The Boxing Truth®

On June 14th Brooklyn-born undefeated IBF Jr. Welterweight world champion Richardson Hitchins returned to New York City for his first title defense as the headliner of a card at The Theater inside of Madison Square Garden. For a fighter in Hitchens, who won the IBF world championship in the 140lb. Jr. Welterweight division with a twelve round split decision over Liam Paro in December of last year, to make his first title defense inside of Madison Square Garden alone was a motivator. To be in the headline position, however, a solid performance in the theater inside of Madison Square Garden, which in itself is a historic Boxing venue, would be an obvious step towards eventually headlining in the Garden’s main arena. Hitchins’ opponent also offered a dynamic of youth versus experience in the form of former two-time Lightweight world champion George Kambosos, who was no stranger to Madison Square Garden's theater having become Undisputed Lightweight champion of the world by decisionin...

On February 15th a world title elimination bout took place in the 140lb. Jr. Welterweight division to determine a number one contender in the World Boxing Organization ( WBO ) Jr. Welterweight world championship currently held by Teofimo Lopez. The bout, which took place in Manchester, England, pitted Arnold Barboza and Jack Catterall the WBO’s number one and two contenders respectively. What was refreshing about this particular encounter beyond it being one between the legitimate top two contenders meeting to determine who will be next to challenge for a world title, but it was simply a bout between two of the top fighters in the Jr. Welterweight division, which did not see any grandstanding or pre-fight hype tactics that all too often crosses the line from simply trying to draw interest in a fight to legitimately personal attacks. This was simply two of the best fighters meeting to test their skills against each other. What resulted was a tactical battle where both fighters seemed to...

In the last several weeks, the spotlight of the sport of Boxing has been firmly focused on the 140lb. Jr. Welterweight division with much of the attention on the two recent world championship fights that have taken place in the division. While those bouts for world titles and others that are referred to as being on the "World Level" internationally will always receive the majority of the attention in every division in Boxing, what sometimes gets overshadowed are those fighters around the world who are approaching that level, who are competing for championships on the regional level of the sport. Two such fighters that are preparing to meet for two regional championships in the 140lb. Jr. Welterweight division are  Dalton Smith and Sam Maxwell, who will meet on July 1st at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield, England for the British and Commonwealth Jr. Welterweight championships. A scheduled twelve round bout that can be seen globally on digital subscription sports streaming netwo...

With the landscape of the 140lb. Jr. Welterweight division in the process of transition as well as recently crowned WBO Jr. Welterweight world champion Teofimo Lopez inexplicably retiring in the days following his championship winning victory over longtime champion Josh Taylor, subsequently relinquishing the title, the storyline for Regis Prograis' defense of the WBC world championship on June 17th at the Smoothie King Center in his native New Orleans, LA against  Danielito Zorrilla represented not only a homecoming for the two-time world champion, but in light of the recent events in the division, a chance for Prograis to make a case for himself as being the top Jr. Welterweight in the world.  If the opening of this column seems like a long-winded run-on, it is, but in fairness, it may be the best way to describe the current state of the Jr. Welterweight division that frankly has seemed like a ride on a rollercoaster in recent weeks. The tongue and cheek attempt at humor of t...