Devin Haney couldn’t wait to board a plane for this trip to Australia.

It was hardly the feeling enjoyed by the unbeaten 23-year-old less than five months ago heading into his first fight with George Kambosos Jr. Haney hugged his father and head trainer, Bill Haney, at the airport, not knowing if the two would eventually reunite in time for his undisputed lightweight championship at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

The elder Haney was left behind due to lingering issues in securing his eVisitor visa, leaving the reigning WBC titlist with a portion of his team ahead of the biggest fight of his career.

“When I was in Australia last time, I didn’t know what to expect,” Haney admitted to BoxingScene.com. “We were obviously working through my dad not being able to go over there when I left. There were certain things that were just up in the air while we were finishing preparation for the fight, but he was eventually able to come.

“It was really a blessing. It brought our team together. With everything my dad was going through, my brother [William Haney, Jr.] stepped up. He picked up where my dad left up. My team did a hell of a job keeping everything moving along. It was truly a blessing how everyone on the team stepped up the way they did.”

Bill Haney was granted clearance less than 48 hours before the fight, touching ground in time to be in his son’s corner on fight night this past June 5. Devin Haney (28-0, 15KOs)  turned in a virtuoso performance, shutting down Kambosos’ offense and silencing a partisan crowd of 41,129 at Marvel Stadium to defend his WBC title and win the lineal/WBA ‘Super’/IBF/WBO championship.

Among the conditions that Haney had to accept heading into the fight was a rematch clause which Kambosos (20-1, 10KOs) immediately exercised. It was known up front that the second meeting would also take place in Australia, less of a concern this time around as the issues that surrounded their previous trip abroad were since resolved.   

“This time around, I’m a lot more relaxed and a lot more prepared,” insisted Haney. “We know what to expect this time in Australia. I’m actually excited to be in Australia this time. Last time with everything going on, I wasn’t really excited. This time, I was counting down the days until we had to leave.”

The Haney-Kambosos rematch will air live on ESPN this Saturday, beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox