George Kambosos Jr. targets February return in new weight class, signs with Matchroom

George Kambosos Jr. is making two major changes ahead of his next fight: A new weight class and a new addition to his promotional team.

Kambosos (21-3, 10 KOs), the former unified lightweight champion, has signed a co-promotional deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, the promoter announced Friday as Kambosos moves up to super lightweight. The British promotional giant will navigate Kambosos’ career for the foreseeable future alongside his existing co-promoters, DiBella Entertainment and Ferocious Promotions.

Kambosos’ return is targeted to headline a DAZN show in February at an undetermined Australian location. Canada’s Mathieu Germain (25-2-1, 10 KOs) is the frontrunner to be in the opposite corner, according to Uncrowned’s Keith Idec.

Two women’s title fights are being worked on for the undercard of that February show in Australia: WBC featherweight champion Skye Nicholson (12-0, 1 KO) will face her second consecutive mandatory, Tiara Brown (17-0, 11 KOs), and Nina Hughes (6-1, 2 KOs) will rematch Cherneka Johnson (16-2, 6 KOs) for the WBA Bantamweight title.

Nicolson easily outpointed Raven Chapman on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol undercard in October, while Hughes lost a controversial decision to Johnson on the previous Kambosos undercard.

Kambosos, 31, announced himself to the boxing world in 2021 with a stunning split decision upset over Teofimo Lopez to win the unified lightweight title. He then dropped those titles in one-sided decisions to Devin Haney in back-to-back fights in 2022.

Kambosos returned with a controversial majority decision win over Britain’s Maxi Hughes in July 2023, which earned him another crack at the world title. This past May, Kambosos was outclassed by Vasyl Lomachenko en route to an 11th-round stoppage loss for the IBF lightweight title.

“Ferocious” Kambosos’ previous four fights were with Bob Arum’s Top Rank, but for his return at 140 pounds, he has decided to work with a new promotional team. Matchroom also represents the IBF champion at 140 pounds, Liam Paro, who defends his title against Richardson Hitchins in December and also hails from Australia. The promotional company will no doubt be looking to set up a massive all-Australian clash between Paro and Kambosos in 2025, should they both secure victories in their next outings.

Outside of Paro, Kambosos could seek bouts with Jack Catterall, Dalton Smith, Regis Prograis, and Hitchins under the Matchroom banner.