NEW YORK – George Kambosos Jr. reveres Vasiliy Lomachenko.

It irritates the former unified lightweight champion that Richardson Hitchins hasn’t expressed comparable respect for the legendary Lomachenko, who announced his retirement last week. Kambosos added what Hitchins said about the future Hall-of-Famer to a list of obnoxious, outlandish things he feels the unbeaten IBF junior welterweight champion stated during the buildup toward their 12-round, 140-pound title fight Saturday night in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

“In the faceoff, the way he disrespected the great Lomachenko, who obviously retired [last week], he disrespected him,” Kambosos told The Ring. “He was saying that he would’ve whipped Lomachenko, he would’ve beat Lomachenko. How dare you say that? That’s a legend of the sport. Yes, [Lomachenko] beat me, but after 11 hard rounds.”

Lomachenko stopped Kambosos in the 11th round of what turned out to be the last fight of the three-division champion’s celebrated career in May 2024. The Ukrainian southpaw’s stoppage of Kambosos at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia won him the IBF lightweight title, which he didn’t defend before he decided to retire at the age of 37.

Kambosos believes Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) could’ve beaten other champions at the top of the lightweight division had he remained active, most notably WBA champ Gervonta Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs) and WBC champ Shakur Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs). The Sydney native wasn’t surprised Lomachenko called it a career, though, because he sensed that the two-time Olympic gold medalist’s heart wasn’t in the sport anymore.

“I felt it coming,” Kambosos said. “I know how well Lomachenko prepared for myself. I know he did six months of heavy training. I seen some of the stories of how he was sparring 15 rounds, four-minute rounds with so many guys. … I believe he gave everything for that fight, knowing that he really wanted to be champion that night, finish on a high and then obviously wait and see how he felt, but if Father Time had caught up to him, you know, it was time to give it away.”

Lomachenko led Kambosos comfortably on all three scorecards – 99-91, 99-91 and 98-92 – when he dropped Kambosos twice in the 11th round of a main event ESPN televised from Kambosos’ home country.

“I believe it was one of the best versions of Lomachenko that night, when I fought him,” Kambosos said. “He was strong, he was thick, he prepared very well. He’s a legend of the sport and I’m very proud to have fought him. I’m honored to be his last opponent. And we did it in Australia, did record-breaking numbers and brought a legend to my country for Australian fans to see. It’s a true honor. I wish him all the best.”

The IBF elevated its interim champ, Raymond Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs), into Lomachenko’s championship position once Lomachenko informed the New Jersey-based sanctioning organization that he retired.

Kambosos (22-3, 10 KOs) will attempt to become a champion in a second division when he challenges Brooklyn’s Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) for his IBF belt in a main event DAZN will stream from Hitchins’ hometown. DAZN’s coverage of the Hitchins-Kambosos undercard is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET (11:30 p.m. GMT).