Date, time, viewing method

Vasiliy Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr. will meet for the vacant IBF 135-pound title on Saturday night (US time) in Australia on ESPN and ESPN+.

VASILIY LOMACHENKO (March 17, 11 KO)
WITH. GEORGE KAMBOSOS JR. (February 21, 10 KO)

• Day: Saturday, May 11 (in the US)
• Time: 10pm ET / 7pm PT (main event will be shown later)
• Where: RAC Arena, Perth, Australia
• Television/Streaming: ESPN, ESPN+
• Assignment: Light (135 pounds)
• Under threat: IBF title is vacant
• Pound-for-pound boxing addict: Lomachenko No. 13
• The odds: Lomachenko 5½-1 favorite (average across multiple stores)
• Meaning (maximum five stars): *****
• Also on the card: Nina Hughes vs. Cherneka Johnson, bantamweight (for Hughes’ WBA title); Andrew Moloney vs. Pedro Guevara, junior bantamweight; Imam Khataev fights Ricards Bolotniks, a light heavyweight; Joe Goodall vs Djanago Opelu, a strong opponent
• Background: Lomachenko, a 36-year-old boxer from Ukraine, has not held a major world title since losing the 135-pound belt to Teofimo Lopez in 2020 but is still considered one of the greats best of the world. He bounced back from the loss by stopping Masayoshi Nakatani in June 2021 and then defeated Richard Commey by one-sided decision that December. He has fought sporadically since Russia invaded his country in February 2022, only entering the ring twice. He easily outpointed Jamaine Ortiz that October. The former three-division champion then got a chance to recapture past glory in a meeting with then-undisputed 135-pound champion Devin Haney last May. Lomachenko turned in a typically strong performance against a highly-rated opponent but lost by contested scores, 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113. He would get another title shot at the championship against Kambosos in Australia. Kambosos shocked the boxing world by defeating Lopez to win three 135-pound belts in 2021. Then it went downhill as he lost consecutive one-sided decisions to Haney. He rebounded to beat Maxi Hughes by majority decision but he was unconvincing last July.