When Richardson Hitchins uses the word “massacre,” he is not talking hyperbole. The unbeaten Brooklyn technician says his first IBF super-lightweight title defense this Saturday, June 14, inside the Theater at Madison Square Garden will leave former unified lightweight king George Kambosos Jr. “all messed up.”
Hitchins-Kambosos tops a DAZN bill that goes live at 7 pm ET. On paper, youth and size lean hard toward the 26-year-old champion; at the microphone they tilt even more. *“I’m not satisfied until I see blood,” *Hitchins repeated at Tuesday’s media day, vowing to “send him back across the pond” with facial souvenirs. It is exactly the mean streak critics claim his measured, defensive style lacks.
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For Kambosos the stakes are existential. Just 30 months removed from his seismic upset of Teófimo López, the Australian is 2-3 in his last five and concedes he may be one more loss from irrelevance. He also surrenders three inches in height, natural weight, and, most damning, perceived firepower. “George has heart, but heart alone won’t win a fight like this,” one New York bookmaker sighed while installing Hitchins as a prohibitive favorite.
The champion cannot afford a stalemate of jabs and clinches; the garden-variety points win that has defined his résumé will not quench either his own thirst for respect or DAZN’s need for highlight-reel content. Hitchins understands this. “You work hard and you get what you deserve,” he said, hinting that a marquee victory could finally drag the likes of Devin Haney or Ryan García into his orbit.
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Image Credit: Matchroom Boxing