Pick it: Richardson Hitchins vs. George Kambosos Jnr
When to Watch: Saturday, June 14 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (midnight BST)
Why to Watch: This is the first title defense for Hitchins and what could be the last chance for Kambosos.
Hitchins, 19-0 (7 KOs), captured the IBF junior welterweight belt in December from Liam Paro; Paro himself was making the first defense of that title after defeating Subriel Matias. Ahead of their fight, Paro called Hitchins a frontrunner. The opposite turned out to be true. Hitchins started slowly and then picked up momentum, winning an impressive split decision that should have been unanimous.
So now the 27-year-old from New York City is headlining in front of his home crowd at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden.
This will be Hitchins’ first fight of 2025. He ended 2023 well, winning a wide decision over former title challenger Jose Zepeda. Hitchins then had a rough outing in a unanimous but debatable decision over Gustavo Lemos in April 2024.
Hitchins performed far better against Paro and is hoping to keep that going against Kambosos, who like Paro is from Australia. And if Hitchins succeeds, he will have plenty of options given how packed things are at 140lbs.
There is lineal and WBO champion Teofimo Lopez, who may be leaving this weight class behind, which would be a shame given that Lopez-Hitchins would be an all-NYC showdown. There is the winner of the July 12 fight between WBC titleholder Alberto Puello and Matias. And then there is Gary Antuanne Russell, who not only impressively picked up the WBA belt from Jose Valenzuela in March, but also owns an amateur win over Hitchins from the 2016 Olympics.
Other contenders and prospects include Kariton Agrba, Adam Azim, Arthur Biyarslanov, Lindolfo Delgado, Oscar Duarte, Andy Hiraoka, Sandor Martin, Ernesto Mercado, Jamaine Ortiz, Dalton Smith and the winner of the July 19 rematch between former titleholder Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz and Angel Fierro. Oh, and Keyshawn Davis has outgrown the lightweight division and is planning to compete next at 140lbs.
Kambosos, 22-3 (10 KOs), is a former lineal and unified lightweight champion who is in his second fight at junior welterweight after signing with Matchroom Boxing – which is promoting Hitchins and this show.
The 31-year-old native of Sydney continues to get big opportunities even though he hasn’t scored another major win since his upset of Teofimo Lopez in November 2021. One thing that helped Kambosos land those opportunities was that he became an attraction in Australia after the Lopez fight and his opponents were willing to travel for the paydays. There were two decision losses to Haney in Melbourne in 2022, then an 11th-round TKO to Vasiliy Lomachenko in Perth in May 2024.
Sandwiched between those was a controversial majority decision win over Maxi Hughes in America in 2023. The only clear win Kambosos has picked up was in Sydney in March, when he outpointed the 16-1 Jake Wyllie, a late replacement for original opponent Daud Yordan.
Another loss should truly be it for Kambosos, who could otherwise be used to sell tickets at home while bringing more eyes to the other prospects and contenders from his nation. But another unexpected win? That would restart the cash cow process anew.
In the co-feature, lightweight contender Andy Cruz will face Hironori Mishiro, with the winner becoming the mandatory challenger for the IBF belt currently held by Raymond Muratalla.
Cruz, 5-0 (2 KOs), is a 29-year-old from Cuba who now lives in the United States. He is ranked third by the IBF at lightweight; the sanctioning body’s top two spots are vacant. Cruz won an Olympic gold medal in 2021, defeating Keyshawn Davis in the tournament finale in Tokyo, Japan.
Cruz had been calling out Davis of late, but that ship may have sailed for now given that Davis failed to make the lightweight limit last week for a canceled title defense against Edwin De Los Santos and is now planning a move to 140lbs.
Japan’s Mishiro, 17-1-1 (6 KOs), 30, is ranked fifth by the IBF, one spot below former featherweight titleholder Mark Magsayo. Mishiro’s blemishes are a draw in 2018 with the 18-1 Masaru Sueyoshi and a cut-shortened technical decision loss to the 14-4-2 Min Ho Jung in April 2023. Since then, Mishiro has won five in a row, most recently stopping the 14-2-1 Hinata Maruta in December.
Also on the undercard are several prospects in separate bouts, including junior lightweight Zaquin Moses, 3-0 (2 KOs); debuting bantamweight Adam Maca; junior middleweight Nishant Dev, 1-0 (1 KO); and heavyweight Teremoana Jnr, 7-0 (7 KOs).
More Fights to Watch
Friday, June 13: Andrew Tabiti vs. Jacob Dickson (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 2 p.m. Eastern Time (7 p.m. BST).
Tabiti, 21-2 (17 KOs), is a former cruiserweight contender who moved up to heavyweight three years ago. The 35-year-old turned pro in 2013 and picked up a few big wins in 2017 and 2018. He outpointed former cruiserweight titleholder Steve Cunningham on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor mega-event. He knocked out Lateef Kayode next and then outpointed the unbeaten Ruslan Fayfer in the opening set of fights of the World Boxing Super Series tournament.
That landed Tabiti his first (and only) title shot. He met Yuniel Dorticos in 2019 in the WBSS semifinals for the IBF belt that had been left vacant when undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk departed the division. Dorticos knocked Tabiti out in the 10th round and moved on to the finale, losing to Mairis Briedis.
As for Tabiti, he had two more bouts at 200lbs before heading to the unlimited weight class. He stopped the 7-0-1 James Wilson in August 2022 on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony Joshua II. After 14 months off, Tabiti returned in October 2023 and lost a unanimous decision to Justis Huni. In his last appearance, more than a year ago, Tabiti notched a first-round knockout of Junior Wright in April 2024.
He’s not quite at journeyman status, but Tabiti is becoming rather well-traveled as a fighter. For this bout, he’s heading to his sixth country, main evening against Jacob Dickson at the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra, Ghana.
That’s where the 27-year-old Dickson, 14-1 (13 KOs), is from. In his only fight outside of Ghana, which also was Dickson’s truest step up in level of competition, he lost to the 14-0 Albert Ramirez – a rising light heavyweight prospect making a quick sojourn to cruiserweight – via first-round TKO.
In Dickson’s 15 professional fights, he’s only twice faced an opponent with more wins than losses. After the Ramirez loss, he scored a second-round stoppage of the 8-6 Felix Mankatah. Since then, he’s picked up early wins against opponents with records of 14-32, 1-2, 2-7, 19-40 and 11-16.
The most familiar names on the undercard are cruiserweight Brandon Glanton and Ohara Davies.
Glanton, 20-3 (17 KOs), was last seen losing a decision to former titleholder Chris Billam-Smith in April. He is facing John Nopari, 23-3 (17 KOs).
Davies, 25-4 (18 KOs), has moved up to welterweight from 140lbs after taking back-to-back losses in 2024 to Ismael Barroso (TKO1) and Adam Azim (KO8). Davies’ opponent is Mohamed Aliseni, 22-9-3 (13 KOs).
Friday, June 13: LeAnna Cruz vs. Regina Chavez (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (1 a.m. BST).
This is an elimination bout to challenge for the WBA junior bantamweight belt currently held by Jasmine Artiga.
Cruz, 10-0 (1 KO), is a 27-year-old from Allentown, Pennsylvania. She’ll be headlining about 90 minutes south at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. This will be Cruz’s third straight bout at that venue and her seventh overall. In January, she stopped the 11-4 Amy Naert in the second round.
Chavez, 8-5-3 (1 KO), is a 21-year-old from Mexico. Her last outing was for that same WBA title, vacant at the time, dropping a majority decision in March to Artiga. Many fans in attendance in San Bernardino, California, disagreed with that verdict.
The undercard includes matches between junior welterweights Kurt Scoby, 16-1 (14 KOs), and Haskell Rhodes, 31-7-1 (16 KOs); junior welterweights Branden Pizarro, 20-1-1 (11 KOs), and Israel Mercado, 12-1-2 (7 KOs); and welterweights Tahmir Smalls, 14-0 (10 KOs), and Clarence Booth, 21-11 (13 KOs).
Saturday, June 14: Fernando Molina vs. Gabriel Jimenez (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 10 p.m. Eastern Time (3 a.m. BST).
This show takes place at the Sala Urbana in Mexico City, Mexico.
Molina, 11-0-1 (4 KOs), is a 23-year-old lightweight from Guadalajara. In March, he won a unanimous decision over the 9-6-2 Alejandro Morales Chazaro.
Jimenez, 11-1 (7 KOs), is a 29-year-old from Mexico City. He was stopped in the eighth round by the 8-4 Jorge Batalla Martinez in September 2024, then returned in February with a unanimous decision victory against the 9-4-2 Alexis de la Cruz.
Saturday, June 14: Rajon Chance vs. Yan Carlos Perez (StarBoxing.TV)
The broadcast begins at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (midnight BST).
This junior featherweight fight, originally scheduled for April in New Jersey, now headlines at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York.
Chance, 8-1-1 (6 KOs), is a 24-year-old from East Orange, New Jersey. His last fight was 14 months ago, when he lost a split decision to the 5-0 Travon Lawson.
Perez, 6-0 (4 KOs), is a 28-year-old from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. When the Chance fight was postponed, Perez stayed busy in early May with a first-round TKO of the 27-10-1 Merlito Sabillo, who is many years and many weight classes removed from his time as a strawweight titleholder.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.