By Craig Daly: Montana Love has suffered an injury, resulting in his July 15th fight against Richardson Hitchins being postponed. There’s no word from promoter Eddie Hearn if a replacement opponent will be found to step in to face the unbeaten Hitchins (16-0, 7 KOs) on July 15th at the Masonic Temple in Detroit.
Some boxing fans predicted when this fight was made that Montana Love would come up lame with some type of injury and pull out of the Richardson Hitchins bout. They felt that Montana knew he couldn’t beat Hitchins, so he took the easy way out.
Montana looked poor in his recent sixth round disqualification loss to Aussie Steve Spark last November in Cleveland. In the sixth round, a frustrated-looking Love threw Spark out of the ring and was immediately disqualified. Spark had been getting the better of Love and appeared on his way to a victory.
Assuming the Love-Hitchins fight isn’t rescheduled, Hitchins, 25, can throw his name into the hat as a potential opponent for WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis to fight in September or October.
Hearn had said that the Love vs. Hitchins fight winner could face Prograis next. Now that bout is no longer taking place due to the 28-year-old Montana (18-1-1, 9 KOs) suffering an unspecified injury, Hitchins is available to fight Prograis.
Obviously, Hitchins wouldn’t be the huge name that Prograis (29-1, 14 KOs) was hoping to get in wanting Devin Haney or Teofimo Lopez, but if those matches fail to materialize, Richarson is an excellent option.
“I think he’s a talented fighter with speed & reflexes, I guess, but when you’re in front of a fighter that understands the sweet science, all of that goes out the window,” said Richardson Hitchins to Secondsout last Saturday night, talking about Montana Love.
“I think my experience and my skills are going to overwhelm him. It’s called boxing. I plan on going in there and hitting him way more than him hitting me, whether it’s on the outside, the inside, or whatever. I’m going to hit him way more than he hits me. That’s definitely the game plan.
“The only chance he’s [Montana Love] got is slipping a Mickey [chloral hydrate] in my drink or something. That’s the only chance he’s got in that fight.
“Onto the next step. Every win is important. If I had lost my last fight [against John Bauza], you would have never been talking about this fight. Any fight that I would have lost, I wouldn’t have been here. So I got to keep winning. So every fight is a must-win,” said Richardson Hitchins.
ℹ️ Montana Love has suffered an injury in training and his fight with @HeIsRichardson will no longer take place in Detroit on July 15
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) June 25, 2023
