Richardson Hitson
New York, New York
Age:25
Height 5’10
Weight 140
Record:14-0 (6)
Stance: Conventional
Reach: 74 inches
Fights Scouted: Malik Hawkins, Argenis Mendez, Alejandro Munera
Richardson Hitchens- Is a long rangy boxer with excellent footwork. He fights predominantly from the midrange and long-range, and his jab is clearly his best punch and the key to his success. He seems to have better pop than his 42.9% KO percentage suggests. He is undefeated in 14 fights, winning six bouts by way of stoppage.
Strengths- Hitchens has good size and length for a 140-pounder at 5’10, he is rather tall for a 140-pounder, and his 74-inch reach is going to give him the advantage there in most fights. He fights tall and uses his long rangy jab to control distance. He goes as far as his jab takes him. Hitchens is a jabber. He stays busy with it and it sets everything up nearly everything comes off the jab. There are rarely lead right hands and left hooks. He will pick you apart in the long and mid ranges if you dont put pressure on him. He typically leads with the jab but avoids being timed and counters by mixing up-tempo and doubling and tripling up on the jab. He is very, very, sound fundamentally. Whoever taught him to fight did a really good job with the basics. He has a somewhat large base that may want to be shortened up but doesnt seem to affect his balance; he pivots well and doesnt cross his feet.
He is extremely sharp and accurate from long and mid-range and though his punchout put isn’t low, there is no wasted effort or punches. Every punch has a purpose even if it’s not thrown with tremendous pop. His pop also seems to be a bit understated due to a lower-than-great KO %. He has at least average if not above average in the right hand he just doesnt throw it enough. The power seems to be increased because he lands with such high precision accuracy he lands on the button, clean shots. He fires off clean, crisp, quick combinations.
He is extremely disciplined in his approach; he doesn’t wildly unload even when his opponent is in trouble, he stays disciplined and has a kind of wisdom beyond his years. He likes to lead more than he counters. He also has shown to be a good puncher early in his career he really attacked the body. He has seemingly moved away from the body attack as he has stepped up his level of competition. He needs to get back to the body, to break down and slow down his opponents. If he can stop you from getting on the inside he will pick you apart from the outside. He uses his punches extremely well and can cause you to shell up and drop your punch output. Defensively, you can see the Floyd Mayweather influence. He fights out of the high guard when he comes forward and will switch to the Philly shell quite often. He is quite skilled in turning his opponents to set up his shots and uses his defense to create offense and faints extremely well.
Weaknesses- there are far many more strengths than weaknesses. Most of the weaknesses are just things he needs to do more of. Like through the right hand, he needs to lead with it more often and let it go. He is very disciplined with his punches and is sometimes a bit too conservative in letting the right hand go. He needs to sit down on punches and work on the left hook. He sort of slaps with the left hook. In many ways he can be viewed as a one-fisted fighter, that’s how sparingly he uses his right hand at times. He needs to sit down and commit and deliver his shots, they are quick and sharp. He lands on the button he needs to make his opponent pay when they try to get inside. Opponents, specifically swarmers and pressure fighters will gladly take one shot to get on the inside if Hitchens isn’t sitting down on his shots. He needs to go to the body more, this was such strength on his insurance as a prospect. He has really gone away from he needs to get back to a calculated body attack.
He seems to only have one gear, there is no sense of urgency even when opponents seem to hurt. Boxing from the outside is his strength but he gets too content there are times when he can pick up but doesn’t. He seems to have a bad habit of squaring up and becoming stationary. He has also thrown in combination less as he has stepped up in competition. He has lost a bit of his aggression as he has moved up the ranks. He can box beautifully from the inside but is going to have to step on the gas at times and is going to have to bang sometimes.
Overall rating- World-class potential world champion. The skills are the. The natural ability is there. Right now without any further improvement, Hitchins can beat anyone outside of the top 10 or so 140-pounders. He is already at a world-class level He is athletic and long and rangy and combined with his discipline and fundamentals and speed is going to get him past all but the most elite fighters. To see if he can get to a world title, we need to find out how his chin holds up when checked and if he has a dog in him. How does he respond when he really gets cracked, and when a really good pressure fighter is in his grill? He has the ability to hold his own on the inside, but he has got to get back down to the body and really try and take the steam out of his opponets. He has a great ability to get his opponets to shell up from the outside and is simply better than you at long range if he can keep you at range you aren’t going to beat him. That’s his very real path to a world title. Pick up the aggression, sit down on more right hands, lead with the right hand and be able to keep fighters on the outside.
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