Hitchins filled with confidence, but Paro sees it as all bark, no bite
IBF junior welterweight title on line in the Matchroom headliner
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Junior welterweight contender Richardson Hitchins has been consistent in at least two areas during his 7½-year career: He has won every fight he has had and he has always been brash.
Hitchins has consistently stumped to fight top opposition while howling about how he will win. The bigger names have not been anxious to fight him but he worked his way up the rankings and into a mandatory position off a string of very reputable victories.
First, there was an eight-round knockout of tough Yomar Almo in November 2022 followed by a one-sided thrashing of then-unbeaten John Bauza and near-shutout of longtime contender and former title challenger Jose Zepeda in 2023, and a competitive unanimous decision over Gustavo Lemos in April an IBF title eliminator for the No. 1 spot.
Now, Hitchins is cashing in his chip by getting his mandatory shot at IBF 140-pound titlist Liam Paro. The fight is the main event of a Matchroom Boxing card on Saturday (DAZN, 7 p.m. ET) at Roberto Clemente Coliseo in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Naturally, Hitchins is extremely confident, almost to the point of cockiness, in his victory prediction.
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