Eddie Hearn now has a transparent path to make a unification fight between IBF 140-lb champion Richardson Hitchins and WBO champ Teofimo Lopez next. Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis has decided he doesn’t want to face Teofimo in a title defense of his IBF welterweight belt. He says he’d somewhat give attention to unifying at 147.
Hitchins vs. Teofimo: A Realistic Matchup
Matchroom promoter Hearn should contact Bob Arum, Teofimo’s boss at Top Rank, and check out to barter a fight. It’s the most effective available contest for Teofimo (21-1, 13 KOs) because he’s not going to get the Terence Crawford match he’s been asking for.
Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) captured the IBF 140-lb title with a 12-round split decision win over Liam Paro last Saturday night at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Eddie Hearn-promoted Hitchins looked excellent, beating Paro by the scores 116-112, 116-112 for Paro, and 117-111 for Paro.
Teofimo would should want the fight with Hitchins because he may select to not take the match if he feels it’ll be a difficult one or a fight he could lose.
“He said he wants Teofimo Lopez. That’s a reasonably large fight in Recent York City. Teofimo and Hitchins are each Recent Yorkers, each champions at 140 lbs,” said Chris Mannix on YouTube. “I believe Teofimo-Hitchins is a way more realistic fight [than Jaron Ennis vs. Teofimo].
“I believe that’s a fight that Top Rank could financially placed on. Teofimo is clearly the A-side in a fight like that. He would get the majority of the cash, and would get the A-side billing. Despite the fact that Hitchins is a title holder, he’s not that expensive.
“You’ll be able to do a fight with Teofimo and Hitchins. Put it on ESPN. In the event that they don’t need to put it on ESPN, Eddie Hearn could put it on DAZN. That fight makes quite a bit more sense. That’s an interesting clash of styles, similar to Paro and Hitchins. Teofimo is more of a come-forward guy. Hitchins is more of a classic boxer.
It’s obviously not the huge fight that Teofimo wants against Jaron Boots Ennis, Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, or Crawford, but it surely is pretty much as good because it gets for him.
“Who wins out? Teofimo has quite a bit more pop than Liam Paro. That’s a really interesting fight at 140. That’s a fight I would like to see Teofimo win. Not something like Boots Ennis,” said Mannix.
“Hitchins, nobody gives him credit for his power, but I do. I could hear it, and I could see it. He doesn’t commit to combos,” said Sergio Mora. “The pot-shotting. You may hear it, and you possibly can see the respect he’s getting from his opponents. I could see it within the face of Paro after the second half of the fight. He was a defeated fighter.”
