IBF light welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins has spent more time this week talking up his dream fights against Teofimo Lopez, Devin Haney, and Ryan Garcia than he has about his defense against George Kambosos Jr. on June 14th.
Chasing Big Names: Hitchins’ Strategy
Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) is trying to artificially drum up interest in his fight against the faded one-hit wonder Kambosos Jr. (22-3, 10 KOs) by clout-chasing the fighters on his dream list. Fans have failed to get excited about his fight against ‘The Emperor’ Kambosos for obvious reasons. So, he’s reverted to calling out fighters that are above his pay grade to get fans to take notice of his fight against Kamalosos.
Hitchins vs. Kambosos will be shown on DAZN on June 14th. The event will occur at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“I think me and George Kambosos are the ones to do it,” said Richardson Hitchins to Fighthype about bringing excitement back to New York. “We generally don’t like each other, and we want to hurt each other. Two competitors, two warriors. Him thinking I’m not who I say I am.”
Fans Unexcited for Kambosos Fight
Who is Richardson trying to kid? The New Yorker sees his fight against Kambosos as a sick mismatch, and they’re not excited about this fight. New Yorkers want to see Hitchins fight quality opposition like Subriel Matias, Gary Antuanne Russell, and Alberto Puello. For him not to be fighting those guys reflects badly on him.
“George Kambosos isn’t dumb. He knows what’s about to be in front of him. This isn’t a Devin Haney fight. This is a whole different level than Devin Haney. I don’t feel like they’re ducking me. They’re just terrified of me. They’re scared of me,” said Hitchins when asked if he thinks the other fighters will want to fight him after he beats Kambosos.
Of course, Kambosos knows he’s out of his class in this fight, but he’s desperate at this point in his career. It’s not like he’s being offered world title shots against any of the other champions at 140. His lowly record since his upset win over Teofimo Lopez shows that he knows his career is over, and is just holding on as long as he can.
The real question is why Hitchins chose to fight Kambosos? He’s taken nothing but abuse from fans for this pick, choosing the one-hit wonder, who has a 2-3 record in his last five fights. Why did Hitchins choose Kambosos to defend his IBF title against rather than his mandatory challenger Subriel Matias? Fans feel that Hitchins is a fake.
The rumors of Edwin De Los Santos running Hitchins all around the ring in their sparring session don’t help. It just furthers the belief that Hitchins is a phony and he’s trying to stay on top for as long as he can by careful matchmaking until he gets the cash out fight against Haney, Teofimo, or Ryan Garcia.
Haney, Lopez Avoid Hitchins
“These guys do not want to fight. I’ve been calling them out for so long. Devin Haney hasn’t said my name yet. Let’s fight. I got a belt. Let’s make it happen. I’ll come to a catchweight. It doesn’t matter,” said Richardson.
Haney isn’t calling out Hitchins’ name because there’s no money in a fight against him. It would be a loss for Devin going back to the days when he was fighting guys like Joseph Diaz Jr., Alfredo Santiago, and Antonio Moran. Hitchins is in the same class as them popularity-wise, which is why it’s surprising that Eddie Hearn signed him to his Matchroom promotional company.
He thinks he can make U.S fans enjoy watching his non-engaging fights, but it has failed to happen. It’s the same thing with Shakjur Strevenson. Hearn thought he could turn him into a global star, and it hasn’t happened.
“I’ll fight him and George Kambosos on the same night,” said Hitchins about being open to fighting Teofimo Lopez. “I’ll box him and Kambosos on the same night for less than a million.”
Hitchins isn’t going to be given the opportunity to fight Teofimo because he’s not interested in fighting defensive fighters who don’t engage, and move all night. Hitchins is going to have to keep fighting fighters like Kambosos and hope that one of these days, he’ll grow on the U.S fanbase and he’ll be able to get the fights he wants. For now, he’s not popular enough to get any of the names he keeps tirelessly calling out.
Russell Fight Bad Matchup
“I’ll unify against any of the champions. Puello, Gary Russell and Teofimo. Gary just got a title, Gary is a nobody. That’s why fighters aren’t calling his name out. Gary can fight, but let’s fight,” said Hitchins.
Somehow, it’s hard to imagine Hitchins agreeing to fight Gary Antuanne Russell if that fight were offered to him by his promoters. That’s a bad style matchup for Hitchins, who has gotten on his bike when pressured by a past his prime Jose Zepeda and the small 5’5″ Gustavo Lemos. He looked terrible in both of those fights and was booed. Russell would likely run out of the ring, and what little popularity Hitchins has now would be gone for good.
