Devin Haney recently teased an October return to the ring, and we’ve now got some specifics. Dan Rafael reports that his contractually mandated rematch with George Kambosos Jr is targeted for Oct. 15 U.S. time (so Oct. 16 in Australia) at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Stadium, home of the Australian Open.
ESPN has also said the fight is being planned for that date, though Rod Laver Arena is a “could,” not finalized.
As far as unnecessary rematches go, this one’s pretty up there, though not quite on the “oh god why would you do that” level of, say, Navarrete vs Dogboe 2.
Their first meeting last month wasn’t particularly competitive; Kambosos (20-1, 10 KO) had few answers for Haney’s (28-0, 15 KO) movement and jab, never finding or forcing the close-quarters exchanges that paved the way for his upset of Teofimo Lopez.
Unfortunately, we live in the age of rematch clauses, so we get the sequel.
I’m a lot more interested in what comes after. Vasiliy Lomachenko wants to get back in the ring as soon as October, making the timing perfect for a crack at the winner of this rematch.