One shocking upset victory can set up a fighter for the remainder of his career. George Kambosos Jr. has learned that lesson and is still enjoying the spoils of his shock 2021 upset of Teofimo Lopez to become unified lightweight champion with a Saturday bout against IBF junior welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins.
Kambosos (22-3, 10 KO) was a massive underdog against Lopez, but scored a knockdown and cruised to a clear victory (despite one judge scoring the fight for Lopez) to win the WBA, WBO and IBF titles at 135 pounds. Kambosos was able to parlay that victory into an attempt to become undisputed champion against Devin Haney in a 2022 two-fight series.
Haney dominated Kambosos in both fights, both in Kambosos’ home country of Australia, but Kambosos had already earned his main event bona fides with the win over Lopez. That led to Kambosos fighting Vasiliy Lomachenko for the vacant IBF lightweight title against Vasiliy Lomacheko just two fights later, a fight in which Kambosos was again routed, this time being stopped in Round 11, again in Australia.
Just as with the Lomachenko fight, which Kambosos “earned” with a win over Maxi Hughes, a low-tier win has sent Kambosos back into a world title fight. This time, Kambosos took a win over Jake Wyllie in March to set up the fight with Hitchins.
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Hitchins (19-0, 7 KO) was a 2016 Olympian for Haiti and built on that amateur career with a perfect professional record. In 2024, Hitchins won a decision over Gustavo Daniel Lemos in an IBF eliminator. The decision win over Lemos was roundly decried by observers as a robbery, but Hitchins made good on the title opportunity by defeating Liam Paro.
The Paro fight was a reversal of the Lemos fight for Hitchins, as he earned a legitimate win, but one judge somehow scored the fight 117-110 for Paro.
Hitchins now gets the most high-profile fight of his career over Kambosos, who is 2-3 in his five most recent fights.
There have been plenty of verbal barbs thrown by both sides ahead of the fight, but the talking will be done on Saturday night, and one man will leave Madison Square Garden Theater holding a world championship.
Hitchins vs. Kambosos fight card, odds
- Richardson Hitchins (c) -1200 vs. George Kambosos Jr. +700, IBF junior welterweight title
- Andy Cruz -1800 vs. Hironori Mishiro +850, lightweights
- Pablo Valdez -4000 vs. Cesar Diaz +1400, welterweights
- Teremoana Teremoana -8000 vs. Aleem Whitfield +1700, heavyweights
- Nishant Dev -8000 vs. Josue Silva +1700, junior middleweights
Where to watch Hitchins vs. Kambosos
- Date: June 14 | Location: Theater at Madison Square Garden — New York
- Start time: 8 p.m. ETÂ
- Where to watch: DAZN (subscription required)
Prediction
Neither Hitchins or Kambosos have shocking power that should be expected to end the fight in an instant. That means it comes down to a battle of Hitchins, the better boxer, against Kambosos, a fighter who is gutsy and always up to go to battle. The problem for Kambosos is that he has repeatedly come up short against more technically solid fighters, and that’s what he’s facing in Hitchins.
Hitchins is at his best when he’s controlling the fight with slick boxing. Kambosos is going to have to figure out how to get inside and make the fight scrappy and dirty. Ultimately, Hitchins is just too good at what he does and Kambosos comes up short in fights like this, outside of one night where the worst version of Lopez showed up to set Kambosos up with a win that allowed him to repeatedly fight for world titles. Pick: Richardson Hitchins via UD