Richardson Hitchins intends to make
George Kambosos pay for the Australian’s incessant trash talk.
Hitchins will make the first defense of his IBF junior welterweight title when he battles Kambosos on June 14 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. Kambosos claimed, among other things, that Hitchins’ promoter, Eddie Hearn, had to secure him as the next opponent because Brooklyn native can’t sell tickets even in his hometown.
Kambosos (22-3, 10 KOs), a former unified lightweight champion from Sydney, Australia, has boxed before big crowds in his home country and faced a higher level of opposition than Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs).
Since his huge upset of
Teofimo Lopez in The Theater 3½ years ago, Kambosos also has two lopsided losses to former undisputed 135-pound champ Devin Haney (32-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC) in 12-round lightweight title fights and was stopped by Vasiliy Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) in the 11th round.
Kambosos is marketable in Australia, but he isn’t a ticket-seller in the United States. Hitchins, 27, who represented Haiti at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, predicted during an interview with
The Ring that he will demonstrate exactly why he is consistently listed as at least an 11-1 favorite to win this
12-round main event DAZN will stream worldwide.“No matter how I get it done, I’m gonna get it done versus George Kambosos,” Hitchins said. “I’m gonna do it in dominating fashion. Twelve-round beatdown, a knockout, stoppage, quit, however it go, it’s gonna be a dominant performance. And I just feel like Imma outclass him. I’m scoring on him. Imma hit threes on him like it’s Jordan back-to-back.
“I’m going 60 on him this game. It’s over for him. ... I’m running the score up on him. I don’t know how it’s gonna go, but I know it’s gonna be [easy]."
In Hitchins, Kambosos, 31, will encounter a highly skilled boxer who outpointed another Australian, previously unbeaten southpaw Liam Paro (25-1, 15 KOs), to win his IBF belt Dec. 7 at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Hitchins settled for a split-decision win because judge Nelson Vazquez strangely scored nine rounds for Paro, who won 117-111 on his card. Judges Frank Lombardi and Carl Zappia thought Hitchins won eight rounds and scored him a 116-112 winner.
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing