorious.”
Kambosos was outclassed by Haney’s speed, in-stinct and relentless left jab in June in what was a defensive masterclass by the American.
Haney, 23, said he had “tunnel vision” on win-ning again and could cope with whatever the Aus-tralian brings.
“I can’t say what he can do differently because I have all the answers for anything he brings to the table,” he said.
“We’ve been studying him like crazy. We know what he does. We know the mistakes that he makes and the habits that he has.”
The win last time elevated Haney to an exclusive club of fighters, becoming only the eighth boxer to hold all four belts from the major sanctioning bodies — WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO — at the same time. Defeat was Kambosos’s first in 21 bouts since making his professional debut in 2013. —APP
