Richardson Hitchins has elaborated on his Matchroom status just eight months after he suggested he was entering free agency following his career-best win over George Kambosos last year.
The IBF super lightweight boxing world champion’s stock has arguably never been higher, having beaten Jose Zepeda, Liam Paro, and Kambosos — a former lineal lightweight champ — in the last two and a half years alone.
But moments after finishing Kambosos with a body-shot, he used his time on the mic, live on DAZN, atop the Matchroom show, to say he was now free of any promotional obligations.
It was a confusing turn of events considering he’d told Boxing Social editor Alan Dawson just weeks before the Kambosos fight that joining Matchroom had given him something he never had before — “opportunity and structure,” he said, “and that’s all I ever wanted in my career.”
The best nights of Hitchins’s career have all been through Hearn and Frank Smith’s event planning, and the matchmaking of Kevin Rooney Jr. — from the Zepeda win, to his fight this weekend.
“Every opportunity gets bigger, and I think that’s how a young fighter’s career should be.”
And, speaking to Boxing Social days before he returns to the ring for the first time since dominating Kambosos, Hitchins clarified his position.
“I have lots of respect for Eddie,” Hitchins told us. “He’s gotten my career to the next level, and we hashed things out. We spoke about things. So now everything is good.”
Everything’s so good Matchroom has positioned Hitchins as the chief support for his fight against Oscar Duarte on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, broadcast on DAZN PPV, just before the main event — Mario Barrios vs Ryan Garcia in a WBC welterweight world championship fight.
And, the way Matchroom are building his career, it won’t be long before he is thrust into a world title unification against WBA champion Gary Antuanne Russell, or WBC ruler Dalton Smith.
“I need to beat Gary Antuanne Russell, Dalton Smith, the guys at 147. Maybe if I got a fight with Lewis Crocker, that would be great for me,” said Hitchins, reeling off names he wants to take down. “Teofimo Lopez – another big name.”
He finished: “I’d move up, and if it was a big fight at 140, I’ll move back down if I can make it. We’ll see.”
Editor’s take
Matchroom recently announced a five-year extension of its broadcast partnership with DAZN, committing to 12 events per year in the United States to further establish its growing presence in this market. Considering the challenging times for US-based promoters, with Premier Boxing Champions only offering a limited output on an expiring deal on Amazon Prime Video, and Top Rank still broadcast-homeless, there were few viable opportunities out there for Hitchins to properly explore. Hearn’s top US names include Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and Shakur Stevenson — both of whom are undeniable top-five pound-for-pound talents. And it won’t be long before Hitchins joins them. If Matchroom are able to do for Hitchins what it’s done for ‘Bam’ and Shakur, it will only reinforce to Richardson that the best thing for him was to remain with the British promoter. — Alan Dawson