George Kambosos Jr.

George Kambosos Jr, born on 14 June 1993, is an Australian professional boxer who achieved significant success in the lightweight division. From 2021 to 2022, he held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and The Ring lightweight titles. As of September 2022, he was ranked as the world's number one lightweight by The Ring and TBRB, and the world's number three lightweight by BoxRec. Kambosos was born in Sydney to parents of Greek descent. His paternal grandparents migrated from Sparta, Laconia, to Australia, and he takes pride in his heritage by having the famous Spartan war cry, "Never retreat, never surrender," tattooed on his body. During his childhood, Kambosos played junior rugby league for the Gymea Gorillas but faced bullying due to his weight. In order to improve his fitness, his father enrolled him in boxing classes at the age of 11. Kambosos quickly shed the excess weight and eventually had to make a decision between boxing and rugby league. He chose boxing and embarked on his fighting career after amassing an impressive record of 85 wins in 100 amateur fights. Kambosos made his professional boxing debut in May 2013 at the age of 19, winning via a second-round technical knockout against Filipino fighter Jayson Mac Gura. He went on to capture the WBA Oceania title in December 2016 by defeating Brandon Ogilvie. Kambosos continued his winning streak by defeating Qamil Balla and Krai Setthaphon, winning the WBA Oceania and IBF Pan Pacific titles in the lightweight division. In June 2017, Kambosos was chosen as Manny Pacquiao's main sparring partner to help prepare for Pacquiao's fight against Jeff Horn. He continued to serve as Pacquiao's main sparring partner for subsequent fights. In April 2018, Kambosos signed a promotional contract with DiBella Entertainment. He made his debut in the US in May 2018, knocking out Jose Forero in under two minutes. Kambosos secured a victory against Rey Perez in January 2019 at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas, as an undercard to Manny Pacquiao vs. Adrien Broner. In June 2019, he fought in Greece, his native country, and defeated Richard Pena via knockout in round six. Following the victory, Kambosos called out former two-division world champion José Pedraza.