Richardson Hitchins (20-0, 7 KOs) took IBF light welterweight champion Liam Paro (25-1, 15 KOs) to school, winning a 12-round split decision on Saturday night at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente, San Juan, Puerto Rico. The scores were 117-111 for Paro, 116-112, and 116-112 for Hitchins.
Hitchins took over from the fifth round, connecting with pinpoint right hands and making Paro look basic.
Undercard results
– Super featherweight Henry Lebron (20-0, 10 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a 10-round unanimous decision victory over veteran Christopher Diaz (29-5, 19 KOs). The judges’ scores were 97-93, 97-93 and 96-94. Lebron was on the run most of the fight, hitting and moving. He did look comfortable taking the hard right hands from Diaz to the head in rounds 3, 6, 8, and 10.
Lebron was cut in the forehead from a clash of heads in round eight. He’d been bleeding from the mouth from the six and looked like he wanted no part of Diaz. Not an entertaining fight on Lebron’s side.
– Unbeaten flyweight Yaniel Rivera (7-0, 3 KOs) destroyed Angel Gonzalez (14-1, 7 KOs) by a fourth-round knockout; Rivera dropped the overmatched Gonzalez three times in the fight. The first knockdown came in round three with a powerful right hook. There are two more knockdowns in round four.
The referee, Luis Pabon, halted the contest after the second knockdown. Gonzalez had mostly been holding from the third round, trying to survive, and looked dispirited.
– Lightweight Agustin Ezequiel Quintana (21-2-1, 13 KOs) started slow but then came on late to upset Marc Castro (13-1, 8 KOs) by a ten-round split decision. The Argentinian Quintana, 28, had the crowd on his side in the eighth and ninth, landing clean shots that appeared to stun Castro.
In the early stages, Castro controlled the fight with his nonstop punching, but he was tired by the seventh round, allowing Quintana to come on to get the better of him. The judges’ scores were 97-93 for Quintana, 96-94 for Castro, and 96-94 for Quintana.
The Aussie Paro (25-0, 15 KOs) will be trying to stay on top against a very different type of fighter in the highly skilled Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs), who have the speed, size and technical skills advantage in this fight.
Paro, 28, is a blue-collar type of fighter. He’s not a great talent, but he uses tactics to compensate for his lack. In his recent win over the boogeyman of the 140-lb division, Subriel Matias, Paro held frequently, pushed off, and moved to win a 12-round unanimous decision earlier this year.
It wasn’t pretty to watch, but Paro got the win. Some fans believe he should have had point deductions taken away for the holding, pushing, and rabbit punches that he used against Matias. It’s too late now. It’ll be interesting to see if Paro uses the same tactics tonight against Hitchins.
The Brooklyn, New York native Hitchins won a controversial 12-round unanimous decision over Gustavo Lemos in his last fight on August 6th. It was an equally ugly performance as Paro’s last fight and not very entertaining. The Eddie Hearn-promoted Hitchins won, though, and he is challenging for a world title tonight.
