Notebook: Hitchins expects to 'whitewash' Lemos in 140 eliminator
Pacheco looks to continue ascent vs. McCalman; Jonas-Mayer rematch in works; BetUS show; Quick hits; Show and tell
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If junior welterweight contender Richardson Hitchins had his way he would challenge Devin Haney for his WBC title, but he is going the IBF route at this point, which means he is just one win away from a mandatory title shot.
He will square off with Gustavo Lemos in an IBF final eliminator in the Matchroom Boxing main event on Saturday (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET) at BleauLive Theater at Fontainebleau Las Vegas and very confident he will handle his business.
“I expect Saturday night to be a whitewash, and for me to show that I’m on a whole different level,” Hitchins said at the fight-week news conference. “The only thing that can save him in this fight is his heart and if he can take a punch, and I’ve seen him hurt with bums. I’ve never been down in my career and never been hurt, thank God.
“I just feel that I’m on a whole different level, up there with the Devin Haneys, Subriel Matias, Shakur Stevensons, the top level guys. I’m the cream of the crop type of talent and you have to start talking that like because I go out there over and over and prove it. I dominate.”
Hitchins brushed off Hitchins’ rhetoric.
“Hitchins is in front of me and in the way of my path at the moment,” Lemos said through an interpreter. “So we hope we can get through this, and we hope that the public and fans enjoy the show. We have come to win, and I do my talking inside the ring. It feels like my opponent likes to do a lot of talking outside the ring, but let's see if he’s still speaking inside the ring.”
The Hitchins-Lemos winner will be the mandatory challenger for Matias or Liam Paro, if Paro pulls off the upset when he heads to Matias’ hometown of Manati, Puerto Rico, to challenge him for his title in the main event of a Matchroom Boxing card on June 15.
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“I am not going to lie — I do prefer the WBC route, but if the opportunity presents itself for the world title, and on Saturday I feel good, why not the IBF,” Hitchins said. “It’s a big fight with me and Subriel Matias. Everyone would be interested in that, so let’s see what comes to the table.”
Hitchins has been wary of pursuing the IBF title because of the organization’s rule (which is waved for a unification fight) that forces fighters to take part in a weight check on the morning of their fight and would require him to be no more than 10 pounds heavier than the 140-pound division limit.
“I have a fight to focus on, Devin has a fight to focus on (against Ryan Garcia on April 20),” Hitchins said. “I’ve got a tough Argentinean in front of me and things that I have to go out and do. I want to show on Saturday what I’ve always been showing; that I am a great fighter, a dominant fighter. I’ve shown that time and again. It’s the same old story. People say that it’s going to be a tough fight for me. They’ll be surprised if I can make it look easy, but then I go out there and do that again and again.”
Hitchins (17-0, 7 KOs), 26, a New Yorker, who represented his family’s home country of Haiti in the 2016 Olympics, has yet to seriously be tested a pro even as he has faced increasingly solid opposition.
Last time out, he pitched 120-108 shutout on all three scorecards in easily defeating longtime contender and former world title challenger Jose Zepeda in September. It was anything but exciting but Hitchins won with ease and makes no apologies for it.
“Boxing is all about distance and timing, knowing what shots to pick, where to be,” Hitchins said. “It’s a sweet science and I think I am one of the young masters of it.”
Prior to beating Zepeda, Hitchins, who is managed by 2019 BWAA manager of the year Keith Connolly, defeated then-unbeaten prospect John Bauza by shutout decision and scored two knockdowns in a fight in which he battered Bauza. Before that, Hitchins looked very sharp in an eighth-round knockout of Yomar Almao.
“Everybody had a lot of shit to talk about my last fight against Jose Zepeda so no-one should miss this one because the fans have made me (want to) put on not a dominant performance, because I’ve already done that, but a punishing dominant performance,” Hitchins said. “I feel like this is going to be another performance like John Bauza. It’s going to show that you put a guy in front of me that isn’t at the top of the sport, period, I’ll show his levels.
“If this guy comes out the way he’s been coming out in his last fights, like the way he fought Lee Selby, it’s not going to go good for him. Lee hurt him in the third round, and I ain’t Lee Selby. This guy has never fought anyone, I’m going to step on him on Saturday and I won’t lie.”
Then Hitchins looked toward Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn and continued.
“Eddie, I’m robbing you, this is free money,” Hitchins said. “It’s easy. You are just making my bank account look bigger.”
Lemos (29-0, 19 KOs), 28, who will be fighting outside of Argentina for the first time, has a glossy record but has not faced quality opposition. He has fought most of his career at lightweight and his biggest win was a fifth-round knockout of former featherweight titlist Selby in 2022 in what apparently was Selby’s final fight.
He landed the opportunity for the eliminator after the IBF ordered one between Hitchins and Jack Catterall but Catterall withdrew from the position to make a rematch with former junior welterweight champion Josh Taylor.
“I don’t know much about him so I can’t say if this is the toughest test of my life,” Hitchins said of Lemos. “I’ve been at the high level for a long, long time, since the amateurs and moved in the pro ranks where I’ve had to prove myself early. Zepeda talked about experience before our fight, but I told him I have experience. People were building up the fight because he’d fought for the world title three times, but I had already beaten a world champion (Argenis Mendez in 2020), a guy that had done what Zepeda was trying to do.
“So when people were saying that it was going to be a tough test, when I got in there he was one of the easiest fights of my career that I can remember. That’s a testimony to how much I’ve grown as a professional and a fighter. I made that fight clearly easy, so we’ll see what happens with Lemos. He’s a guy that hasn’t fought anyone with any craft or skills, so when he gets in there with me, it’s going to be a whole different ballgame because he’s fighting one of the best young boxers in the sport — period.”
Pacheco looking for big fights
Super middleweight Diego Pacheco is on the ascent and has the potential for a series of major fights if he continues to win.
So far, Pacheco has looked outstanding fight in and fight out even as Matchroom Boxing has increased his level of opposition in recent bouts. He fought so well, and showed so much potential that he was the 2023 Fight Freaks Unite prospect of the year.
He culminated 2023 with his third knockout of the year against the best opponent of his career, stopping former world title challenger Marcelo Coceres in the ninth round in November.
Pacheco (20-0, 17 KOs), 23, of Los Angeles, is not in nearly as tough, on paper at least, as he makes his 2024 debut in a 12-rounder against little-known Shawn McCalman in the Hitchins-Lemos co-feature.
Regardless of the opponent, Pacheco, who said he is extremely motivated by the recent birth of his daughter, is supremely confident he is going to be the next big thing in boxing.
“I’m one of one,” said Pacheco, who is trained by Jose Benavidez Sr. and trains alongside his son, top contender David Benavidez. “God gave me an amazing talent, amazing reach and height, abilities to move in the ring, abilities that other fighters are lacking, so my time is coming. (McCalman is) a tough, undefeated opponent but I feel amazing, I’m getting better and stronger with every fight, smarter, and I’m confident in the work we’ve put into this camp.
“Right now, I am top five in the world, so anyone in the top 10 that would get me closer to the world title, that’s who I want to fight. There’s a big fight there with (Matchroom stablemate) Edgar Berlanga. Christian Mbilli is another good fighter in the top 10. There’s Erik Bazinyan. I’d like the chance to share the ring with any of them. They’re all great fighters and that’s the only way to get to the world championships.
“I know that, my team knows that, and that’s what we’re ready for. I have people around me that know the business more and are experts in grooming world champions, so my job is to prepare as much as I can and hopefully these fights get made and I get to show the world what I am made of.”
Pacheco doesn’t seem to be too concerned about McCalman (15-0, 7 KOs), 30, of Aurora, Colorado, who has faced nobody of note. He has not even been in a fight scheduled for more than eight rounds.
“He’s a good fighter. I’ve seen a few of his fights, he has some skills and some power, but I’ve seen thousands of guys like him and I just feel I’m on a way different level than he is and I’ll show that on Saturday,” Pacheco said.
Jonas-Mayer II in works
Natasha Jonas and Mikaela Mayer are in talks to meet in a rematch of their outstanding battle that took place on Jan. 20 at M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England, Jonas’ hometown.
Jonas retained the IBF women’s welterweight title for the first time in the best win of her career, 96-95 and 96-94 while one judge had Mayer ahead 97-93. There was immediate demand for a rematch from Mayer and many fans.
Now it appears to be close to happening, sources with knowledge of the talks told Fight Freaks Unite. When the fight would happen is not settled as it will depend on other events that Jonas promoter Boxxer is also trying to schedule. It could happen as soon as June or perhaps not until September, sources said.
Mayer, a former unified junior lightweight titleholder, has two career losses, both via split decision in England. She also lost to Alycia Baumgardner in a three-belt 130-pound unification fight in October 2022.
The Las Vegas-based Mayer (19-2, 5 KOs), 33, who was facing a southpaw for the first time in her pro career, moved up from junior welterweight to challenge Jonas (15-2-1, 9 KOs), 39, a former three-belt unified junior middleweight titleholder, who moved down to welterweight and claimed the vacant IBF title by knocking out the overmatched Kandi Wyatt in the eighth round last July.
BetUS Boxing Show
If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked the two top fights from Saturday’s Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN: Richardson Hitchins vs. Gustavo Lemos in an IBF junior welterweight final eliminator and super middleweight prospect Diego Pacheco against Shawn McCalman. We also took viewer questions and comments and discussed the latest boxing news! Please check out the show here:
Quick hits
Weights from Las Vegas for Saturday’s Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN (8 p.m. ET): Richardson Hitchins 139.8 pounds, Gustavo Lemos 138.4 (IBF junior welterweight eliminator); Diego Pacheco 167.4, Shawn McCalman 167.6; Skye Nicolson 125.6, Sarah Mahfoud 125 (for vacant WBC women’s featherweight title); Galal Yafai 111.6, Agustin Mauro Gauto 111.2; Marc Castro 130, Abraham Montoya 129; Steven Navarro 115.6, Jose Lopez 114.8; Harley Mederos 134.6, Pedro Vicente 134.8.
WBO strawweight titlist Oscar Collazo will make his third defense against Geraldo Zapata in the main event of a Golden Boy card on June 7 (DAZN) at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York, as part of the International Boxing Hall of Fame induction weekend in nearby Canastota. Collazo (9-0, 7 KOs), 27, a Puerto Rican southpaw, is coming off an impressive third-round knockout of Reyneris Gutierrez in January. Zapata (14-1-1, 5 KOs), 29, of Nicaragua, suffered a second-round disqualification loss to Rene Santiago in December 2022 followed by a 10-round split draw with Azael Villar in August.
The junior featherweight rematch between Ja’Rico O’Quinn (17-1-1, 9 KOs), 28, of Detroit, and Peter McGrail (8-1, 5 KOs), 27, due to headline a Matchroom Boxing NXTGEN prospect card on April 27 (DAZN) at the Exhibition Centre in McGrail’s hometown of Liverpool, England, has been called off. Matchroom Boxing announced that O’Quinn has withdrawn “due to personal family matters.” McGrail, who was shockingly knocked out by O’Quinn in the fifth round in a major upset in December, will instead face a new opponent in fellow southpaw Marc Leach (18-3-1, 4 KOs), 30, a former British champion.
The comeback of former WBO junior lightweight titlist Jamel Herring (24-5, 12 KOs), 38, a southpaw from Coram, New York, took a hit on Wednesday when he dropped a split decision to Jackson Jon England (16-3, 8 KOs), 26, of Australia, at 36ers Arena in Adelaide, Australia. Herring was seeking a second win in a row since ending an 18-month retirement in November. The judges scored it 96-94 for England on two scorecards and one judge had Herring winning 97-93. England shook off a 10-round decision loss to Liam Wilson in December. Herring fell to 1-3 in his last four fights.
How big of a deal is it in Wales that national hero Lauren Price (6-0, 1 KO), 29, a 2020 Olympic gold medalist and the first Welsh boxer to win Olympic gold, will challenge lineal/WBA women’s welterweight champion Jessica McCaskill (12-3-1, 5 KOs), 39, of Chicago, on May 11 in the Boxxer main event at Utilita Arena in Cardiff, Wales? While the card will stream on Peacock in U.S. and Sky Sports in U.K., BBC Wales has struck a deal with Sky Sports and Boxxer to simulcast the Sky Sport broadcast free-to-air in Wales.
British middleweights Denzel Bentley and Danny Dignum, who both lost in a title fight against Janibek Alimkhanuly in 2022, will fight each other in the 12-round main event of a Queensberry Promotions card on May 11 (TNT Sports in U.K.) at York Hall in London, the company announced. Two-time British champion Bentley (18-3-1, 15 KOs), 29, surprised many by giving Alimkhanuly some problems and lasting the distance with him in a WBO title challenge. He is 1-2 since and coming off a decision loss to Nathan Heaney in a November British title fight. Dignum (16-1-1, 9 KOs), 32, a southpaw, was badly KO’d by Alimkhanuly in the second round of their WBO interim title bout. Dignum has won two fights in a row since.
Show and tell
When Marco Antonio Barrera moved up from junior featherweight to featherweight he went right into the biggest fight he could possibly have in the division when challenged undefeated knockout machine and fellow Hall of Famer Prince Naseem Hamed for his lineal featherweight title. This was a very big event and Barrera was a very big underdog when they met in an HBO PPV main event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. I was the USA Today boxing writer at the time and was ringside to cover the fight and was impressed watching Barrera produce an absolute master class.
He was always a straight-ahead brawler but he dramatically changed his style to become a boxer-puncher with patience as he took apart the wild swinging Hamed to clearly win 116-111, 115-112, 115-112, having been penalized one point in the 12th round for slamming Hamed’s head into a turnbuckle. As the legendary HBO announcer Larry Merchant said of Hamed as Barrera toyed with him at one point in the bout: “His moment of truth has turned into an hour of torture!” Barrera had some very big wins during his legendary career, including taking two of the three fights in his epic trilogy with Erik Morales and Kennedy McKinney in their all-time classic, but the win over the Prince, to me, is his defining moment. The memorable fight took place on April 7, 2001 — 23 years ago on Sunday. Here is a mint site poster in my collection.
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Photos: Hitchins-Lemos, Hitchins, Pacheco-McCalman: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing; Jonas-Mayer: Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer
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Hey Dan- what's up with Janibek Alimkhanuly? When's he fighting? Anything happening there?
And I love the Barrera-Hamed fight. Much like the Maidana-Broner ass kicking a few years later, it was so satisfying to see the vet shut the mouth of (and humiliate) the brash, big mouth and take his '0'. Great recall!