George Kambosos Jnr’s former opponent Lee Selby has questioned the wisdom of his move to junior welterweight ahead of his IBF title fight on Saturday with Richardson Hitchins.
Hitchins, the champion, makes the first defence of his title on Saturday evening at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York, in what represents Kambosos Jnr’s second contest at 140lbs.
The 27-year-old Hitchins is also the favourite against an opponent who perhaps last impressed when he defeated Teofimo Lopez in 2021.
In his fight before the victory over Lopez, Australia’s Kambosos Jnr was awarded a split decision over Selby on an evening when there were observers who believed that it was the Welshman who deserved to win.
That fight proved the second last of Selby’s career, and though he recognises the value of the experience Kambosos Jnr has gained since then in contests against Devin Haney, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Maxi Hughes and Jake Wyllie – Wyllie, in March, was his first opponent since his move up from lightweight – Selby doubts that, beyond his experience, he has what it takes to succeed.
“Kambosos has boxed in bigger fights, against much better opposition,” he told BoxingScene.
“I was originally a 126 fighter. I jumped up to 135 and I was a lot bigger than him. I don’t think he has the power to jump up to light welterweight.
“When I was boxing him I didn’t feel it, but watching him, he looked very fast. Watching him again he looks very aggressive. When I was boxing him I saw another fighter. But he’s got speed. I don’t think he’s a big puncher, but his speed and his experience – he’s been in some big fights – [are his biggest strengths].
“I don’t think he punches very hard. He’s small for the weight. His reach is quite short as well.
“I thought I beat him. I coasted through the fight. Looking back, I should have dug in, but my corner was telling me I was winning – ‘Don’t take no risks’ – and I just carried on.
“I sparred him a few years before, in the Wild Card [in Los Angeles], and done him quite handily. Obviously Father Time caught up with me by the time I boxed him.
“After some of the championship fights I was having, the next day I’d wake up and it’d be a struggle to get out of bed. My muscles would be aching and everything, but after that fight [in a professional ring in 2020] it was nothing – like a sparring session. To be honest, I didn’t really rate him.
“But what he’s done since is very good. He had an amazing win over Teofimo Lopez, but I didn’t rank him as a tough opponent when I was in the ring with him – I was a shadow of myself in my prime of 2015.”
Following two convincing defeats by Haney, another by Lomachenko, and the controversial victory over Hughes, beyond an all-Australian contest with Liam Paro, Kambosos Jnr – 32 years old – is at risk of finally finding his options limited if he loses again to Hitchins.
Selby, incidentally, has been approached by Bare Knuckle Boxing and the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship to ask whether, at 38 years of age, he could be tempted to return to fighting, but he said of his former opponent: “I don’t think he’ll struggle to come back in the sense he’ll struggle to be in top fights, because he’s built himself into being a big name, so he’ll always be in a big fight, whether he wins or loses. But I don’t think he’ll ever be a champion again.
“When I boxed Kambosos, he was giving it the big’n. He said, ‘We’ll box, and have a fight without the gloves afterwards’.
“I watched [Hitchins] against [Gustavo Daniel] Lemos. I thought he got beat – I thought he lost. He’s tall and rangy; he should be able to outbox Kambosos, like I did; like Devin Haney did. He struggled with Lemos’ pressure – if Kambosos can keep a high work rate, just keep on him, and be aggressive, fight the way he did against Lopez, he could pull off the upset.
“[My prediction is] Hitchins, points.”