Matchroom Boxing knew what it was doing when it matched IBF super lightweight champion Richardson Hitchins with George Kambosos Jr., the former unified lightweight ruler. The fight always had the potential to create absurdist theater and pugilistic magic.
So far, the fighters have delivered on the former and get the chance to live up to the latter. On Saturday, they headline a world title fight at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Hitchins’s IBF championship is on the line.
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Throughout the promotion, Hitchins and Kambosos always seemed close to throttling one another. They almost came to blows Thursday when Jim Kambosos, George’s father, appeared to strike Hitchins’s trainer Lenny Wilson with a microphone. The coach responded by grabbing a chair as if to throw it, but security stopped the pandemonium before it descended further.
“When you compare Richardson Hitchins to Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez and Vasiliy Lomachenko — he’s not them guys,” Kambosos told Uncrowned ahead of Saturday’s fight on DAZN. “He hasn’t fought anyone to be one of them guys, or established himself to be one of them guys.”
Hitchins doesn’t mind Kambosos dismissing him. He’s “supposed to,” the American said.
Regardless, Hitchins still doesn’t like him.
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Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) may be undefeated and the defending champion in this bout, but it is Kambosos (22-3, 10 KOs) who has fought the superior competition.
The Aussie’s split decision win over Teofimo Lopez in 2021 earned him the unified lightweight title. It also catapulted him to boxing stardom. But he lost the belts in his very next bout against Devin Haney, and has never been able to reclaim them since.
He lost to Haney a second time, rebounded with a win over Maxi Hughes, but then lost to Lomachenko last year. In his most recent fight, in March, he beat Jake Wyllie.
The way Hitchins talks, Kambosos won’t just be suffering a fourth career defeat this weekend. He’ll be suffering injury too, as the champ is keen to rearrange his opponent’s face when they finally quit talking and start punching instead.
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Saturday, Hitchins told Uncrowned, “is going to get real bad” for Kambosos.
“George is a bum,” he said. “In boxing, he can’t f*** with me. Kambosos will see my boxing IQ. And it will be horrendous how he’ll look after the fight.”
Kambosos isn’t convinced. “[Hitchins is] a good fighter, but we see holes in him,” he said.
“He does some basic things well, but there are holes to open him up and put him in an uncomfortable position. You compare Hitchins to Haney, Teofimo or Lomachenko and he’s not 1/10th of those guys.
“That really burns him inside,” Kambosos said.
Hitchins, though, is yet to be burned. He’s undefeated in 19 bouts, and has come of age at Matchroom as he’s beaten Jose Zepeda, Gustavo Lemos and Liam Paro since signing with Eddie Hearn and the U.K.-based promotional outfit.
The victory over Paro earned him the IBF title at 140 pounds. It’s a belt he’ll be taking into the ring Saturday to put on the line against Kambosos. And it’s a belt he intends to leave the ring with, too.
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“I’m ready to take over the sport of boxing,” said Hitchins, keen to reach the heights of his Matchroom USA stablemates Shakur Stevenson and Jaron “Boots” Ennis.
“The sport needs someone like me with the skills and technical boxing, charisma, and swagger. When you have skills like me you can afford to talk s***,” he said.
This is actually Hitchins “being humble,” he said, as he “could be more cocky, and flamboyant, but I’m taking it easy right now.”
“I expect to have fun and f*** him up, straight up, that’s it,” Hitchins said. “He’s a C-class fighter. I’m an A-plus fighter. I’ll teach him something about the sport of boxing with the Queensberry rules, if he wants to learn.
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“He’s going to school on Saturday night, and George Kambosos should be grateful that he’s getting into the ring with greatness.”
Considering Hitchins is yet to take on a fighter like Lopez, Haney or Lomachenko, he could face criticisms that he’s not shared the ring with an A-plus fighter. The type of fighter he says he is.
But his answer to that is simple.
“To be a world champion in just 19 fights, undefeated, obviously when I talk, I’m backing it up,” he said.
“I’m boxing top opposition. And I’m not just talking and not showing up, because I show up every time. I can afford to talk my s*** because I put in the work,” he added.
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“I know how many miles I’m running, how many rounds I’m sparring, and the way I make a guy look in the ring. When a guy boxes me, they ask themselves if they really want to do this. That’s what I do to people.
“I’m born for this s***.”
