Richardson Hitchins (18-0, 7 KOs) won a questionable 12-round unanimous decision in an IBF light welterweight title eliminator against Gustavo Lemos (29-1, 19 KOs) on Saturday night at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Las Vegas.
The Eddie Hearn-promoted Hitchins was hurt several times in the fight but was able to jab, move and hold his way to a disputed decision. The scores were 117-111, 115-113, and 115-113.
This writer had Lemos winning 116-112. He was the more aggressive fighter, landing the harder shots, finishing strong, hurting Hitchins in the 11th, and forcing him to run in the 12th.
The referee failed to address Hitchins’s holding, which was constant the entire fight, grabbing Lemos each time he would get near. It was one of the worst examples of holding this writer has ever seen without a referee taking points or disqualifying.
Undercard results
Super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco (21-0, 17 KOs) had to reach deep to pull out a hard-earned win against the unorthodox, lightning-fast Shawn McCalman (15-1, 7 KOs). The judges scored it 98-92, 97-92 and 96-94.
McCalman was the better fighter through the first four rounds, but Pacheco took over at the midpoint of the fight and controlled the action in the second half with his aggressiveness.
Flyweight prospect Galal Yafai (7-0, 5 KOs) scored an eighth-round knockout over the powerful Agustin Gauto (21-2, 15 KOs). Yafai unloaded with a storm of shots in the eighth round against Gauta to get a referee stopped.
The time of the stoppage was at the 2:40 mark. Yafai was cut over his left eye earlier in the fight in the sixth round from a clash of heads.
Yafai pushed off a lot, using that tactic the entire fight without being docked a point. The referee warned him repeatedly but finally gave up and let him use this tactic to control Gauta.
The southpaw Skye Nicholson (10-0, 1 KO) put on a boxing clinic tonight, outboxing Sara Mahfoud (14-2, 3 KOs) to win the vacant WBC world female featherweight title with a ten-round unanimous decision. The scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91.
Unbeaten super featherweight Marc Castro (11-0, 8 KOs) defeated tough-as-nails Abraham Montoya (22-6-1, 14 KOs) by a ten-round unanimous decision in a back-and-forth war.
Montoya fought well through the first four rounds, catching the 24-year-old Castro with looping shots to the head, and hard body shots.
Castro fought well in the middle rounds, getting the better of Montoya with hard punches. Montoya came back to give Castrol problems in eight through ten, tagging frequently and backing him up.
A visibly frustrated Castro continued throwing punches well after the tenth round ended, causing Montoya to fire back and the referee needed to pull them apart. It could be that Castro wasn’t happy with his performance, so he took it out on Montoya after the bell. The judges’ scores 100-90, 98-92, and 97-93.
