Devin Haney’s path toward becoming boxing’s first fully unified lightweight champion of the four-belt era required several sacrifices some unbeaten boxers probably wouldn’t have made.

Haney had to leave the promoter, Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, and the streaming service, DAZN, that handled his six previous fights to secure his shot at George Kambosos Jr.’s IBF, WBA and WBO 135-pound championships. He also had to agree to box Kambosos in the former champion’s home country not only once, but twice, if he wanted an opportunity to bolster his legacy.

Haney (28-0, 15 KOs), of Henderson, Nevada, was willing to battle Kambosos without his father, who’s also his head trainer, in his corner, too. Bill Haney was allowed to enter Australia at the 11th hour over the weekend and worked his son’s corner while Devin Haney thoroughly out-boxed Kambosos (20-1, 10 KOs) in their 12-round title fight Sunday afternoon at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.

Still, the younger Haney hopes his willingness to do whatever was necessary to transform his lifelong dream into reality resonates with professional and amateur boxers alike.

“I just wanna inspire people, you know, the fighters today, the fighters, you know, in the past, coming up, whatever, to bet on yourself, because that’s truly what I did,” Haney said during their post-fight press conference. “I trusted in my skills. No matter, you know, who it was in the corner, I knew that I could win the fight.

“When it went down under, as you guys would say, [I] bit down and got it done. So, I just wanna inspire people. All that ole’ cross the street, this and that, I did everything I possibly could to make the fight happen, and it worked out.”

The 23-year-old Haney has a contractual obligation to defend his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO belts against Kambosos in an immediate rematch that must be held somewhere in Australia. Kambosos suggested that their second fight could take place in November, perhaps back in Melbourne, where a crowd of 41,129 witnessed Haney’s unanimous-decision victory over the Sydney native.

“I mean, it’s really up to my team,” Haney said. “We wanna come up with something that makes sense, you know, to [promoter] Bob [Arum], my dad, to, you know, come up with a game plan. You know, everything gotta make sense. But if they’re up for it, then I’m up for it. But like I said, you know, this is a business and before the fight, [Kambosos] told me, ‘You know, it gotta make sense.’ And I made sure, well, me and my team made sure that we did everything to make sense – whether I had to take, you know, less money, whether we had to travel, whether I had to come without my dad. You know, we made a lot of sacrifices to make the fight happen. And it all paid off.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.