{"id":196421,"date":"2025-06-19T06:16:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T06:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196421\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T06:16:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T06:16:12","slug":"hitchins-proclaims-true-champion-status-after-stopping-george-kambosos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/196421\/","title":{"rendered":"Hitchins Proclaims “True Champion” Status After Stopping George Kambosos"},"content":{"rendered":"

IBF light welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins boasted on social media today, saying he\u2019d proven himself as a \u201ctrue champion<\/strong>\u201d after stopping his hand-picked opponent George Kambosos in the eighth round last Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Hitchins\u2019 \u201cTrue Champion\u201d Claim<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) believes that his win over the former three-belt lightweight champion Kambosos (22-4, 10 KOs) means that he\u2019s proven himself as one of the elite<\/strong> fighters in the sport. This fight was an abomination that should have never occurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn boxing, they said you\u2019re not a true champion until you defend your title #TrueChampion,\u201d said Richardson Hitchins on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If beating Kambosos is what is used to gauge whether a fighter has reached elite-level status, it doesn\u2019t say much about the sport. He was a down-and-out fighter coming into the fight, with a 1-4 record<\/strong>, still living off his victory from four years ago against Teofimo Lopez.<\/p>\n

For Kambosos to have been selected for a title shot against Hitchins, it doesn\u2019t say much about the champion or his promoter for choosing him over more deserving fighters, like Gary Antuanne Russell and Subriel Matias. Russell beat Hitchins four times in the amateurs and has been calling him out, but has been ignored by the New Yorker.<\/p>\n

Hitchins needs to be forced to walk the plank by fighting Russell, Matias, and Ernesto Mercado in that order. If he comes out victorious in one piece, then he can brag that he\u2019s a \u201ctrue champion\u201d and reached elite status.<\/p>\n

The 140-lb Gauntlet Ignored<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bragging would be okay for Hitchins if he beat the killers below:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Gary Antuanne Russell<\/li>\n
  2. Subriel Matias<\/li>\n
  3. Jamaine Ortiz<\/li>\n
  4. Keyshawn Davis<\/li>\n
  5. Ernesto Mercado<\/li>\n
  6. Oscar Duarte<\/li>\n
  7. Isaac Cruz<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Most of these fighters would beat Hitchins quite easily if he would actually agree to fight them. I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll ever fight any of them for obvious reasons. That\u2019s the problem with fighters like Hitchins. Their promoters maneuver them into capturing world titles without fighting anyone of quality, and then once they pick up a belt, they crow about the win, and call out popular fighters that they have business fighting.<\/p>\n

    After Hitchins\u2019 win over Kambosos, he called out Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez. Haney no longer fights at 140. So, if that matchup were to happen, Richardson would freeze his IBF light welterweight title while he goes up to 147 for a payday fight. If he does do that, the IBF should strip him of his light welterweight title because it\u2019s not fair to the contenders waiting in line for their title shot in the rankings.<\/p>\n

    All sanctioning bodies should have a rule that champions cannot move up in weight without giving up their titles. How can you have a sport if belt-holders like Hitchins move around as they please, leaving their titles frozen and waiting for them when they return?<\/p>\n

    Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb Hitchins Proclaims \u201cTrue Champion\u201d Status After Stopping George Kambosos<\/p>\n

    Last Updated on 06\/18\/2025 \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IBF light welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins boasted on social media today, saying he\u2019d proven himself as a \u201ctrue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,72555,4331,57185,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-196421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-george-kambosos-jr","10":"tag-matchroom-boxing","11":"tag-richardson-hitchins","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114708570701814479","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}