Richardson Hitchins is confident he will dethrone IBF light welterweight champion Liam Paro on Saturday night in their 12-rounder at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Paro (25-0, 15 KOs) got uppity during the face-off, shoving the Challenger Hitchins during the final press conference on Thursday. Hitchins paid the Aussie, Paro, back, shoving him hard and looking like he was ready to throw. You could see the worry in Paro’s face during that exchange. He looked afraid.
It’s understandable why Paro would be unnerved because this is easily the best fighter he’s ever faced during his eight-year professional career. Paro wouldn’t even be here if the referee that worked his last fight against IBF 140-lb champion Subriel Matias had done his job by penalizing him for his roughhouse tactics or their fight on June 15th.
It’s expected that Paro will resort to that same bag of tricks against Hitchins, hoping the referee isn’t on his JOB, taking points away from him for turning the fight into a WWE-type match.
The Eddie Hearn-promoted Hitchins is a better version of Shakur Stevenson, one with power, aggression, and courage. Hitchins is an improved version of Shakur, and that kind of fighter is a nightmare for Paro or any simple come-forward type of fighter.
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“All he’s going to do is come forward. He’s got boxing skills, but he’s going to come forward,” said Richardson Hitchins to Fighthype, talking about Liam Paro after their altercation during the face-off at the final press conference on Thursday.
“The last guy I fought was super predictable. This guy [Paro] has boxing ability. He can think in there with me and make adjustments. That’s how he beats most guys. I’m always looking to make a statement,” said Hitchins.
“The guy is confident. He beat Matias. Me being victorious,” said Richardson when asked how he sees his fight going with IBF light welterweight champion Paro this Saturday night. “He might be better than me in hockey, but he’s not better than me in boxing.”
Eddie Hearn promotes both of these guys, but with the glowing way he spoke about Paro in interviews this week, it looks like he’s favoring him over Hitchins. If Paro wins, Hearn can match him against George Kambosos Jr. in a stadium fight in Australia, and it would fill it up. The pay-per-view numbers from the Aussie market would be huge.
There’s a lot of cash to make in a Paro vs. Kambosos fight, which wouldn’t be there if Hitchins were the one facing Kambosos. As we saw with the two times Devin Haney schooled Kambosos, he can’t handle talented boxers. Hitchins would be pure kryptonite for Kambosos, and he would ruin the whole purpose of Hearn signing the little ‘Emperor’ to his Matchroom stable.
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