Despite a significant cut suffered in his previous fight, George Kambosos Jr. says it will not be an issue when he steps into the ring against Richardson Hitchins.
Kambosos and Hitchins are set to clash on June 14th at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York. Hitchins, undefeated at 19-0 with 7 knockouts, will defend his IBF world super-lightweight championship in his home country.
Hitchins secured his title last December with a split decision win over Liam Paro. Although the scorecards were close, many felt his performance deserved a more dominant victory.
Regardless, Hitchins successfully claimed the title in Puerto Rico, setting the stage for a highly anticipated bout against former lightweight champion George Kambosos, who holds a record of 22 wins and 3 losses with 10 knockouts.
Kambosos made his name in the lightweight division (135 lbs) by causing a major upset against Teofimo Lopez in 2021, winning a decision to unify three major world titles.
However, following that victory, `Ferocious` experienced consecutive unanimous decision losses to Devin Haney. He then secured a narrow and controversial majority decision win against Maxi Hughes.
Several months later, he suffered an 11th-round stoppage loss to boxing icon Vasyl Lomachenko, which prompted the Australian fighter to move up to the super-lightweight division (140 lbs).
His debut at 140 lbs was against Jake Wyllie in March, a fight where Wyllie put up a strong challenge.
During the ninth round of that fight, Kambosos sustained a cut on his forehead, which raised concerns about his potentially scheduled fight with Hitchins in June.
Now, after undergoing extensive sparring since his unanimous decision win over Wyllie, the 31-year-old fighter is confident the injury is no longer a concern.
Reflecting on the Wyllie fight, Kambosos stated: “Looking back at the fight, for the first nine rounds I was very dynamic, very sharp and very quick – with that old Kambosos combination punching.”
He admitted the injury was a distraction: “But obviously, the cut distracted me a little. I was thinking to myself, ‘I hope this doesn’t affect the Hitchins fight.’”
However, he confirmed its healing: “I didn’t know how bad it was but, thank God, it wasn’t too deep. I’ve sparred 100-plus rounds [since then]. We’re coming to the final couple of sparring sessions now, so the cut is good.”
Kambosos even invited Hitchins to target the area: “You can let Hitchins hit me clean right there [on the cut], and I bet you it doesn’t do anything. Not that he can punch, anyway.”
