Richardson Hitchins must win tonight against IBF light welterweight champion Liam Paro to bring excitement and charisma to the 140-lb division.
A Must-win For Entertainment
Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) has the Shakur-esque fighting style but with a lot more power, aggression, and less running. He’s what the light welterweight division needs to bring back some entertainment value that has been missing since Ryan Garcia’s one-year suspension. This guy, Hitchins, is pure gold and has the potential to make this dead division live again.
Guys like Paro have nothing interesting about their fighting style and definitely not their personalities. Paro cannot sell fights to international fans, and he lacks the crowd-pleasing style that Hitchins possesses.
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn has been building up Paro, talking about wanting to match him against George Kambosos Jr. if he wins. That won’t hit the mark worldwide, and it might not even do good numbers in the two fighter’s native Australia. Fans have to look forward to that if Paro finds a way to win tonight against Hitchins.
Hearn is backing the wrong horse by focusing more on Paro at the expense of the real gem, Hitchins. Weirdly, a cunning promoter like Hearn can’t see the superstar potential in Hitchins because he should be talking about his night and day. He’s outboxed Gustavo Lemos, Jose Zepeda, and John Bauza in his recent fights.
The Total Package
The Brooklyn, New York native Hitchins has the talent and the charisma to be a superstar. He just needs to figure out how to get past Paro tonight so he can take over the IBF throne and set up some interesting fights against the other champions.
Hopefully, there’s a good referee working tonight who can police Paro’s excessive holding, shoving, and movement. Paro (25-0, 15 KOs) will likely be using those tactics to win, and they’ve been effective so far.
Paro-Hitchins will headline at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The vent will be shown live on DAZN.
“Richardson Hitchins is from that same mold as Shiakur,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing, talking about tonight’s fight between IBF light welterweight champion Liam Paro and Richardson Hitchins.
“That’s what we like in boxing. There are some big things for both guys, and it’s all or nothing.”