Latest news with #lightwelterweight
BBC News
15-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Hitchins calls out Haney after title defence
Richardson Hitchins called out Devin Haney after claiming a dominant win over George Kambosos Jr to retain his IBF light-welterweight 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 was making his first defence of the title he earned by beating Liam Paro in dominated throughout at The Theater at Madison Square Garden, landing a far greater number of blows than Kambosos, a former world champion at 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 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 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 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 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.
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Hitchins dismantles Kambosos inside eight to retain 140lb title at Garden
Richardson Hitchins delivered a career-best performance on Saturday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, stopping George Kambosos Jr with a withering body shot in the eighth round to retain the IBF's version of the light welterweight championship. In his first defense of the 140lb belt, and his first time headlining a card in his hometown, Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) controlled every round before putting Kambosos down with a sharp left hook to the midsection. The Australian rose to his feet before the count of 10, but referee Michael Griffin waved off the fight as Kambosos visibly grimaced in pain, unable to continue. Advertisement 'I've been telling the boxing world I was coming and they should have listened,' Hitchins said afterwards. 'I told his 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.' The 26-year-old Hitchins had pledged a punishing performance after a spicy build-up that included cancelled face-offs, bold predictions and tension between camps. After dancing into the ring to a roaring crowd, the native of Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood dominated from the outset and won every minute of every round up until the stoppage. 'I knew I had to go to some unsafe places to get some good shots off,' Hitchins said. 'I put myself in harm's way, but I knew I had good defense. He caught me with a couple of good shots, but they didn't hurt me. So I just went for the kill.' The Compubox punch statistics lent a quantitative context to the one-way traffic. Hitchins connected with a whopping 205 of 398 punches (52%), while Kambosos landed only 57 of 384 shots (15%). Advertisement For Kambosos (22-4, 10 KOs), it was a humbling defeat and perhaps the end of a remarkable run. The 32-year-old had been bidding to join Jeff Fenech and Bob Fitzsimmons on the short list of multi-division world champions from Australia. Instead, he suffered his fourth loss in six outings. 'Man, I really believed in myself, but just didn't have the timing,' Kambosos said. 'He was a little bit too good for me tonight. He hit me with a beautiful body shot. I still got up before 10, but the ref's got to do his job.' Having registered shock waves through the sport with his upset win over Teófimo López in 2021 in this same room, Kambosos has since endured punishing losses to Devin Haney (twice), Vasiliy Lomachenko and now Hitchins. Saturday's result not only ended his hopes of a second world title, but may have signaled the final chapter of his career. 'Right now I'm going to go coach my son's footie team,' Kambosos said. Kambosos had shocked the boxing world with his upset win over Teófimo López in this same room in 2021. But since then, the Australian has suffered punishing defeats to Devin Haney (twice), Vasiliy Lomachenko, and now Hitchins. Saturday's result not only ended his hopes of a second world title, but may have signaled the final chapter of his career. Advertisement Hitchins, meanwhile, continues his promising ascent at 140lb. After outpointing Australia's Liam Paro of the IBF strap in December, he's now scored a second straight win over a world-class foe and will head into a likely title unification fight as a promotional free agent. One possible opponent is Lopez, who took in Saturday's card from ringside before climbing through the ropes to joing the post-fight patter. But Hitchins appeared to make his preference clear when he closed his interview with an expletive-laden rant calling out Haney, the former unified lightweight champion who has since moved up to the 140lb division.
The Guardian
15-06-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Hitchins dismantles Kambosos inside eight to retain 140lb title at Garden
Richardson Hitchins delivered a career-best performance on Saturday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, stopping George Kambosos Jr with a withering body shot in the eighth round to retain the IBF's version of the light welterweight championship. In his first defense of the 140lb belt, and his first time headlining a card in his hometown, Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) controlled every round before putting Kambosos down with a sharp left hook to the midsection. The Australian rose to his feet before the count of 10, but referee Michael Griffin waved off the fight as Kambosos visibly grimaced in pain, unable to continue. 'I've been telling the boxing world I was coming and they should have listened,' Hitchins said afterwards. 'I told his 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.' The 26-year-old Hitchins had pledged a punishing performance after a spicy build-up that included cancelled face-offs, bold predictions and tension between camps. After dancing into the ring to a roaring crowd, the native of Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood dominated from the outset and won every minute of every round up until the stoppage. 'I knew I had to go to some unsafe places to get some good shots off,' Hitchins said. 'I put myself in harm's way, but I knew I had good defense. He caught me with a couple of good shots, but they didn't hurt me. So I just went for the kill.' The Compubox punch statistics lent a quantitative context to the one-way traffic. Hitchins connected with a whopping 205 of 398 punches (52%), while Kambosos landed only 57 of 384 shots (15%). For Kambosos (22-4, 10 KOs), it was a humbling defeat and perhaps the end of a remarkable run. The 32-year-old had been bidding to join Jeff Fenech and Bob Fitzsimmons on the short list of multi-division world champions from Australia. Instead, he suffered his fourth loss in six outings. 'Man, I really believed in myself, but just didn't have the timing,' Kambosos said. 'He was a little bit too good for me tonight. He hit me with a beautiful body shot. I still got up before 10, but the ref's got to do his job.' Having registered shock waves through the sport with his upset win over Teófimo López in 2021 in this same room, Kambosos has since endured punishing losses to Devin Haney (twice), Vasiliy Lomachenko and now Hitchins. Saturday's result not only ended his hopes of a second world title, but may have signaled the final chapter of his career. 'Right now I'm going to go coach my son's footie team,' Kambosos said. Kambosos had shocked the boxing world with his upset win over Teófimo López in this same room in 2021. But since then, the Australian has suffered punishing defeats to Devin Haney (twice), Vasiliy Lomachenko, and now Hitchins. Saturday's result not only ended his hopes of a second world title, but may have signaled the final chapter of his career. Hitchins, meanwhile, continues his promising ascent at 140lb. After outpointing Australia's Liam Paro of the IBF strap in December, he's now scored a second straight win over a world-class foe and will head into a likely title unification fight as a promotional free agent. One possible opponent is Lopez, who took in Saturday's card from ringside before climbing through the ropes to joing the post-fight patter. But Hitchins appeared to make his preference clear when he closed his interview with an expletive-laden rant calling out Haney, the former unified lightweight champion who has since moved up to the 140lb division.
The Independent
06-06-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Twenty years on, Ricky Hatton reflects on his signature victory
This week has marked twenty years since Kostya Tszyu and Ricky Hatton met for what was universally considered to be the light-welterweight championship of the world. The odds were against Hatton, 38-0 (29), even at home in the cauldron of the MEN Arena. The 'Hitman' had so far had a career without too many big names, and the assumption was that as Frank Warren's cash cow, the promoter was wisely managing his charge through sell-out fights that carried little-to-no risk. Before Tszyu, Hatton been defending his barely regarded World Boxing Union (WBU) title for four years. The run of opponents in that time had been uninspiring - Tony Pep, Jason Rowland, John Bailey – and the few recognisable names, such as Freddie Pendleton, came in with deeply flawed records (Pendleton was 47-25-5 when he faced Hatton in 2001). There had been struggles, too. Eamonn Magee had knocked down Hatton in the first round in 2002, before the pair went the twelve-round distance. Stephen Smith later that year found himself disqualified when his father pushed referee Mickey Vann after a Hatton elbow cut his son. And then Frank Warren made the Tszyu fight. Tszyu, 31-1 (25) at the time, had the most-feared right hand in boxing. His last fight, seven months before, had seen him deploy it to demolish Sharmba Mitchell in three rounds, knocking his opponent down four times. Tszyu had gone through Jesse James Leija, too, in 2003 and Ben Tackie in 2002. It was an era before the idea of 'going viral' had come into existence, but it seemed somehow that everyone knew that moment, in stopping Zab Judah in two rounds in 2001, that Tszyu had caused his opponent to do a dance like a man learning how to ice skate in the middle of an earthquake. Now, Tszyu was coming to Manchester. Even the Boxing News at the time predicted that the Australian-based Russian would eventually walk down and stop Hatton, probably in the eighth round. In 2025, Hatton reflected on the morning of the fight. As per his habit, he went to a local café in Hyde. 'I went in,' he said, 'and they had all of the newspapers there, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Mail and The Sun. I picked them up as I'm having my breakfast and I think The Sun had me to get beaten inside two rounds, the Mirror had me not going past six rounds and that it would be over in three rounds by the Daily Mail.' It is hard to describe now, but the atmosphere was something different when Hatton used to fight at the MEN Arena. The sound of the crowd was a character in itself, an aural waterfall that seemed to come down from the rafters of the builders and then explode, spreading along the floor and through the arena. Hatton came out that night to 'Blue Moon' as he always did. He looked nervous on his walk to the ring. Tszyu came second, his friend Russell Crowe – just a few months before the release of Cinderella Man – was ringside. He may have been the only friend Tszyu had in the building. The crowd saw Tszyu, and there was little respect for him. Not like years later, when Marco Antonio Barrera did the same walk to face Amir Khan and people understood then – like they did not with Tszyu – that they were in the presence of greatness. Hatton found something deeper within himself that night, a disregard for everything bad that could happen, a willingness to gamble on something larger than a fight, and he pushed and punched and rough-housed Tszyu. Eventually, the pair went back to their corners at the end of the tenth round. It was hard to see at the time, but it is there when you look at it with fresh eyes. There is a momentary shake of the head from Tszyu in his corner, moments before it cuts to a replay of the round before, where he elects to stay on his stool. The fight is over. If Hatton peaked that night in Manchester, there were still big nights to follow, even if nothing ever lived up to it. Hatton split with Frank Warren, which meant he had to go to Sheffield to face Carlos Maussa five months later. He went to the US after that to face Luis Collazo and Juan Urango in decisions before stopping the ghost of Jose Luis Castillo in four. It was after that that Floyd Mayweather knocked Hatton out, stopping him in ten in what had been a bad night from the start. There was a bit of a comeback after that, beginning with beating Juan Lazcano in front of 55,000 people at the City of Manchester Stadium. Then there was Paulie Malignaggi, a stoppage in eleven rounds in Las Vegas, before Manny Pacquiao starched Hatton in two. And then three years later, there was the fight against Vyachelsav Senchenko that ended with the Hitman, the body puncher extraordinaire, on the floor from a blow to the ribs. Tszyu, meanwhile, retired on his stool, and then took that retirement with him from the ring. He never fought again. Eventually, he moved back to Russia from Australia from where he watched his son Tim begin a career. Hatton, too, has a son who became a professional boxer. Time moves on but in 2025, Hatton still remembers achieving the dream, probably more vividly than anything else in his career. 'I must have left the party at about 7am,' he said this week, 'and when I left, the sunshine was out, you could hear the birds tweeting and people were still singing 'there's only one Ricky Hatton' walking up Deansgate. For my dream win, if I could have written down on a piece of paper as to how I would've wanted it to happen, it couldn't have happened as good as it did.' All of the elements, he says, stacked up. 'My home time in Manchester,' he said, 'a packed arena with nobody expecting me to win and if I did win, it would be one of the best wins in a British boxing ring. And for it to be against a formidable punching machine like he was and to make him quit on his stool, was unbelievable.' 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