George Kambosos' stunning win opens up the lightweight division to even more fun possibilities

Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, Gervonta Davis and Vasiliy Lomachenko all have the chance to make real fun fights with a new king at the top

One year ago, boxing's lightweight division seemed ready for a huge boom period. 23-year-old Teofimo Lopez had dethroned longtime 135-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko to unify three of the four recognized world championships in what seemed to be the final ushering in of a youth moment that also featured Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia and Gervonta "Tank" Davis. Then came George Kambosos to throw a bit of chaos in the mix.

The landscape of the lightweight division remains intriguing in the wake of Kambosos' stunning upset of Lopez this past Saturday in New York City. However, the texture of the map has changed significantly.

After the fight, Lopez, along with his father and trainer, Teofimo Lopez Sr., launched into conspiratorial talk suggesting he'd deserved the win but had been cheated by a system that had been working against him. Setting aside the absurdity that the boxing powers-that-be wanted a young, charismatic, heavy-handed American star to lose to an Australian with little name value, the biggest takeaway for the future was that Lopez and his father said the plan was now to move up to 140 pounds. It's a sensible decision and one that was likely coming win or loss because Lopez has struggled to keep his weight down as he's continued to grow into a man.