Richardson Hitchins believes he's on the road to stardom

Richardson Hitchins is loaded with capacity, he insists. He has simply wanted a platform to exhibit it.

The 140-pound contender from Brooklyn has an enormous one on Saturday night time at Fontainebleau Las Vegas, the place he’ll tackle Gustavo Lemos in an IBF title eliminator (DAZN).

Hitchins, 26, sees it as simply one other step towards stardom.

“I feel I’m a star already and celebrity standing comes with me selling myself, making the perfect of my alternatives and attending to that celebrity standing,” he stated on Matchroom’s “Flash Knockdown” podcast. “My title is buzzing already as if I’m a world champion.

“Folks put me in these fantasy fights like, ‘I wish to see Richardson Hitchins vs. Devin Haney, vs. Subriel Matias,’ and that is simply in a yr that I’ve been with Matchroom. As soon as I’ve had a little bit little bit of publicity to the boxing followers, my title is on the scene.

“So I really feel like slowly however certainly, individuals are seeing my expertise and that may flip me into the celebrity that I wish to be as soon as I get my palms on the world championships and massive fights.”

Hitchins (17-0, 7 KOs) is coming off a breakthrough victory, a near-shutout resolution over three-time title challenger Jose Zepeda in September.

He’s now ranked by three of the 4 main sanctioning our bodies, No. 3 by the IBF. That group’s Nos. 1 and a pair of positions are vacant, which implies he’s the highest contender for Subriel Matias’ title.

Lemos (29-0, 19 KOs) is a 28-year-old from Argentina who’s greatest identified for stopping former 126-pound titleholder Lee Selby in March 2022, though he has by no means fought exterior his native nation.

Hitchins is assured issues will go properly in what he sees as a major alternative: Preventing as a headliner on a serious card.

“I really feel good, I really feel prepared for the second,” he stated. “That is what I’ve been doing my entire life. It will simply be one other day within the ring for me and selecting up one other victory. That’s what we plan to do on Saturday.

“That is large, I’m not going to lie. It’s an enormous alternative. After I first fought on a Matchroom card in Ohio (in 2022) I stated, ‘I’m imagined to be the principle occasion proper now.’ And I don’t even assume it was a yr later that I used to be headlining my first card.

“I felt Matchroom was giving alternatives to fighters that had been on a lesser degree than me, and I felt I belonged on the degree the place I used to be headlining my very own playing cards and be on the verge of a world title.

“I proved myself slowly however certainly that I belong with the elite guys within the division, and now’s the time to stamp my title within the division and within the sport.”

Hitchins doesn’t have a method that appeals to followers who crave motion. The 2016 Olympian, who competed for his mother and father’ native nation of Haiti, is a cultured technician.

He’s dedicated to the hit-and-not-be-hit strategy to boxing. That has labored for him, as all however certainly one of his victories have come by unanimous resolution or stoppage. And most observers consider his cut up resolution over veteran Argenis Mendez in 2020 ought to’ve been unanimous.

Hitchins believes he’ll win over followers along with his dominance.

“I’m a kind of fighters that individuals say, ‘Oh he’s boring,’” he stated. “However I’m additionally a kind of fighters that might field an ideal battle and never have a glove landed on me. So I really feel like that’s my motto, and I’m sticking to hitting and never getting hit, and elevating my recreation, that’s what we concentrate on in camp.

“Every part else is simply getting in form and ensuring my physique is in bodily situation to endure punishment if wanted or to go any grueling rounds if that’s what it comes all the way down to.”