According to sources, a proposal is being made by his team to allow him to leave his native country to train for a fight against George Kambosos.
According to sources, the man who joined the territorial defense battalion earlier this month was working on a security detail at the border. Able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country to aid in defense against Russia.
In February, the former three-division champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist agreed to fight Kambosos on June 5 in Australia. Shortly after the Russian invasion began, he returned to Ukraine.
According to sources, Kambosos is close to a deal with Lou DiBella for a title defense at the stadium, but he hasn't agreed to a deal yet.
According to sources, officials involved with the bout require that a Kambosos opponent be locked in by the end of March to allow for a promotional push. According to sources, talks will intensify if there is no clarity regarding the ability of the Ukrainian boxer to leave the country and set up a training camp.
Kambosos remains focused on the fighter who is 16-2 with 11 knockouts. The fight will take place on a Sunday in Australia to accommodate a prime-time show on Saturday.
Since losing his unified lightweight championship to Teofimo Lopez in October 2020, the 7 pound-for-pound boxer has recorded two victories. After having surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff, he scored a ninth-round knockout of Masayoshi Nakatani in June. He defeated Richard Commey in December.
Kambosos, a native of Australia, scored an upset split decision over Lopez in November, a fight that was named the Upset of the Year. Lopez was considered to be one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world. One of the best bouts of the year was when the boxers were knocked down.
The career-best performance catapulted Kambosos, 28, to superstardom in Australia and placed him in the driver's seat of boxing's hottest division. Kambosos insisted in the immediate aftermath that he would forgo a routine title defense to chase the toughest challenge at lightweight, and that is exactly what he is going to do. It would be a formidable test.
The young man from Las Vegas has won two fights in a row.
If the situation in Ukraine allows him to compete, he is the front-runner for the bout. Oleksandr Usyk joined a territorial defense battalion. Joshua could take an interim bout while Ukraine is at war, but Usyk owes him a second fight, according to Hearn.
It is a very unique, personal, emotional situation and I don't think we can comprehend what is going on there.
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