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Mike Coppinger, ESPN
The Vasiliy Lomachenko-George Kambosos fight for the vacant IBF lightweight title will take place May 12 in Perth, Australia, sources told ESPN on Sunday.
The fight will be televised on ESPN on the evening of May 11 in the U.S.
Lomachenko, a future Hall of Famer, and Kambosos, the former undisputed lightweight champion, planned to fight in summer 2022 in Australia. However, Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KOs) elected to remain in Ukraine after the country was invaded by Russia.
In Lomachenko’s absence, Kambosos, 30, defended his four titles against Devin Haney and was routed in June 2022. Haney returned to Kambosos’ native Australia for another wide-points victory four months later.
Lomachenko, 35, is coming off a thrilling, razor-thin decision defeat to Haney in May. The two-time Olympic gold medalist is a three-division champion. He is ESPN’s No. 1-ranked fighter at 135 pounds.
Kambosos (21-2, 10 KOs) won the undisputed lightweight championship when he defeated Teofimo Lopez in ESPN’s 2021 Upset of the Year.
Kambosos, ESPN’s No. 5 lightweight, is coming off a controversial decision win over Maxi Hughes in June.
The Moloney twins, Jason and Andrew, will appear on the undercard. Jason Moloney retained his bantamweight title Saturday night with a thrilling majority-decision victory over Saul Sanchez.