Is Richardson Hitchins a “quitter”? Paro wants to find out on December 7th

Liam Paro defends his IBF light welterweight title for the first time this Saturday, December 7th against public defender Richardson Hitchins at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Paro, 28, says he’s heard that Hitchins is a “quitter” and he wants to find out if that label is true by testing him on Saturday.

(Source: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)

Paro’s first title defense

It’s an interesting venue for the Paro-Hitchins fight considering neither is Puerto Rican. Paro defeated former IBF 140-pound champion Subriel Matias by a 12-round unanimous decision on June 15 in Manati, Puerto Rico.

The Paro-Hitchins event will be broadcast live on DAZN at 7:00 p.m. ET. On the undercard, former Puerto amateur flyweight talent Yaniel Rivera (6-0, 2 KOs) faces undefeated Angel Gonzalez (14-0, 7 KOs) in a ten-round bout. Rivera, 27, could be the reason the Paro-Hitchins fight is taking place in Puerto Rico.

Hitchins, 27, did not perform well in his last fight, winning a controversial 12-round unanimous decision over Gustavo Lemos on April 6. Many people thought Hitchins had lost. What makes matters worse is that Lemos was destroyed in two rounds by Keyshawn Davis on November 8th.

“I am robustly built. It’s in me. In my last fight against Gustavo Lemos, he got something out of me that I showed the world. It was something I knew within myself, but he brought it out,” Richardson Hitchins told DAZN Boxing, speaking about his last fight on April 6th.

“I got hurt in that fight and I had to get to the next level. That was a tough fight. Since I know I could go through this, it just goes to show that you have to kill me to stop me. After he beat Matias, I was the IBF mandatory player. He had no choice but to fight me,” Richardson said of Liam Paro.

“I don’t think it was the fight he wanted, but as champion he accepted the challenge. “I’m not saying he’s scared, but as champion he has to defend his throne,” Hitchins said of Liam.

It doesn’t sound good to hear Hitchins talk about how hard it was for him to take a beating from Lemos. This performance was so bad that there should have been a rematch and it is worrying that Hitchins did not mention this during his interview.

Surrender or Warrior?

“His speech doesn’t make me burn. I know what I can do in the ring. I don’t have to try to tell people what I’m about. You know what I’m about. I have often heard from numerous people that he is a rising star. I believe that once a quitter, always a quitter. So I’ll definitely test that out and we’ll see if he’s capable of it,” Paro said of Hitchins.

Paro vs. Hitchins undercard

Henry Lebron vs. Christopher Diaz
Jalil Hackett vs. Jose Roman
William Ortiz vs. Lionel Colon
Yankiel Rivera vs. Angel Gonzalez
Marc Castro vs. Agustin Ezequiel Quintana
Stephanie Pineiro Aquino vs Ogleidis Suarez