Richardson Hitchins Defends Unpopular George Kambosos Jr. Fight, Aiming To Boost Fading Former Champ Ahead Of June Clash

IBF light welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins is working hard to boost George Kambosos Jr. by reminding fans of his past achievements to create buzz for their June 14th fight at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. The event will be shown live on DAZN.

Fans have been overwhelmingly critical of this fight, viewing Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) as hand-picking the fading former unified lightweight champion Kambosos (22-3, 10 KOs), who comes into the fight with a 2-3 record in his last five fights. For that reason, he’s 100% unworthy of a title shot, and he’s only fought once since moving up to 140. That was against the second-tier fighter Jake Wyllie.

Justifying the Kambosos Fight Choice

Hitchins says a victory against Kambosos will “solidify” his name in the boxing world. He sounds naive. Beating Kambosos won’t do anything for Hitchins. He’d been better off giving Liam Paro a rematch or fighting Oscar Duarte, Sandor Martin, or Subriel Matias.

“You can’t overlook Kambosos. Everybody wanted to see me and Teofimo Lopez fight. We couldn’t get him. He had a mandatory. They chose to go that route,” said Richardson Hitchins to YSM Sports Media when asked why he chose George Kambosos Jr. as his next opponent. “Why not get the guy that beat Teofimo Lopez? Kambosos.  He’s a former undisputed champion [Correction: Kambosos is a former three-belt unified lightweight champion].”

It was a mistake for Hitchins to take this fight against Kambosos Jr. because it is viewed as a joke, and people criticize him for taking the fight. Hitchins would have been better off fighting the best possible contender if he couldn’t get a unification fight. Kambosos is NOT the best available contender. He’s only fought once since moving up to 140, and that was against the lower-level fighter, Jake Wyllie.

“He never lost to nobody but the guys that are at the top of boxing. He also had a big win over Teofimo Lopez. This is a fight for me to prove myself,” said Hitchins about Kambosos. “Liam Paro was supposed to beat me. Then they were supposed to have Liam Paro and George Kambosos in Australia. I spoiled their plans.”

It’s not going to work for Richardson to try to build up Kambosos to make the fans give him more credit for taking this fight. People already see Kambosos as a one-hit wonder with mediocre ability. He’s lost three out of his last five fights, and his only wins since 2022 have come against Maxi Hughes and Jake Whyllie.

Hitchins’ Belief in Kambosos Win

“When Richardson Hitchins takes the Kambosos fight, I’m [cherry] picking. It’s boxing. George Kambosos is a big name. This is one step closer to solidifying my name in the sport of boxing. The guys are saying, ‘Get Subriel Matias.’ I know the threat Matias brings, but I don’t think Matias has fought anyone near my level,” said Hitchins. “All the big names at 140 went to 147 anyway. So why not. I don’t want to hold onto the IBF and keep doing the 10-lb rehydration clause.”

With the complaining that Hitchins is doing about the IBF’s 10-lb rehydration rule, he should just drop the belt and move up. He may regret it if he does fight a unification match against WBA champion Gary Antuanne Russell or WBC champ Alberto Puello. Russell would likely beat him, and Puello would be a big problem for him as well.

“Liam Paro beat Matias easy. If we can’t get the Teofimo next, I’m coming to Subriel Matias and looking to make easy work of him and shut everybody up. After that, I don’t want to hear criticism. If we can’t get a big fight, we’ll move up to 147 and see what’s going on,” said Hitchins.

Richardson should permanently forget about Teofimo Lopez, because that’s never going to happen. Teo is focusing exclusively on money fights, and he’s not going to want to take a risky, low-paying fight against Hitchins when he can make big money fighting Jaron Ennis, Ryan Garcia, and Devin Haney. Hitchins should drop his IBF belt and move up to 147 and hope that Turki Alalshikh takes notice of him to set up a fight with one of those guys.

The chances of Hitchins getting a fight against Matias are slim unless he’s open to the idea of fighting him, coming off a loss to WBC light welterweight champion Alberto Puello. Those two are fighting on July 12th at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York. Matias could lose that fight.

Potential Future Opponents at 147

“There are a lot of options on the table after George Kambosos. If I can’t get any big fights at 140, I’ll drop the belt and try and get another title shot [at 147]. Those are the fights that make sense to me,” said Hitchins when asked if he’d like to fight Haney and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero at 147. Hopefully, I can get a shot against Ryan Garcia. I just want to show that Richardson Hitchins is one of the best fighters in the sport of boxing,” said Hitchins.

Hitchins should start thinking about vacating his IBF 140-lb title after his defense against Kambosos Jr. on June 14th and moving up to 147. He’s not going to get any big fights at 140. His dream of fighting Teofimo Lopez is utterly hopeless.  It’s never happening, and he seems silly pining away for it.

“If I can’t unify at 140, I don’t want to keep doing the IBF [10-lb rehydration] rule.

3 undefeated fights in just over a year.
Beat an undefeated world champion fresh off the biggest win of his career — taking out the boogeyman.
Then about to take down the fourth world champion on my resume — all in under 20 fights.

I’M HIM! 😤

— Richardson Hitchins (@HeIsRichardson) May 19, 2025