George Kambosos Jnr is expecting to show the “lessons” learned under his trainer Anton Kadushin when on Saturday he fights Jake Wyllie.

The all-Australian contest, at the Qudos Bank Arena in Kambosos Jnr’s home city of Sydney, represents not only the former unified lightweight champion’s first at 140lbs, but his first under his new promoters Matchroom, and his second under the guidance of Russia’s Kadushin.

Kadushin, once a Russia national team coach, was first recruited by the 31-year-old Kambosos Jnr to help his preparations for his fight with the great Vasiliy Lomachenko in May 2024, when Kambosos Jnr not only lost but was stopped for the first time.

For his second fight under Kadushin, however – and both training camps have been extended; he trained for five months for Lomachenko, and before his fight date of March 22 was confirmed he had started to prepare for a date in December – he believes that their increased understanding will deliver what he had hoped for when inspired by first meeting Kadushin in 2023.

Wyllie, 24, was confirmed as Kambosos Jnr’s opponent with less than a week’s notice after the withdrawal, on medical grounds, of Indonesia’s Daud Yordan, but even after having had to prepare for a different opponent, Kambosos Jnr told BoxingScene: “Getting that understanding – especially when you’re fighting a guy like Lomachenko, for your first camp, is not an easy ask. Trying to get in sync with each other and trying to understand that European style; that soviet style, and trying to sync everything… We took a lot of lessons.

“He was one of the head Olympic coaches for Russia. He’s a very, very smart coach – a very, very good coach. After the fight, of course you’re disappointed with a loss, [despite] going 11 good rounds with a guy like Lomachenko. But when we sat down and broke it down and turned that on mute and watched the fight, there were so many positives from that fight – especially the first six, seven rounds. A lot of good stuff against a guy like that. 

“We’ve built off that; the second camp alongside each other, we’ve been really in sync with each other; we understand each other; there is no misunderstandings. It’s all good. We’re a solid team. He’s a good man. He’s got myself pushing extremely hard in training. Camp is good; camp is fun; and we’re very excited to make a good statement.”

The addition of Kadushin to Kambosos Jnr’s training team followed successive defeats by Devin Haney and a victory over Britain’s Maxi Hughes considered by many observers to be undeserved. It was in 2021 when Kambosos Jnr last truly impressed – in victory over the talented Teofimo Lopez at lightweight.

“I gave a lot in them fights,” he said. “You look at the Haney fights and the Lomachenko fight, and the Hughes fight, there’s a lot of good things that I showed. But then again, there’s certain points, ‘I could have done that better’. 

“Especially the Lomachenko fight. If you actually look back at that fight and really break it down, the first six were very good – I had it three-three – and then he had some good moments, and I had some good moments, and he kind of took over in that deeper part. I started wading in too much, and obviously he took over. He had to ultimately take me to the body because he couldn’t do anything to the top of my head. I take a lot from that fight. It’s Lomachenko. He’s an all-time great. I built off that momentum. That’s not a loss against a guy like that – that’s a lesson against a guy like that.

“This is the second time – there’s a lot more understanding with my coach. We’re a lot more in sync with each other.”