Connect with us

Boxing

Hitchins teases “date soon” amid free agency drama

Published

on

Image: Richardson Hitchins' Free Agency Backfires as Eddie Hearn Confirms Turki Alalshikh's Loyalty to Matchroom

Richardson Hitchins revealed on social media that he has “fight date coming soon.” This will be Hitchins’ next defense of the IBF welterweight title.

Still no Lopez. Still no Buzz

It’s not expected to be the unification match Hitchins (20-0, 8 KO) wanted against WBO 140-pound champion Teofimo Lopez, nor is it a clash with Devin Haney. Those lucrative fights will likely remain elusive for Hitchins, who hails from Brooklyn, Novel York. Teofimo was the massive prize that Hitchins had pursued unsuccessfully.

At best, Richardson could sign one of these 140-pound contenders:

  • Gabriel Valenzuela
  • Kenneth Sims
  • Jamaine Ortiz
  • Oscar Duarte

Free agency backfired

Hitchins wants massive names to boost his fame, but these guys are not it. He recently called Devin Haney, but there was no interest from him. The problem is that Richardson is fighting in the wrong weight class at 140 pounds, lacks a crowd-pleasing style, and isn’t popular enough to get the names he wants.

Richardson, 28, recently shot himself in the foot by declaring his free will in the ring following an eighth-round knockout victory last summer on June 14, after knocking out veteran George Kambosos Jr. in the eighth round at Madison Square Garden in Novel York.

Hearn was offside

“I’m a free agent now” Hitchins said. The way he announced it publicly surprised his promoter at the time, Eddie Hearn, who had hoped to extend his contract with Matchroom. Shortly afterwards, it was revealed that Turki Alalshikh had stated that he would not work with Hitchins unless he was associated with Matchroom.

Reacting to Hitchins’ free agency announcement from inside the ring, Hearn later said: “I felt disrespected. It wasn’t him [Hitchins]these are the dogs surrounding him – snakes and bloodsuckers who injure themselves without risk.

Hitchins match round with six fights

  • George Kambosos Jr.
  • Liam Paro
  • Gustavo Lemos
  • Józef Zepeda
  • Jan Bauza
  • Jomar Alamo

Woods’s POV: I should have stayed with Hearn

In hindsight, Hitchins should have re-signed Hearn because he would have had a better chance of getting the fights he wanted with him. In the six fights that Hitchins had with Matchroom, he was placed in a world title fight.

Without Hearn, it is doubtful whether Hitchins would ever have gotten the chance to fight for a world title against IBF 140-pound champion Liam Paro on December 7, 2024. Richardson would still only be a contender.

Last update: 17/10/2025

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Boxing

Sebastian Fundora Wins by Late Stoppage Against Ermal Hadribeaj

Published

on

"Sebastian Fundora Wins by Late Stoppage Against Ermal Hadribeaj"

Sebastian Fundora needed almost every second of 12 rounds to stop Ermal Hadribeaj, finishing his stubborn challenger with a left hand after spending much of the fight battling him at close range.

The stoppage came at 2:59 of the final round at The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Fundora (25-1-1, 17 KOs) retained his WBC junior middleweight title for the fourth time, while Hadribeaj (23-1-1, 8 KOs) suffered his first professional defeat.

This was hard work for a champion who entered as a heavy favorite. Hadribeaj got underneath Fundora’s long arms, crowded him, and landed hard punches, making the early rounds competitive. Fundora followed him too often without creating the space needed to make his reach effective.

A long left briefly buzzed Hadribeaj in the second, but it didn’t persuade him to stay outside. He recovered and went straight back to forcing the fight inside.

Holding became a recurring feature. Referee Thomas Taylor deducted a point from Hadribeaj in the third round, then took another in the 11th as the challenger increasingly tried to prevent Fundora from working.

Between those penalties, Hadribeaj gave the champion plenty to handle. His harder individual shots competed with Fundora’s greater activity, and he continued coming forward even as the body punches accumulated.

Fundora eventually made that close-range fight work for him. Short punches and uppercuts gave him scoring opportunities, while his sustained attack downstairs made Hadribeaj pay for staying within reach.

The later rounds belonged more clearly to the champion. Hadribeaj could still land, but he was being outworked, and his attempts to crowd Fundora increasingly ended in holding rather than effective offense.

Fundora kept punching through the final round before landing the left hand that dropped and stopped Hadribeaj just before the bell. The finish rewarded his persistence, although the difficult early rounds showed how little he had done to keep the challenger at a distance.

Share this article

About the author

Boxing 24/7 Wire

Boxing247.com is an independent boxing news publication covering the sport since 2001. It provides original reporting, fight analysis, schedules, results, and informed coverage of major fighters and events worldwide, backed by more than 25 years of professional boxing journalism.

Continue Reading

Boxing

Sebastian Fundora vs Ermal Hadribeaj Live Results and Fight Updates

Published

on

"Sebastian Fundora vs Ermal Hadribeaj Live Results and Fight Updates"

Sebastian Fundora (25-1-1, 17 KOs) stopped Ermal Hadribeaj (23-1-1, 8 KOs) at 2:59 of the 12th round to retain his WBC junior middleweight title for the fourth time. Hadribeaj made the early rounds competitive by getting low, forcing his way inside and landing hard shots while denying the champion room to use his reach.

Short punches, uppercuts and a sustained body attack helped Fundora take control as he began outworking the challenger at close range. Referee Thomas Taylor deducted points from Hadribeaj for holding in the third and 11th rounds as the challenger increasingly tried to tie up the busier champion.

With just one second remaining, a left hand dropped Hadribeaj and brought the fight to an end after Fundora’s pressure and body punching had worn him down.

Super middleweight Armando Resendiz (17-3, 11 KOs) defeated Koen Mazoudier (16-5-1, 6 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision in a hard-fought fight. The judges scored it 98-92, 97-93 and 97-93, giving Resendiz a wider victory than the competitive action suggested.

Mazoudier kept coming forward and throwing, making Resendiz work at close range and enjoying success through the middle rounds. Resendiz answered with the heavier punches, hurting the Australian with right hands and left hooks as the two traded throughout.

A sustained attack in the final round left Mazoudier reeling and close to being stopped, but he survived and continued firing back until the bell. Resendiz earned his first victory since losing to Jaime Munguia, while Mazoudier made him fight for it in his U.S. debut.

Marco Romero (16-0, 14 KOs) stopped Braulio Matias Ferreira (8-4, 3 KOs) in the first round of their scheduled eight-round super middleweight fight. The 20-year-old Romero immediately pressed the attack, digging to the body and landing right hands upstairs at close range.

A right hand and left hook to the body helped set up a sweeping right to the chin that dropped Ferreira hard into the ropes. Ferreira beat the count, but he was in no condition to continue, prompting the referee to stop the fight. Romero gave the veteran little chance to settle, keeping him under attack throughout the brief contest. It was the Kansas prospect’s third consecutive first-round stoppage.

Super middleweight Jaime Enrique Osuna Diaz (12-0, 5 KOs) kept his unbeaten record with an eight-round majority decision over Cristian Cangelosi (13-1-1, 5 KOs). The judges scored the competitive bout 77-75, 77-75 and 76-76 on the Sebastian Fundora–Ermal Hadribeaj undercard.

Osuna applied pressure from the start, using his activity and body punching to make Cangelosi work. His best round came in the fifth, when he hurt Cangelosi twice with straight right hands but crowded his own punches while trying to finish.

Cangelosi fought back and had a strong seventh round, landing a big shot to keep the outcome in doubt heading into the eighth. Neither fighter scored a knockdown, with Osuna’s pressure and cleaner work in key stretches earning him the narrow victory.

Continue Reading

Boxing

Tony Bellew Analyzes Daniel Dubois Knockout Victory Over Fabio Wardley in Rematch

Published

on

Tony Bellew Analyzes Daniel Dubois' Knockout Victory Over Fabio Wardley in Rematch

Daniel Dubois sent out a big statement to the rest of the heavyweight division after his knockout win over Fabio Wardley.

The two British heavyweights met at The O2 Arena on Saturday in one of the most anticipated rematches of the year, following on from their epic first battle back in May.

On that occasion, ‘DDD’ had to recover from two early knockdowns to earn the 11th round TKO win to become WBO heavyweight champion, but it was a much more dominant display from Dubois this time around.

The rematch saw ‘DDD’ drop Wardley inside the opening 20 seconds of the bout, before landing even more heavy shots over the next several minutes, forcing the referee to stop the action in the second round as Dubois retained his WBO heavyweight title.

Ahead of the bout, one man that was picking Wardley to cause the upset and be victorious was former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew, who felt that the Ipswich man was going to get the job done inside six rounds.

Bellew was happy to hold his hands up and admit he was wrong though, as he posted on social media to heap praise on Dubois for his triumph.

“Demolition! Well done to Daniel Dubois.”

Following his win, Dubois has already made it clear who he wants to target next, revealing in his post-fight interview that he wants to meet IBF champion Filip Hrgovic in a unification, in what would be a rematch after ‘DDD’ won their first encounter back in June 2024.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

OUR NEWSLETTER

Subscribe Us To Receive Our Latest News Directly In Your Inbox!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Trending