Latest news with #RichardsonHitchins
The Independent
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
CARVILL'S NOTES: Trash Talk, a Circus Tent, and a Another Golden Generation?
A word of warning: I tend to use stars (*) to replace profanity when I write. Some paragraphs of this particular column will, as a result, resemble the pages of an astronomy textbook. Of all the gruesome, unnecessary things that happen when you spend your life writing and covering boxing – the late nights, bad arena food, the blood-infused sweat or spittle drop that occasionally flies out of the ring to land on your notes – perhaps the most-tiresome aspect of it all is the name-calling and trash-talking that seemingly precedes every major contest. Catch all the latest boxing action on DAZN Trash talking has been part of boxing for decades and when it is not exasperating, it can be genuinely hurtful. By 1975, four years into their rivalry, Muhammad Ali had broken the soul of Joe Frazier apart by calling him a 'gorilla' and an 'Uncle Tom'. Frazier, for his part, never got past it. It is apparently not enough that two men will fight; they should also, for the purposes of putting bums on seats or drawing eyeballs to a screen, hate each other. I was reminded of that last week when reading about the pre-fight press conference (along with a pre-fight fight) between Richardson Hitchins and George Kambosos Jr. The pair had been sparring verbally for some days. On top of the Empire State Building during a face off and a photo opportunity, Kambosos pointed at Hitchins and said, 'Your breath stinks, bro. Your breath stinks. Your breath stinks.' 'I can't talk with this guy. This guy's breath stinks,' Kambosos said a few moments later. A few seconds after that, Kambosos pointed to his crotch and, referring to a proposed $50,000 bet, said, 'You can shake on that, too.' Hitchins was not one to be outdone. After stating that he had never been down in boxing, he said, 'You ****ing pussy. You ****ing *****. I'm going to show that. I'm going to show you, *****.' It was much the same last month when Darren Till called out Carl Froch following the former's win over Darren Stewart. Responding to repeated barbs, Froch said of Till's knockout by Masvidal: 'He's been absolutely ****ing ironed out by Jorge Masvidal with half a punch that's clipped him on the chin.' Froch went on, fantasising what would happen if the pair were to meet. 'It would be an absolute ****ing wipeout, game over,' he said. 'The problem is for Darren Till is that I've been retired for eleven years. I'm not interested. I don't want to fight any more. Don't call my name out to give yourself credence. Listen, if the money was there and it was big enough, I'd certainly take a look at it. But for now, Darren, one—you'd get ****ing demolished, and two—there's no real bunce in it. Just pipe down about the Cobra's name.' Till went on to offer his reply, also through Twitter. He wrote, 'Can't wait to snap that fat big ****ing disgusting nose soon.' It is now understood that fight terms for Froch-Till will soon be finalised, although they stipulate that any bout will take place behind the bins, but not the one by where the teachers' room is. There will also be a rematch clause, but one that states that the loser gets to have his dad beat up the other one's dad. Fighters engage in trash talk because it is not rocket science that animosity sells fights. But it is also lazy to throw cheap venom at your opponent. Ultimately, it cheapens everybody. But does it not get tiresome after a while? How much can the public be expected to believe that so many people hate each other so much? That is the other thing that such talk is: cheap and unbelievable. Because what will happen is that the fighters will trash talk, the fight will take place, and afterwards they will stand next to each other, admit that each always admired the other, and that the bad blood was merely there to hype a fight. It will all be as tiresome and predictable as a Marvel movie. So here is an idea – the next time a fight looms into action, the pleasantries should not be saved for after, but for before. The fighters should be nice to each other before the bell rings, talking about how much they respect the other's skills and their will to win. Then they should fight. And, only after that, should they then move to hate each other. If it only does one thing, it will set up the rematch quite nicely. And on that note: A few weekends ago, I was in Hamburg to commentate the European heavyweight championship between Labinot Xhoxhaj and Mourad Aliev. My commentary gigs are fun and I do it for my love of the sport, saying, 'Hey, I'm just glad to be part of the circus.' Except that the match, which was shown on DAZN, was literally held within a circus tent. Next time, I'm going to wish I was part of a party on a beach somewhere, sipping a non-alcoholic cocktail. The UK boxer James Cook died recently, aged 66. By all accounts, he was not just a good fighter, but also the most decent of men. Cook, 25-10 (14), held the British and European super-middleweight titles in a career that went from 1982 to 1994. He defeated along the way the likes of Michael Watson, Errol Christie, and Mark Kaylor. He also took on Herol Graham and Graciano Rocchigiani. After his retirement from the ring, Cook turned his ship towards working with his local community in Hackney, London, and was eventually awarded an MBE in 2007 for these services. His memory, certainly, will be a blessing to all who knew him. As the current generation of heavyweight champions and contenders – Usyk, Fury, Dubois, Wilder, Whyte – gets older, the next few years will see more and more of them retire, with another generation – Dubois, Wardley, Itauma, Torres, Hrgovic, Kabayel – beginning to come through. Does this mean that we could end up with not one golden generation of heavyweights, but two successive ones? Interesting. Watch the very best boxing with a DAZN subscription DAZN is the home of combat sports, broadcasting over 185 fights a year from the world's best promoters, including Matchroom, Queensberry, Golden Boy, Misfits, PFL, BKFC, GLORY and more. An Annual Saver subscription is a one-off cost of £119.99 / $224.99 (for 12 months access), that's just 64p / $1.21 per fight. There is also a Monthly Flex Pass option (cancel any time) at £24.99 / $29.99 per month. A subscription includes weekly magazine shows, comprehensive fight library, exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes documentaries, and podcasts and vodcasts.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Richardson Hitchins has the antidote to boring boxing
Richardson Hitchins put on one of the finest performances of 2025 in his Saturday victory over George Kambosos Jr. Richardson Hitchins showed Saturday that the science of boxing is rarely sweeter than when hit-and-don't-get-hit concepts are applied appropriately. There are plenty of recent instances when boxers have confused the above, have gotten the ratio all wrong, and have fought with a style that focuses less on hitting and more on just not getting hit. Period. Advertisement Against William Scull on May 3, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, the face of boxing, failed to land a jab in six of the 12 rounds, landed 56 shots in total, and the 152 punches he threw in the fight as a whole were the fewest for a 12-round bout in data-cruncher CompuBox's entire 40-year history. "Canelo" won, but it was one of the most forgettable fights of the modern age. That same weekend, Devin Haney and Jose Ramirez combined to produce one of the most boring bouts in boxing history, throwing a total of 503 punches between them — the sixth-fewest for a 12-round bout, per CompuBox. Haney earned the decision on the scorecards. Shakur Stevenson, meanwhile, has routinely faced criticisms that his performances against Robson Conceicao, Edwin de los Santos and Artem Harutyunyan over the past three years were tiresome, despite a winning result each time. It is perhaps this ongoing trend that prompted the sport's chief financier, Turki Alalshikh, to implore boxers to fight with more positive intent. Advertisement "I don't want to see any more Tom and Jerry-type boxing matches where one fighter is running around the ring, and the other is chasing him," Alalshikh proclaimed to his 7.1 million followers on X last week. "We can longer support these kinds of fights." While volume punchers like William Zepeda, Jesse Rodriguez and David Benavidez will presumably be exempt, together with knockout punchers like Naoya Inoue, Daniel Dubois and Gervonta Davis who also maximize excitement, Alalshikh's sentiment puts defensive maestros in a predicament. CompuBox rates some defensive wizards in boxing like Chris Eubank Jr., Dmitry Bivol and Terence Crawford, who typically limit their opponents to 6.5 punches landed per round, 6.8, and 7.7, respectively. But they do this while also exhibiting an exquisite attack. Advertisement It is time we add IBF super lightweight champion Hitchins to that list — especially after he finished George Kambosos Jr. in style. As CompuBox notes in data it sent to Uncrowned for this feature, Hitchins has been posting impressive numbers, both defensively and offensively, through his past four fights. Courtesy of CompuBox He's doubled the weight class average in key metrics at a time when his level of opposition keeps rising. In his past four bout, Hitchins averaged 34% punch accuracy with his jab (double the division average of 17%), while limiting his opponents to 7.9 punches per round (half the division average), during his wins over Kambosos, Liam Paro, Gustavo Lemos and Jose Zepeda. Advertisement Against Kambosos specifically, Hitchins appeared punch perfect, landed his ramrod jab, and showed incredible footwork from the beginning of the fight. He marked the eye of his Australian opponent, seemed to use less energy and made Kambosos miss before making him pay with power punches thrown from the pocket. He targeted the body, having studied Vasiliy Lomachenko's gameplan in the Ukrainian's win over Kambosos last year, and dug his left hand into Kambosos' ribs again and again. In the fifth round, the investment to the midsection paid dividends as Kambosos grimaced and reeled backward in pain, as Hitchins laid all kinds of punches onto the chin. Kambosos tried to give Hitchins work in a mid-fight comeback, but, really, it was the beginning of the end as the American leathered his jaw in the seventh with lunging left hooks thrown from the hip. Advertisement A body shot in the eighth, which he had teased throughout the fight, landed with such venom that Kambosos crumpled to the floor. The referee counted him out. It was all over. Hitchins got only the 8th knockout of his 20-fight career as a pro, his first since 2022, against arguably the biggest name he's ever been in the ring with. The victory was a crucial one because it reinforces Hitchins not only as a legitimate world champion, but also as an undefeated American capable of creating significant matches in the 140-pound division — potentially against the likes of his old amateur rival Gary Antuanne Russell, or fellow super lightweight world champion Teofimo Lopez. Advertisement Above all, though, it showed that one can still be a defensive master of their craft in boxing, while producing fan-friendly performances that will please even the fiercest of critics. It showed that Hitchins, and other fighters who can box, remain exciting — and have a lot to offer sports and entertainment. Though it remains to be seen whether Hitchins can repeat his Kambosos masterclass against an even bigger name like Lopez, few may bet against him when considering CompuBox's notes about Hitchins' exploits in recent years, which follow a clear theme. The Kambosos performance, you see, wasn't an exception. This is who Hitchins is — a fighter amongst the sweetest of the sport's new-age scientists.
The Independent
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Eddie Hearn warns Richardson Hitchins over ‘snakes' in camp after free-agency claim
Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn has hit out at the entourage of world champion Richardson Hitchins, after the fighter declared himself a free agent – just moments after retaining his IBF super-lightweight title. Hitchins made the announcement in the New York City ring following his eighth-round stoppage of George Kambosos Jr, drawing a sharp response from Hearn, who has promoted the American for the past two years. 'I was disappointed with Richardson Hitchins's comments,' Hearn told The Ring. 'On one hand, he says Matchroom have completely changed his life in two years. And then he wants to tell the world he's a free agent. 'It didn't sit well with me, so I pulled him to one side quietly in the dressing room and told him how I felt. It left a really bad taste after all the investment we've made in his career.' In a separate interview with Boxing Scene, Hearn directed his criticism not at Hitchins himself, but at those around him. 'I did feel disrespected – but it's not him,' he said. 'It's just dogs around him. There's no loyalty in boxing. You've got to look after yourself, but when someone's come in when you were on the floor… 'I remember when I first met Richardson Hitchins, the door of his car was falling off. I've spent a lot of money and invested in a young man I really respect and admire.' Hearn went on to list the financial backing Matchroom had provided to help Hitchins become a world champion. 'I've boxed him at Madison Square Garden,' he said. 'I headlined him in Orlando when we didn't sell any tickets and lost money. I kept with it. I headlined him in Las Vegas – same story – and then paid for the opportunity to fight Liam Paro for the world title. 'Then I paid up for a big opponent in George Kambosos, paid up again for the big homecoming in New York. But Richardson's a good kid, he's just got some snakes around him. 'Those snakes will make you feel like they're your guy, but the reality is, they're bloodsuckers. Certain individuals are taking a bigger percentage – or the same – as the promoter bankrolling your entire path.' Hearn's final remarks were among his strongest, warning Hitchins of potential consequences if he were to walk away from the promotion. 'Managers have zero risk,' he said. 'They just let the promoter do all the work. A good manager is good for your career, I just understand the game, so it doesn't infuriate me. I just go: 'You're a dog. You'll get what's f*****g coming to you.' That's all. That's boxing.' Despite the tension, Hearn said he remains hopeful of working with Hitchins again, thanks in part to a private call with Turki Alalshikh, the Saudi adviser behind Riyadh Season boxing events. 'I had a heartwarming call from Turki Alalshikh this morning,' Hearn told The Ring, which is owned by Alalshikh. 'He confirmed he will only deal with Matchroom moving forward on Richardson Hitchins, so we'll begin those discussions.' That stance could significantly limit Hitchins's options, potentially ruling out future fights in Saudi Arabia, including lucrative unification bouts with other world champions.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Richardson Hitchins schools George Kambosos Jr and scores body-shot KO
Richardson Hitchins produced a clinic against George Kambosos Jr on Saturday to retain the IBF super-lightweight title, stopping the former world champion in round eight. American Hitchins comfortably outlanded Kambosos Jr in every single round, before dropping the Australian with a left hook to the body in the eighth frame. Kambosos Jr, who turned 32 on the day of the fight, made it to his feet but winced at the referee on the eight count and did not look prepared to continue boxing. As such, the official waved off the fight. With that, Hitchins kept his belt and his unbeaten record, moving to 20-0 (8 knockouts). Meanwhile, Kambosos Jr fell to 22-4 (10 KOs) and failed to add to his two world-title reigns at lightweight. Hitchins said in his post-fight interview in Madison Square Garden Theater: 'I've been telling the boxing world, I'm the truth. If you don't know, now you know. I've been telling the boxing world that I was coming, and they should've listened. So, now I'm here. 'I'd seen the fight with him and Devin Haney [who outpointed Kambosos Jr twice in 2022]. I knew that Devin Haney didn't really take it inside, and he was headhunting a lot when he did have him hurt. So, I said I'm gonna touch him with some short shots. 'When I did touch him with a short shot, I seen how he squinted, and I smelled blood, but I just wanted to keep punishing him. And I told his dad: 'If you love your son, you'll stop the fight.' So, he was tough. He was a true competitor, but I was just the better man tonight.' Hitchins, 27, was alluding to moments late in the fight, when he shouted at Kambosos Jr's corner. That followed an exchange between Kambosos Jr's father and Hitchins's trainer at a chaotic fight-week press conference. There, Jim Kambosos appeared to strike Lenny Wilson with a microphone, before Hitchins stopped his coach from throwing a chair. 'He's a hell of a fighter,' Kambosos Jr said after the bout. 'They're all great fighters, I chase greatness. I really believed in myself, but I just didn't have that timing. He was a little bit too good for me tonight.'
Daily Telegraph
6 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Telegraph
‘Sick joke': Aussie George Kambosos victim of cruel KO loss to Richardson Hitchins
Don't miss out on the headlines from Boxing/MMA. Followed categories will be added to My News. George Kambosos has suffered the most brutal loss of his career with boxing commentators suggesting he was so outclassed that the fight should not have been allowed to go ahead. The former IBF and WBO world champ was taught a devastating lesson by American Richardson Hitchins on Sunday before the referee stopped the fight in the eighth round. Hitchins vs Kambosos Jr | SUN 15 JUNE 9AM AEST | IBF super lightweight champ Richardson Hitchins attempts to make a first defence of his crown against Australia's George Kambosos Jr. | Order now with Main Event on Kayo Sports The crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York watched Kambosos get belted right from the opening round as Hitchins defeded his IBF junior welterweight title in style. Kambosos was knocked to the ground for the first time in the eighth round when Hitchins landed a third savage body shot, but the fight could easily have been stopped in the previous rounds. Kambosos bravely fought on after he had been left wincing from two earlier body shots and a barrage of jabs to the face. You can watch the KO punch in the video player above. George Kambosos was brave. Photo: DAZN. But one stat showed just how out-matched the 32-year-old was against the IBF world super lightweight champ. According to DAZN, Hitchins landed 104 jabs to Kambosos' 32 after seven rounds. Leading boxing commentator Sergio Mora said on the broadcast the fight had been a 'surgical beatdown'. 'Hitchins has no respect for Kambosos now' he said in an earlier round. 'Now he's not even jumping back or trying to counter. He's barely making him miss with that shoulder before coming back with that right hand landing accurately.' He went on to say: 'Hitchins is so relaxed. He has no respect for him'. The referee stopped the fight. Photo: DAZN. The commentary team noted Hitchins at one point yelled at Kambosos' corner to stop the fight. Boxing analyst Chris Mannix scored the fight 70-63 after seven rounds. 'Surgical performances do not get much more dominant than that,' he said. Boxing guru Dan Rafael was even more savage in his analysis, questioning why the fight was allowed to happen. Since his historic triumph over Teofimo Lopez, Kambosos has lost four of his past six fights. Rafael posted on X: 'That the IBF made Kambosos mandatory is a sick joke'. He went on to write: 'Complete and utter destruction in a mismatch. Hitchins easily retains the IBF 140 title in a sensational performance. He wrote earlier: 'Hitchins continues to beat the s*** out of Kambosos. Punishing him, battering him. 'I said it would be a massacre and thru four rounds that is what it is. 4-0 and Hitchins landing at will.' Lopez was ringside for the fight ans offered up some brutal advice to the Australian after the fifth round. 'Move your f***ing head,' he said 'Move you're f***ing head.' Kambosos' career is now at crossroads. He said he did not know what will come next for him. 'I don't know right now. I've had two fights in three months' time, two solid guys. I've been fighting the best,' he said. 'Right now, I'm going to coach my son's footy team. That's what I want to do. We'll go back to the drawing board.' Speaking after the fight, Hitchins said he had watched Kambosos' previous fights with Devin Haney and knew if he was able to take the fight inside he would be able to find success. 'He (Haney) was head-hunting a lot when he was hurt, so I said I'm going to touch him with some short shots and when I did I saw that he squinted,' added Hitchins. 'I smelled blood but I just wanted to keep punishing him. I told his dad, 'If you love your son you should stop the fight'. He was tough. He was a true competitor. But I was just the better man tonight.' Originally published as 'Sick joke': Aussie George Kambosos victim of cruel KO loss to Richardson Hitchins
