“I fight with all my pride and honour for the Greek and Australian flag.”
Top 3 World Lightweight Contender, Australia's Number 1 Fighter 18-0 10 KO, CEO of Ferocious Promotions and soon the IBF World Title Eliminator... his name is Kambosos. George ‘FEROCIOUS’ Kambosos Jr.
“From a young 12-year-old kid when we started this journey, 100 amateur fights later and 18 professional fights, it’s been a long journey. There has been a lot of lonely nights, early mornings, a lot of blood, sweat and tears but we are nearly there.”
As we are all aware, the pandemic has affected all of our lives. But it has not stopped George, rather he has adapted to it. “I’ve adapted different training. And I’ve been able to work on the small little details, the things that I haven’t been able to work on because I have been deep into training camp. I honestly feel like I’m a stronger, explosive, faster and smarter fighter cause I have had a lot more time to watch different opponents and my knowledge of the fight game has improved as well.”
“I really believe it has improved me as a fighter. And mentally too. You have to be very strong and disciplined because it is very easy to think you are on a ‘holiday’ now. But I stay very strict to my diet, I took the time to better myself and to learn the small details and become a better athlete," the undefeated fighter continued.
Last year, George Kambosos Jnr fought three times at three different arenas that he has always wanted to fight at in his career.
In January he fought at one of the best arenas in the world, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and in June, in his homeland, Greece, against Venezuelan Richard Pena. “Fighting in Greece was very special to myself, my heritage, to all the Greek fans and to my family. It was very important, something I really wanted to do and hopefully in the future I get to do that again. When the opportunity arose to fight in Greece, I didn’t ask any questions, I said ‘sign me up’, doesn’t matter who I am fighting, I want to go and fight in Greece.”
“It felt special being in Greece and Athens… I was getting ready to go to battle at home. That’s home. I fight with all my pride and honour for the Greek and Australian flag.”
Leading up to the fight George recalls how amazing it was, as a lot of his fans got to see him prepare and train. “They were very excited for me to be there. And we also got to see some amazing icons of Athens including the Olympic Stadium which I have a vision of one day holding a fight there. Hopefully one day bring a World Title fight there.”
Paying tribute to his heritage and fight in Greece, when George walked out at the Galatsi Olympic Hall in Athens, he not only proudly held the Greek flag, but also walked out to the song 'Ma Ego Eimai Ellinas’ (Μα Εγώ Είμαι Έλληνας) by Notis Sfakianakis.
“There were some fans who cried, that’s how passionate they were. That was me showing them that I am a serious contender, a Greek fighter who is honoured to represent the Greek flag and fight in front of them. It was a fantastic experience and I got a great victory," Kambosos excitedly said.
[su_youtube_advanced url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P7-pZSkd64&feature=emb_title" title="George 'Ferocious' Kambosos Jr wins his fight in Athens Greece"]At the end of last year, 'Ferocious' also put on an impressive performance in the ring and won a ten round split decision over former IBF champion Mickey “The Spirit” Bey at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“We took on a challenger fight with a former world champion… I was already sitting at number three in the world, I was already in line for a world title eliminator but I always want to challenge myself. I always believe in myself and we took on a former world champion… I jumped on the opportunity to fight in America, in his home town," the undefeated fighter continued.
After nine very close rounds, Kambosos dropped Bey with a right uppercut to the chin in the tenth round, then battered Bey for the rest of the way.
“Hopefully through what I’m doing on the world stage, ‘Kambosos’ fighting, it inspires so many Greeks to do good and bring honour to the country.”
During the covid-19 pandemic, the focused fighter has been staying in great condition- training in the gym, reading various books about different sports and athletes, as well as working on different things. “I’m always trying to perfect the detail, the small 1% things. To be a world champion, to be THE best at your given sport or anything you do, you need to be 110% on detail and that’s what I’ve been doing. And that’s one of the good things of this period, it’s given me the time to do so because other times I didn’t have the chance because I’m always preparing or focused on a certain fight.”
Another thing he is grateful for is spending time with his family. “My daughter is three and my son is one. They are at an age where they pick up and learn so many things every single day. I have been spending a lot of time with them. And I have been showing them a lot of fights of myself too. They are starting to take more interest in what dad actually does, especially my daughter where she is starting to understand now ‘this is what dad does, he boxes, he fights’, so that has been exciting throughout this period," he added.
"Everything in my career I’ve had to earn. I’ve had to work hard, extremely hard to get to this position. I’ve never really been given something or opportunities, I’ve always worked hard to earn them. And that’s how I love it to be. I tell young kids and inspiring athletes that ‘if you want something in life, you have to earn it’.”
Greek City Times is excited to announce that we will continue to follow and support George ‘Ferocious’ Kambosos Jr on his journey to championship glory.
*Images by Nick Bourdaniotis/Bourdo Photography (Copyright)
GCT’s sports reporter Ben, also sat down for an explosive, exclusive interview.
