George Kambosos Jr. can still taste the cigarette smoke swirling around the air of the Croatian Club in Punchbowl, Sydney, Australia.
The music of the poker machines and smell of the bistro on fight night are also ever-present, though a long way from where he finds himself today.
Kambosos is back home in Sydney amid the coronavirus pandemic, but it’s only a short-term stop on a journey that has taken him from that humble Punchbowl auditorium to Las Vegas’ MGM Grand and New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden as part of an 18-0 professional run.
“It just as raw as it gets,” Kambosos told ESPN. “A local club where you walk in and you smell the smoke of cigarettes and you’ve got the punters on the pokie machines; the families there at the bistro; and then you’ve got us there, a young 18-year-old with so much belief in himself and can one day see the vision of himself getting to the mega arenas and fighting for a world title and becoming a world champion.
“You walk in, all your friends are there, and your family who’ve supported you along the way, and they’ve come to watch you have your pro debut. It was exciting, it was something new, but it was just so raw; stepping out, taking the shirt off, no headgear, and it was the start of a very long and hard journey to get to where we are today.”
One win short of a potential world title shot against Vasiliy Lomachenko, the No. 1-rated pound-for-pound boxer on the planet no less, is where Kambosos finds himself.
A win over Welshman Lee Selby on Oct. 3 in Cardiff this year could secure such a showdown, one that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says he would consider bringing Down Under. But more on that later.
Kambosos’ journey to near boxing stardom is both atypical and typical of any Australian pugilist.
Like many others, his first taste of fisticuffs was borne out of a desire to stay fit during his junior rugby league offseason. Faced with the option of the fresh sea air and spray of “nippers” — junior surf lifesavers for the uninitiated — or the sweat and heat of an indoor boxing gym, it didn’t take long for Kambosos to discover he’d made the right call.
“My old man suggested doing nippers down at the beach and I said you’re never going to see this big 60kg kid running down the beach, chasing flags,” Kambosos says.
“So he said, ‘Look, you like the “Rocky” films, why don’t we head down to the local [Police Citizens Youth Club].’ And as soon as I walked up those stairs to that smelly boxing gym and these other young kids were hitting the boxing bags — they were looking fit, rough and tough — and for some reason I fell in love with the sport.”
Twelve months later, Kambosos said he had dropped between 12 and 14 kilograms and had taken to the sport so well his trainer recommended a maiden amateur bout. The training had helped his rugby league too, the weight loss resulting in a move to the hooker position, but it wasn’t long before the two sports could no longer coexist and a choice had to be made.
“I had to put my whole heart into one [sport] and my heart was with boxing,” Kambosos said. “I fell in love with that one-on-one aspect where you fight another man; you have a team and some great people behind you, but at the end of the day it’s you that ultimately changes your destiny and can change your fight.
“And you look back now, almost 100 amateur fights and now 18-0 [professionally], and on the cusp of fighting for a world title, it’s been a crazy journey, a massive ride. And I love looking back at those early days because they’re the days who made me who I am today.”
Having turned pro midway through 2013, Kambosos reeled off his first three victories at the Croatian Club. Then came opportunities in Newcastle, Brisbane and at Sydney’s Allphones Arena, which hosted the basketball competition during the 2000 Olympics, a first international trip to New Zealand and then to Melbourne.
But it was the opportunity to spar with Manny Pacquiao that really helped put Kambosos on the map. Those moments in the ring with Pacquiao led to a spot on the former world champion’s undercard for his fight with Lucas Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur.
A TKO victory over Krai Setthaphon that day earned Kambosos the WBA Oceania and IBA Pan Pacific lightweight titles, and confirmed his decision to head offshore and chase fights against some of the biggest names of his division.
While some Australian fighters have stayed at home, polishing their records against lesser opposition, Kambosos said it was always his plan to head overseas and really prove himself. Almost four years later, it’s a decision he doesn’t regret.
“We said we’re not going to cheat ourselves, we’re not going to bring guys here and wipe them out, build an audience in Australia and make them think that we’re something that we’re not,” he said. “We wanted to test ourselves. I’ve always been the same throughout my whole career. I’ve always wanted to see where I am and put the belief in myself.
