'Take him to school': American's threat to Kambosos Jr
Tired of the trash talk, Richardson Hitchins is promising to send George Kambosos Jr back to Australia with tail between his legs.
Kambosos (22-3, 10KOs) will bid to join the great Jeff Fenech as a multi-division world champion when he takes on Hitchins (19-0, 7KOs) for the American's IBF super-lightweight belt at New York's Madison Square Garden Theatre on Sunday (AEST).
Sydney's former unified lightweight champ is up in class and Hitchins suspects probably out of his league too despite Kambosos spruiking about maintaining his perfect record in the US.
Be it by knockout or through sheer boxing smarts, Hitchins doesn't care how he wins, just as long as he puts Kambosos in his place after an explosive build-up spiced with threats, bets and a cancelled face-off after the two combatants almost came to blows on Friday.
"I know I've been promising everybody a knockout, but, to be honest, bro, the way George has been talking trash, like I really don't got skills, I really feel like I'm gonna just, like, beat him up," Hitchins told AAP.
"Or it just depends how George comes.
"If he wants to be like the common fighter who would think that I don't have that much skills, like be aggressive and come at me and think that's what he has to do, if he does that, he's gonna get stopped.
"But if he tries to make me think and shit like that, then I don't know. I might just have to just take him to school.
"If he really wants to come out and take a fast-ass whooping, he's gonna get stopped.
"If he wanna be strategic, then I'm not gonna be dumb. I'm not gonna be the first to make mistakes, so then it's gonna be a lesson."
For all his bravado, Hitchins - who took down Australian Liam Paro last December to claim the strap, insists he respects the challenger.
He saw enough in Kambosos's shock victory over Teofimo Lopez at Madison Square Garden in late 2021 to know the 32-year-old Sydney slugger can be dangerous.
"I know he's got fast hands," the New Yorker said.
"He's a little twitchy. He's aware in the ring. He do have boxing abilities. I can see how he made a living in the sport.
"He's not a dumb fighter. He knows when to hold. He has deceptive timing.
"There's things in the boxing ring, qualities ... I can see why he's at where he at in boxing. I can see why he didn't stop in the amateurs and he kept pursuing boxing."
But just not as good as him, says Hitchins, who added he could "see the comparisons" between himself and Devin Haney, the two-divisional pound-for-pound king who stripped Kambosos of his IBF, WBC and WBO belts with two wins over the Australian in Melbourne in 2022.
"Definitely the stylistic comparisons but, if you get really in depth with it, I feel like I display that style ... better," Hitchins warned.
"I think my style is better.
"Yeah, he probably got Lopez, but we'll see."
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