Eddie Hearn is in a tough position, unable to root for IBF light welterweight champion Liam Paro or Richardson Hitchins in their main event fight this Saturday, December 7th. Hearn promotes both fighters, so he’s in a position where he can only sit back and wait for the dust to settle in their clash at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Aussie Fight Targeted
Hearn does mention that he’d like to put together a match between Paro (25-0, 15 KOs) and the recently signed George Kambososo Jr. next in Australia if Liam is victorious against #1 IBF Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs).
Paro and the former unified lightweight champion Kambosos Jr. are both Aussies. It doesn’t matter that Kambosos looks beyond washed at 31. A fight between him and Paro would still sell in their country.
Hitchins could spoil those plans by beating Paro and putting him in the position where he and Hearn would need to decide whether to go ahead with the idea of fighting Kambosos.
As long as the Aussies are good, with both guys coming off losses, it might do some reasonable numbers. Obviously, it would be better if both guys got some wins under their belts against quality contenders before going ahead with Hearn’s plan of putting a fight together between them in Australia.
Hitchin’s Opportunity
“I hate it. The job that we’ve done with Richardson Hitchins is sensational. He was with Mayweather Promotions, he was stuck in the wilderness, and he was inactive. We got him active, we got him headlining, and now we’ve got him a shot at the world title,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing, talking about how he’s quickly maneuvered Richardson Hitchins into a title shot this Saturday night against IBF light welterweight champion Liam Paro.
“We’ve done our absolute job. For Liam Paro, we gave him a couple of big fights [Brock Jarvin and Montana Love] in some big shots. We gave him a world title opportunity [Subriel Matias]. Now, he’s defending for great money, and he’s got a huge fight ahead of him if he wins,” said Hearn about Paro.
The “huge fight” that Hearn is referring to is against former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr, who he recently signed to his Matchroom stable. Kambosos is coming off an 11th-round knockout loss to Vasily Lomachenko on May 12th and has lost three out of his last four fights. His only win in the last two years is a questionable 12-round majority decision against Maxi Hughes on July 22, 2023. If you count that as a loss, Kambosos Jr’s record in his last four fights is 0-4.
Hitchins has a good chance of beating Paro on Saturday night if he can handle his aggressive bullying tactics. Paro got away with a lot of questionable stuff in his win over IBF light welterweight champion Subriel Matias on June 15th in Manati, Puerto Rico.
Hearn says Paro won almost every round, but that’s not the case. If Hitchins wins, Hearn can potentially arrange a unification match. He’s not going to match him against Kambosos because that would mess up his plans for a Paro-Kambosos clash. Kambosos would be overmatched against Hitchins, defeating the whole purpose of Hearn signing him.
“We’ve done our job for both guys. I’d love to be there screaming and shouting, but I just can’t when I’ve got both fighters. So, at this point, I have to say, 25-0, 18-0, the world is your oyster. Off you go. Let the best man win,” said Hearn about Saturday’s clash between IBF 140-lb champion Paro and the unbeaten Hitchins.
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