JRE MMA Show #116 with George Kambosos

George Kambosos Jr. (0:17)

Thank you.

Joe Rogan (0:17)

What does it feel like?

George Kambosos Jr. (0:19)

Yeah, look, it's been pretty crazy. Obviously on top of the world right now.

Joe Rogan (0:24)

Does it feel like you're living in a fog, like a dream?

George Kambosos Jr. (0:27)

A little bit, but I've had that vision for so long.

I've manifested for so long and before this fight, even as a young amateur, I knew I'd be world champion. I knew one day more time would come and it finally did.

Joe Rogan (0:42)

Well, I was told about you a couple of years ago by my friend Vinny Shorman, who's big in the Muay Thai world and Liam Harrison is a Muay Thai world champion. They were telling me how awesome you were years ago.

But until Saturday night of last week, the world, you know, they didn't know. They had to see it.

George Kambosos Jr. (1:00)

Yeah, look, both great guys. And I think it was 2018 I was in the wild card gym sparring.

And I'm in the ring and I see these two guys and they're watching. So I thought, you know, I'll put on a show for these guys and let's see, they might be someone that can take us to the next level. They might be promoters, who knows? So I always want to put on a show and they couldn't believe it. And then I knew that they were coming on your show when I started speaking to them.

And when they dropped my name on here, I was like, wow, this is amazing. Now I'm here with you.

Joe Rogan (1:30)

Well, your performance against Tiafimo was spectacular. It was amazing.

And I mean, it was a fight where, how much of an underdog were you coming into that fight?

George Kambosos Jr. (1:41)

I was a huge underdog, you know, seven to one underdog. You know, betteronline.ag had me seven to one. So, you know, that just shows the adversity that you have to come through. You could be a massive underdog, but no matter what, you know, you get through it and you can win whatever you choose to do.

Joe Rogan (1:58)

Well, you were undefeated coming into that fight, but you just hadn't faced the same level of opposition that he had. And it didn't mean that you weren't capable of it. It just, you just hadn't had the opportunity before.

So it wasn't a seven to one, like they didn't think you had the skills. It was seven to one that you just hadn't had that, that moment in the sun before.

George Kambosos Jr. (2:18)

I think because, that's right, I haven't had my moment yet, leading into that fight, but, you know, he was coming off the big Lomachenko fight, the big win there. What he done in that fight, so impressive. He knocked out Richard Comey as well. So the hype, the noise that he was making, this was just gonna be a normal mandatory fight, you know, that took so long to make.

And he was supposed to do the business and move on to something bigger. But that hunger that I had, you know, that tunnel vision to show who I am, to show how great I am.

And I had to go through it all in that fight. You know, from the cuts to being put down in round 10 But I knew that this is my greatness now, how good I can be and show the world and shock the world.

Joe Rogan (3:00)

It is, you definitely did shock the world. It is a reoccurring theme in boxing and in all combat sports. When someone takes an opponent lightly and they go in thinking they're just gonna steamroll this guy and then they get met with reality. I mean, it's happened so many times in fighters' careers. And then there's also the other reoccurring theme, a guy like yourself who has his eyes on the prize, is completely focused and people are counting them out and then they rise to the occasion and become a superstar.

And that's what happened to you.

George Kambosos Jr. (3:34)

You see it many times. And I feel that he didn't take me lightly because he was in great shape, he was in unbelievable condition.

I felt as we led into the fight and we had that first press conference where we looked into each other's eyes and I saw that a guy who, he came too fast and he needed to be matched with someone that was not gonna take a step backwards.

And the whole thing was this whole preparation. I was never gonna take one step backwards. I never gave him that inch. And even in the fight, I never gave him that inch. I was always there to be dominant. And I felt like he was a bully kind of character, you know, where he bullied Lomachenka, he bullied Kamiya, he bullied all his past opponents. But, you know, I've come from bullying. I was an overweight kid at a young age. I've been bullied all my life.