George Kambosos Jr has hit out at upcoming rival Devin Haney for his controversial "white boy" comments.
The Australian star will make the first defence of his titles this weekend after producing a sensational display to upset Teofimo Lopez. A war of words has ignited with Haney during fight week, with Kambosos accusing the American of being an "informant" ahead his last outing.
Haney faced significant backlash for controversial comments he made two years ago after being linked with a fight against Vasyl Lomachenko. "Listen, no white boy beat me. I don't care, on any day of the week," he said on a YouTube interview. "I fight a white boy like 10 times, I'm gonna beat him 10 times." The WBC 'regular' champion later apologised for his remarks and claimed he had learned a valuable life lesson.
However Kambosos Jr has claimed he will use the remarks as motivation to retain his belts. "I have been made aware of those racial comments he made and to suggest he would never lose to a white man just sums up the type of person he is," Kambosos Jr said during the press conference.
"It's below the belt. It's disrespectful to humanity, to all Australians and to white people around the world. One thing about me, I can talk the talk, but I am always respectful of people regardless of race, religion, colour or creed. I have some African-American friends and they are among the most beautiful people in the world.
"If he wants to bring race into it, that's on him and he has to look at himself in the mirror and take responsibility for what he said and live with it. If he thinks no white man will beat him, well I am going to punch his head in on Sunday and maybe then he will get an appreciation for my ability."
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Haney is looking to become the new king of the lightweight division having recently defeated JoJo Diaz to earn his shot at all the marbles. It looked set as if he may miss out on his challenge but Lomachenko was instead called to arms in Ukraine's war against Russian invasion.
However the 23-year-old believes his profile saw him handed the opportunity over other potential challengers. "The government would not have put up the money if it wasn't against me. Me or Lomachenko," Haney said. "And then Lomachenko couldn't fight, so then you had to pick me. This means everything.
"It's a dream come true of mine since I was a young kid. This is the biggest achievement of boxing. I can't wait for June 5 to come. There's nothing he can do in the ring that's better than me, and I will show it on fight night. I take nothing away from him. I think that he's a good fighter, but I just think I'm on a whole different level."
