It appears to be a two-horse race between Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko as to which lightweight will land the opportunity to fight George Kambosos Jr.

The WBC champion Haney and former champion Lomachenko both went public with their pitches Saturday after Kambosos called out both fighters and their representatives in a Twitter post on Friday.

Kambosos wrote: “When I said “now we can talk” I meant it! I didn’t expect Devin Haney for you to manipulate and play games. Eddie Hearn, what’s wrong with your boy! Yes or No? DAZN Boxing got no faith in him? Hey Vasiliy Lomachenko, tell Bob Arum to make a serious offer to Lou Dibella. I’m waiting.”

Lomachenko wrote back and replied: “Hey champion, we have made the best offer for you. We are waiting for your decision…”

Haney opted for the spoken word for his response, talking to Chris Mannix on DAZN in between rounds of the main event featuring Jesse Rodriguez’s win over Carlos Cuadras to capture the 115-pound WBC title, and unseating Haney as the youngest belt holder in boxing. 

“I'm very confident [I am going to have a shot for the undisputed lightweight fight],” said Haney.

“Right now it's on George and his team to determine what's next. At the end of the day, I agreed to all of their terms, whether it was the travel or the vaccine. So anything that they throw at me, I'm ready to do it. This is a dream of mine to become undisputed champion. They can say what they want, and I price myself out, and did this and that, but that's not the truth. I'm ready to make the people happy and ready to do it next.”

The 28-year-old Greek-Australian Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs) is clearly in the driver’s seat after upsetting Teofimo Lopez Jr. in November to win the IBF, WBO, WBA, and WBC Franchise titles. 

In subsequent weeks, Haney beat Joseph Diaz Jr. and Lomachenko defeated Richard Commey to remain in pole position to land the fight against Kambosos. 

Kambosos, who is managed by Peter Kahn and promoted by Lou Dibella, is looking to stage a homecoming fight in Australia.

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.