Boxing: Hitchins Challenges Haney After Win

Richardson Hitchins called out Devin Haney after claiming a dominant win over George Kambosos Jr to retain his IBF light-welterweight title.

The 27-year-old headlined a show in his hometown New York for the first time and stopped Kambosos with a left hook to the body in the eighth round.

Hitchins was making his first defence of the title he earned by beating Liam Paro in December.

He dominated throughout at The Theater at Madison Square Garden, landing a far greater number of blows than Kambosos, a former world champion at lightweight.

After being floored in the eighth round, the Australian rose to his feet before the count of 10 but was still grimacing in pain and was unable to continue.

Victory meant Hitchins extended his unbeaten record to 20-0, including eight knockouts.

“I’ve been telling the boxing world I was coming and they should have listened,” he said.

“I told his [Kambosos’] dad: ‘If you love your son, you’ll stop the fight.’ He was tough, a true competitor, but I was just the better man tonight.”

Kambosos shocked Teofimo Lopez at the same venue in 2021 to become the unified lightweight champion.

But the 32-year-old then lost back-to-back fights to Haney and has now lost four of his past six fights for a 22-4 record.

Hitchins added: “I knew I had to go to some unsafe places to get some good shots off. I put myself in harm’s way.

“He caught me with a couple of good shots, but they didn’t hurt me, so I just went for the [finish].”

WBO champion Lopez entered the ring after the fight but Hitchins called out the unbeaten Haney, who moved up to welterweight to beat Jose Ramirez last month.

Haney later said on X:, external “We could get it at 147 (welterweight).”

Brighton fighter Adam Maca made his professional debut on the undercard and beat Rafael Castillo via a second-round knockout.

Bbc.com