George Kambosos evidently does not regard his former opponents on equal terms.

The Aussie former lightweight champion recently made it clear that while he may hold now 140-pound contender Teofimo Lopez in contempt, he wholly respects divisional colleague Devin Haney.

Kambosos, 29, is coming off two straight losses to Haney, neither of which were very competitive, thanks to Haney’s superior boxing ability. Haney arguably turned in an even more dominant performance in the rematch, which took place in October in Melbourne, Australia; their first fight unfolded in June, also in Melbourne. Haney won widely on points both times. After the fight, Kambosos tipped his cap to the 24-year-old native of Oakland, California, and the current undisputed lightweight champion.

Kambosos, however, has been understandably much less than friendlier toward Lopez, due to Lopez’s comments toward him since their lightweight unification bout last year at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. Kambosos upset Lopez to win on points and become the IBF, WBO, and WBA 135-pound champion, but Lopez has never appeared to give Kambosos any credit for the win. In fact, Lopez, who made his successful debut at the junior welterweight mark in August against Pedro Campo, has consistently suggested that his fight with Kambosos was the result of certain machinations behind the scenes.

“Between me and Teofimo, he can go f--- himself right now,” Kambosos told FightHype.com. “He’s consistently been a spoiled brat. A guy that won’t accept defeat. I beat his ass. I beat him up that bad. I damaged him. None of this [conspiracy theory] bullsh!t – where’s the evidence? Show me the evidence…Keep crying, keep talking. You know what, he’ll never get his ‘0’ back, I took it.”

More recently, Lopez denigrated Kambosos and Haney for the viewership they produced on ESPN. (The fight was distributed in Australia as a pay-per-view event). Lopez is scheduled to return to the ring against Sandor Martin on Dec. 10 in the headline event at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

“He carried on about me and Devin Haney’s ESPN numbers, and he’s got no idea the kind of pay-per-view numbers we did in Australia,” Kambosos said. “Some of that, it’s funny, him and his dad … He doesn’t even know what pay-per-view is. So, I think he can disrespect whoever he wants. It shows.”

Of Haney, Kambosos had only high praise.  

“Devin Haney is a very special fighter,” Kambosos said. “A very talented fighter. Like I said, I’m in his corner. I respect him. The thing with him is he’s getting better and better. But already what he has right now he’s very good.”