Richardson Hitchins 17-0 (7) sees himself as the future of the junior welterweight division.
The 26-year-old New Yorker is coming off a career best win in December when he pitched a virtual shutout over veteran former three-time world title challenger Jose Zepeda 37-5 (28).
Hitchins will be looking to back up that victory with another win when he takes on undefeated Argentinean Gustavo ‘El Electrico’ Lemos 29-0 (19) at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night live on DAZN.
Already ranked in the top five by the WBC, WBO and IBF, Hitchins expects to be pressing for a world title shot sooner rather than later.
“I think I am a star already and superstar status comes with me promoting myself, making the best of my opportunities and getting to that superstar status,” Hitchins said on Matchroom Boxing’s Flash Knockdown podcast.
“My name is buzzing already as if I am a world champion.
“People put me in these fantasy fights like, ‘I want to see Richardson Hitchins versus Devin Haney, versus Subriel Matias’ and this is just in a year that I’ve been with Matchroom. Once I’ve had a little bit of exposure to the boxing fans, my name is on the scene.
“So I feel like slowly but surely, people are seeing my talent and that will turn me into the superstar that I want to be once I get my hands on the world championships and big fights.”
Hitchins doesn’t see anything in Lemos to trouble him.
“I feel good, I feel ready for the moment,” he said. “This is what I’ve been doing my whole life. This will just be another day in the ring for me and picking up another victory. That’s what we plan to do on Saturday.
“This is big, I’m not going to lie. It’s a huge opportunity. When I first fought on a Matchroom card in Ohio (in 2022) I said, ‘I’m supposed to be the main event right now’. And I don’t even think it was a year later that I was headlining my first card.
“I felt Matchroom was giving opportunities to fighters that were on a lesser level than me, and I felt I belonged at the level where I was headlining my own cards and be on the verge of a world title.
“I proved myself slowly but surely that I belong with the elite guys in the division and now is the time to stamp my name in the division and in the sport.”
Hitchins, a pure boxer, is well aware that some people consider his style boring. The 2016 Olympian, who represented his parent’s country of Haiti, says that doesn’t bother him. He expects to be able to win over fans with his slick boxing and clever defence.
“I’m one of those fighters that people say, ‘oh he’s boring’,” he admitted. “But I’m also one of those fighters that could box a perfect fight and not have a glove landed on me. So I feel like that’s my motto and I’m sticking to hitting and not getting hit, and elevating my game, that’s what we focus on in camp.
“Everything else is just getting in shape and making sure my body is in physical condition to endure punishment if needed or to go any gruelling rounds if that’s what it comes down to.”