Hall of Fame trainer Teddy Atlas gave his take on Saturday’s big lightweight showdown between George Kambosos and Devin Haney.
The two undefeated champions will collide for the WBC, IBF, WBO, WBA lightweight belts at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
Kambosos is coming off the biggest win of his career. Last fall, he dropped and decisioned heavily favored Teofimo Lopez to capture the unified crown.
Haney is returned from back to back wins over former champions Jorge Linares and Joseph Diaz.
Kambosos will have over 40,000 fans supporting him at the venue, but oddsmakers have tabbed Haney as the betting favorote.
Atlas believes Kambosos has the right attributes to expose the holes in Haney’s game.
“Haney’s faster, yeah, Haney’s sharper, he’s all those things. But Kambosos knows how to time you, as he showed against Lopez where he was a big underdog. He knows how to time you. Timing beats speed. I’ll say it again. Timing beats speed. Timing can negate speed. He knows how to throw at the right time where your speed advantage doesn’t give you an advantage at the moment,” Atlas stated on his podcast.
“And I’ll tell you something else. I gave Haney all these superlatives that he deserves, but he’s not a huge puncher, he’s a sharpshooter. He’s not a big puncher. He hits with combinations, he hits you clean, he can definitely affect you, no doubt about it, but he’s not a TNT, hydrogen bomb puncher.
“But, also, as smart as he is, as classical as he is, with all that finesse, all that ability, he gets hit clean almost every fight before the final bell. Not every fight, but a lot of fights. He’ll walk in the rain without getting wet for a while, but then all of a sudden, he’ll get wet. And when he does, his umbrella has holes in it. Not that it’s a bad chin, he has great heart, but his chin is not the Rock of Gibraltar.”