The Empire State Building hosted more fireworks than Madison Square Garden may see Saturday, as George Kambosos Jr. laced into IBF super-lightweight champion Richardson Hitchins over 4,000 still-unsold seats at The Theater’s 5,600-capacity card. “New York is my hometown tonight,” the Australian jabbed, mocking the Brooklyn native’s drawing power after learning barely 1,600 tickets have moved.
Hitchins tried to shift the narrative by pressing for a $50,000 side bet but the ploy looked more like a cash-grab than bravado to Kambosos. “Your breath stinks,” he taunted, firing back that the champion will “run for it” rather than trade. Hitchins retorted that the challenger “doesn’t have a chin,” citing knockdowns Kambosos suffered against Teófimo López and Vasiliy Lomachenko.
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The trash talk amplified an already tense build-up between a once-undisputed lightweight king desperate to stay relevant and a belt-holding technician still chasing mainstream traction. Their face-off ended with Kambosos branding Hitchins’ IBF strap “trash” and demanding a replacement belt once he’s done “smoking” the New Yorker.
Whether Saturday’s box office rebounds or the theater echoes with empty seats, the simmering ticket-gate has added a fresh sub-plot: pride of place in the sport’s most storied city. When the lights go down, one man must prove he can sell more than talk.
Follow the Richardson-Hitchins event here.
Image Credit: The Ring