Richardson Hitchins will reportedly fight former two-division world champion Jose Pedraza on December 7th on former IBF 140-lb champion Surbriel Matias’ undercard.
A Step Backwards for Hitchins?
It’s a big step backward for the Matchroom Boxing-promoted Hitchins, 26, to fight Pedraza because he should be fighting contenders at 140 rather than faded fighters.
Hitchins is coming off a controversial 12-round unanimous decision win over Gustavo Lemos on April 6th in Las Vegas, which many fans saw as a loss for the Brooklyn, New York native Richardson.
The scores were 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113 in favor of Hitchins. I watched the fight live and had Lemos winning 9-3 [117-111]. It wasn’t a close fight. Lemos outworked and outslugged Hitchins in that fight and had him on the run for the entire 12-round contest.
The Forgotten Man?
Hitchins has an identical style to Shakur Stevenson but with a little more pop in his punches. Strangely, Hearn chose to sign Shakur to his Matchroom company, given that he’s not spoken much about Hitchins during interviews. It’s almost like he’s the forgotten man in Hearn’s stable.
In a way, it makes sense for Hitchins to be matched against Pedraza rather than a contender. If Hearn views Hitchins’ performance against Lemos as not measuring up to where he needs to be, putting him in against Pedraza is logical.
In Hitchins’s previous fight against Jose Zepeda, on September 23rd last year, fans booed him for fighting cautiously in Orlando, Florida.
Hitchins won the contest by a 12-round unanimous decision but used his Shakur-esque fighting style of retreating when attacked. The fans at ringside did not like what they were watching, and they let Hitchins and his trainer know about it.
Hitchins Needs to Impress
If Hitchins doesn’t start fighting with more inspiration, Hearn might need to consider not renewing his contract when it’s up. Hearn doesn’t need two Shakur-like fighters because it’s bad enough to have one he needs to prop up.
Pedraza hasn’t won a fight in three years since 2021 and is coming off a sixth-round knockout loss to Keyshawn Davis on February 8th in Las Vegas.
According to @cesarseda, #3 WBO and #5 WBC ranked Hitchins (18-0, 7 KOs) will face the 35-year-old Pedraza (29-6-1, 14 KOs) next.
Pedraza hasn’t looked like the same fighter he once was since losing to Vasily Lomachenko and Jose Pedraza in 2018 and 2019. Those fights seem to have taken something out of Pedraza becaue his record since 2020 is 3-3-1.
