Boxing
Hitchins teases “date soon” amid free agency drama
Published
7 months agoon
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.
The fight date is coming soon 🙏🏾
— Richardson Hitchins (@HeIsRichardson) October 17, 2025
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.
Ken Woods was a senior writer in Boxing News 24 since 2013, covering sports from every angle. With years of reporting from the ring, he delivers fight news, results and analysis that cuts through the noise. Ken’s work consistently focuses on champions, challengers and prospects, giving fans a acute and well-informed view of the global boxing scene.
Last update: 17/10/2025
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Boxing
Tim Bradley summarizes David Benavidez’s chances of moving up to heavyweight and defeating Usyk
Published
2 hours agoon
May 18, 2026
Tim Bradley assessed David Benavidez’s chances of beating Oleksandr Usyk, who still holds three of the four major heavyweight titles.
The Ukrainian returns to action at the Egyptian Pyramids of Giza next Saturday, voluntarily defending his WBC belt against Dutch kickboxer Rico Verhoeven.
Besides this next exit, Usyk will likely be ordered to face “interim” WBC champion Agit Kabayelwho has a chance to win the full green and gold belt this year.
Alternatively, the 39-year-old could vacate his world title, perhaps with the intention of facing newly crowned unified champion Benavidez instead – a fight backed by powerful boxing broker Turki Alalshikh.
“The Mexican Monster” became a three-division world champion earlier this month, dethroning Gilberto Ramirez after the sixth round in his first appearance at 200 pounds.
However, despite his dominant performance, the reality is that Benavidez is not yet a full-fledged cruiserweight, and the 29-year-old admitted that he weighed just 202 pounds on fight night.
Because of this, he will likely drop back down to 175 pounds – where he still holds the WBC title – to face Dmitry Bivol for the undisputed crown.
As for Hall of Famer Bradley, this represents the most reasonable option for Benavidez, who effectively stated in his YouTube channel that the American has no chance of overthrowing Usyk.
“Usyk? Stop. It’s okay to have dreams – it’s okay, you can dream – [but] if you feel David Benavidez can beat Usyk, I’ll gladly take your money.
While Benavidez has always expressed interest in moving up to heavyweight, it appears his main target right now is unified airy heavyweight champion Bivol.
First, Bivol must defeat mandatory challenger Michael Eifert on May 30, but he would certainly be eager to get a chance to become a two-time undisputed champion later this year.
Boxing
Don King’s Palm Beach Jai Alai site is headed to foreclosure auction
Published
4 hours agoon
May 18, 2026
A foreclosure auction will be held on May 18 at the former Palm Beach Jai Alai frontage, owned by boxing promoter Don King, with residential developers among the parties eyeing the Mangonia Park property and King’s legal team still searching for a solution.
The site at 1415 45th Street has been vacant for more than three decades. King, 93, bought the property in 1999 for $6.3 million, according to property records cited by King. The real deal. The front itself, a 282,800-square-foot structure built in 1973, closed in December 1994 after Florida’s expansion of gambling offerings and a prolonged strike by jai alai players destroyed the sport’s commercial base.
How the auction happened
Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Scott Kerner entered a $42.5 million judgment in favor of an entity related to Taylor Made Lending, a Pompano Beach-based lender, clearing the way for the May 18 sale. Taylor Made serves as a special entity servicing a syndicate of mortgage investors, including Miami-based Winston Capital Management.
Court documents show that King personally guaranteed three loans secured by the property. The first one, redeemed in 2023, was worth $22.3 million at an interest rate of 13.9% per annum and required monthly payments of $260,000 in interest alone. A second loan for $9 million was made in 2024 at an interest rate of 18.5% per annum, as well as a third loan for $800,000 at an interest rate of 2%. Taylor Made alleged in its complaint that in September, King stopped making monthly interest-only payments of $138,750 on a $9 million loan and failed to repay the $800,000 loan in December when it matured.
The website and its limitations
The property is zoned primarily for office, government, ambulatory, educational and manufacturing uses, with as much as 25 percent of its square footage zoned for retail uses such as pharmacies, restaurants and gyms, according to an offering memorandum prepared by listing broker Art Porosoff of Miami-based Porosoff Group.
Development plans face an infrastructural obstacle independent of exclusion. Mangonia Park City Manager Ken Metcalf said in a March 31 interview that nothing could be built on the 53-acre parcel until the city secured a recent, larger reservoir for immaculate drinking water. Developers tracking the site have introduced a mixed-use redevelopment with thousands of recent homes.
Pattern of distressed holdings
The foreclosure is part of a broader spectrum of King’s real estate problems. In July, a subsidiary of Boca Raton-based construction company Straticon paid $11 million for a warehouse King owned in Deerfield Beach that previously served as the boxing promoter’s headquarters. The warehouse was the subject of a separate foreclosure lawsuit brought by a subsidiary of Miami-based Blueprint Capital Partners over the alleged failure to repay a $5.3 million loan.
Lawyers for King and Taylor Made Lending did not respond to requests for comment from The Real Deal, which first reported the foreclosure auction date.
Previous sales attempts
Since the purchase, King has made multiple attempts to sell the Mangonia Park property. His wife, Henrietta King, bought the frontage in 1999 with plans for a sports complicated that never came to fruition. In the early 2000s, a proposed sale of the apartments to a Boca Raton developer fell through, leading to a lengthy DK Arena v. EB Acquisitions lawsuit that ultimately made its way through the Florida Supreme Court. A separate deal with West Palm Beach-based FRI Investors also fell apart ten years ago.
The property was put back on the market in April 2025 with no asking price, although sources told The Real Deal that King’s team was seeking offers in the $100 million range, or about $2 million per acre.
Boxing
Albert Bell and Andy Cruz submitted a bid for the portfolio on May 27
Published
6 hours agoon
May 18, 2026
News: On Sunday, the IBF announced a bid for the previously ordered 135 No. 1 eliminator between Albert Bell and Andy Cruz. It will take place on May 27 at 2:00 p.m. local time during the ranking meeting at the IBF annual convention in Ho Tram, Vietnam. #box #PurseBidHedz
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) May 18, 2026
The auction will take place at 2:00 p.m. local time during the IBF annual convention in Ho Tram, Vietnam.
The winner of the fight will become mandatory challenger to the IBF lightweight title, giving Andy Cruz a direct path to a championship shot less than two years into his professional career.
Cruz (6-0, 3 KO) has been undergoing an aggressive transition since leaving the amateur ranks after winning an Olympic gold medal for Cuba. The Matchroom-promoted lightweight already has wins over veterans Antonio Moran and Omar Salcido, despite having only six professional fights.
Albert Bell (28-0, 9 KO) brings much more professional experience to the eliminator and remains quietly undefeated, fighting mostly out of the spotlight. The Cleveland native has long been viewed as a tough matchup due to his defensive approach and southpaw demeanor.
Negotiations reaching the portfolio offer stage suggest that neither side was willing to bend financially enough to complete the transaction privately.
A victory for Cruz would strengthen his position in a crowded lightweight division that features names like Shakur Stevenson, Gervonta Davis and Keyshawn Davis.
The IBF tender for Cruz-Bell is scheduled for May 27 in Vietnam.
If Cruz defeats Bell, he will be back in position for another fight against IBF lightweight champion Raymond Muratalla if the titleholder stays at 135 pounds instead of moving up to 140.
Dan Ambrose is a boxing journalist at Boxing News 24, respected for his direct analysis and extensive coverage of the global fighting landscape. His reports focus on the most vital fights, division development and the most discussed stories in sports.
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