Matchmaker Kevin Rooney Jr says that this weekend’s fight at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, broadcast live on DAZN, promises fireworks with the match between Richardson Hitchins, 19-0 (7), and George Kambosos Jr, 22-3 (10) for the IBF 140lb title.
Speaking to The Independent from New York, Rooney said that Hitchins had taken on board criticism of his previous fighting style and had switched it to something that was more exciting and fan friendly.
Rooney said: “This is a good fight. There’s enough personal animosity between the two of them, and I think Richardson is up for this. The knock against him is that sometimes he’s just not exciting. But if you look at his performance at Madison Square Garden against John Bauza, that was one of the most-exciting fights he’d ever had.”
He added: “He got a lot of flak after his fight against Zepeda, so me and Eddie Hearn sat down to talk to him. We told him that his style is not going to gain him any fans.”
Hitchins, explained Rooney, attempted to emulate Floyd Mayweather Jr in style when he was making his way up.
“He came up with that way of thinking of hitting but not being hit, but I think he’s realised that while that’s great for your health, it’s not going to get you the fights that you want or make the money that you want by becoming a superstar. It’s not just about winning, but that he has to win and look exciting.”
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Kambosos, Rooney said, is in a different position.
“This,” he said, “is George’s last chance to do something big. He can’t afford to get another loss. He’s made good money and been at the highest levels, but I don’t think he would fight on if he loses.”
He adds: “This is George’s opportunity to be a two-weight world champion. That’s huge, so he’s been in Montreal to train, away from his family. And, stylistically, this is going to be a good, fun fight. George will come forwards and Richardson will sit down, thinking that he can’t get hurt and so he’ll abandon that safety-first style.”
Elsewhere on the card, Rooney said that Andy Cruz, 5-0 (2), was a good prospect to watch, saying that Cruz’s ascent had been done at a much-quicker pace than normal. The reason for that, said Rooney, is that Cruz is not a normal prospect.
On Saturday, Cruz fights Hironori Mishiro, 17-1-1 (6), over twelve rounds.
Looking ahead to what else is coming up on DAZN in the next few months, Rooney said that the rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois, set for 19 July, was an interesting proposition. The pair first met nearly two years ago in Wroclaw, Poland, in a fight that Usyk won by stoppage in the ninth round.
“It’s an interesting one,” he said. “Daniel is a man possessed right now. The charge from before was that he was thought to lack heart. But now something has clicked and he seems to be a man on a mission. Look at the fight with Hrgovic – he was in there with a big, strong, heavy puncher who was hitting him with right hand after right hand, and Daniel was completely unfazed.”
On the other side of the ring will be reigning and lineal heavyweight champion Usyk. At 38 years old and being a natural cruiserweight, Usyk has so far remained undefeated in what is arguably a golden age for heavyweight boxing.
“He’s a mastermind,” says Rooney, “at what he’s able to do. He also gets better when it comes to rematches. But what it may come down to is that Usyk is a relatively small heavyweight [Usyk tends to weigh between 221lbs and 226lbs for fights, while Dubois comes in between 235lbs and 240lbs], and Daniel is a big, massive strong heavyweight.”
Rooney shrugged when asked about Jake Paul.
“From a personal standpoint,” he said, “I was upset about the Mike Tyson thing. Mike was old. But Paul is a mastermind when it comes to marketing and guiding his career. People were asking me before that fight who would win, and I said Jake Paul. People really thought they were seeing the old Mike Tyson, but he was a grandfather!”
He went on: “Look, Jake Paul is just getting started, but he takes the craft seriously. He’s come in with no amateur experience, and that’s fine. He’s headlining shows against guys that are no risk to him. But going from there to Canelo would be delusional. I wonder if he believes that or he’s just trying to sell tickets.”
Paul’s opponent on 28 June will be Julio César Chávez Jr, who fought for the middleweight championship of the world in 2012 against Sergio Martinez. Chávez, despite his 54-6-1 (34) record, is probably more famous for being the ‘Son of the Legend’.
Rooney wondered what version of Chávez would turn up – the one who fought Sergio Martinez over twelve rounds or the undisciplined one who has seemed in recent years just happy to turn up for a paycheque.
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Rooney said: “The fight between Paul and Chávez is interesting. Chávez was a real fighter once, although he’s not been that for a long time. The criticism of him is that he doesn’t train and is lazy. Then there’s the other issues over the years. The question is how much is left and how much does he want to win. Is he there for a paycheque or is it a real fight?”
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