George Kambosos Jr.

George Kambosos Jr. (born 14 June 1993) is a Greek-Australian professional boxer. He held the unified lightweight championship from 2021 to 2022, as well as the Ring magazine title during that time. He held the IBO lightweight title from 2022 to 2023.

Early life

Kambosos was born in Sydney, Australia to parents of Greek descent. His paternal grandparents moved from Sparta, Laconia, to Australia and Kambosos has the famous Spartan war cry "Never retreat, never surrender" tattooed on his body in homage to his heritage. He began playing junior rugby league for the Gymea Gorillas at a young age, and was often bullied as a child for being overweight, so his father enrolled him in boxing classes at 11 years of age to improve his fitness. Kambosos quickly dropped the excess weight and was placed in the Cronulla Sharks development squad where he was coached by Ricky Stuart but found himself at a crossroad as a teenager when he was forced to choose between boxing and rugby league. He elected to pursue the boxing pathway and began his fighting career by amassing 85 wins in 100 amateur fights before turning professional. Kambosos attended Bexley Public School in the southern suburbs of Sydney throughout his upbringing.

Professional career

Early career

Kambosos made his professional boxing debut in May 2013, aged 19, when he faced Filipino fighter Jayson Mac Gura and was victorious via a second-round technical knockout. In December 2016, he captured the WBA Oceania title by beating world number nine Brandon Ogilvie. He then went on to face Qamil Balla in May 2017, whom he defeated by unanimous decision in a ten-round fight. Five months later, he knocked out Krai Setthaphon in the ninth round and won the WBA Oceania and IBF Pan Pacific titles in the lightweight division.