It took almost two years, but the clash between Vasiliy Lomachenko and George Kambosos, Jr. is finally set.

Lomachenko and Kambosos, two of the top lightweights in boxing, will square off on Sunday, May 12 in Perth, Australia. ESPN’s Mike Coppinger was the first to report the fight being finalized on Saturday’s ESPN telecast in Quebec City, Canada.

Kambosos made an announcement on his social media feed on Monday morning.

“Two Warriors In A Battle For The Ages For The Lightweight World Championship in Australia! Have a Healthy Camp @VasylLomachenko See You Soon Down Under.”

The 12-round bout, with the vacant IBF lightweight title on the line, will likely air live on an ESPN platform on Saturday, May 11 in the United States, as Top Rank has an exclusive deal with ESPN.

Two Warriors In A Battle For The Ages For The Lightweight World Championship In Australia! Have A Healthy Camp @VasylLomachenko See You Soon Down Under ☦️🏆🇦🇺 #kambososlomachenko #FerociousPromotions #7x pic.twitter.com/9nXNi7i7a5

— George “Ferocious” Kambosos Jr (@georgekambosos) January 15, 2024

The IBF title was vacated by Devin Haney after he decided to move up in weight to challenge Regis Prograis for the WBC world junior welterweight title, which he won by decision on December 9.

The Lomachenko-Kambosos fight is also a clash between contenders rated in the top 10 by The Ring. Lomachenko and Kambosos are rated No. 1 and 8, respectively.

The clash was originally penciled to take place in June 2022, but Lomachenko had to withdraw from the fight after the conflict between Ukraine and Russia began weeks earlier. Lomachenko, heavyweight contender Oleksandr Usyk and junior middleweight contender Serhii Bohachuk, among others, were to travel to Ukraine to report for service in their army.

In place of Lomachenko, Haney fought and defeated Kambosos by decision over 12 one-sided rounds, and did so again in the rematch four months later. Both fights between Haney and Kambosos took place in Australia.

Lomachenko (17-3, 11 knockouts), who now resides in the Los Angeles suburb of Camarillo, challenged Haney for the Ring lightweight championship on May 20, losing a close, albeit disputed, unanimous decision.

In his previous fight in October 2022, his first since returning from service in the Ukraine army, the 35-year-old Lomachenko, who has won world title belts in three different weight classes, overcame a slow start to defeat Jamaine Ortiz by unanimous decision.

Since the loss to Haney, Kambosos (21-2, 10 KOs), who resides in Sydney, Australia, returned to the ring on July 22, winning a close majority decision over Maxi Hughes in an IBF world title elimination bout, in a fight media and boxing experts thought Hughes did enough to win.

The 30-year-old scored a career-best win in November 2021, overcoming a knockdown to defeat Teofimo Lopez to win the Ring lightweight championship. Lopez had defeated Lomachenko in October 2020.

Coppinger also reported twin brothers Andrew and Jason Moloney will fight in separate bouts on the May 12 card. Jason Moloney fought this past Saturday in Quebec City on the undercard of the Artur Beterbiev-Callum Smith fight, successfully defending his WBO world bantamweight title by defeating Saul Sanchez by unanimous decision in an action fight.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

Follow @FSalazarBoxing