Richardson Hitchins looks to make noise in welterweight debut
NEW YORK – The silence inside Victory Boxing Club was noticeable enough that Edgar Berlanga interrupted his pad work to address it.
“It sounds like a fucking funeral in here,” Berlanga shouted as he moved around the ring Friday afternoon. He was wrong: funerals at least have an organ playing dirges.
There was no music playing overhead during Zuffa Boxing’s media workout in Manhattan, which means you could tell which boxers exhaled through their mouths and which ones blew through their noses while punching. That may have deprived the fighters of their usual soundtrack, but it worked in the reporters’ favor. Microphones didn’t have to compete with background noise, and videographers didn’t have to worry about their interviews being muted or flagged on YouTube because of copyright restrictions.
It was this writer’s first time covering a Zuffa media workout, and the operation moved with a pace rarely seen during fight week. Each boxer was brought into the ring, put through a brief workout and made available for interviews, with the entire process lasting about 10 minutes before the next fighter took his place. Media workouts tend to run long, with fighters showing up late and leaving media to linger around. The event was scheduled to run from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Berlanga was out of the ring following the final interview at 3:38.
Much has been made about how Zuffa Boxing, led by TKO Group Holdings, intends to distinguish itself from boxing’s old-guard promoters. Still, there were enough recognizable faces to make the event feel comfortably familiar to boxing lifers, including Tom Loeffler, the OG promoter on UFC Fight Pass who migrated his stable to Zuffa, plus veteran boxing Swiss Army knife “Viva” Sean Gibbons, who was wearing the sort of loud shirt that has become his trademark, this one emblazoned with the portrait of the fighter he represents on Sunday’s card, Ricardo Salas.
Then Richardson Hitchins stepped into the ring.
The unbeaten Brooklyn native moved briskly through his allotted time, firing sharp, compact combinations into the paddles held by longtime trainer Lenny Wilson. There was little wasted motion as Hitchins shifted his feet, pivoting as he weaved under the paddles and stuck his jab just as he intends to against Salas in their 10-round co-main event on Sunday at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. The bout will be Hitchins’ first since signing a multi-fight agreement with Zuffa Boxing in April and his first since relinquishing the IBF junior welterweight title later that month.
It will also mark his return following the most controversial episode of his professional career.
Hitchins had been scheduled to defend his IBF 140-pound title against Oscar Duarte on February 21 in Las Vegas but withdrew on the day of the fight, citing an illness. Hitchins had made the contracted weight the previous day, but his difficulties making 140 pounds — combined with the IBF’s second-day weight restrictions — had been a recurring concern.
Now, without the physical demands of squeezing his body down to the junior welterweight limit, Hitchins says he finally has the opportunity to demonstrate that his struggles were legitimate.
“I feel really, really good,” Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs), a mouth-exhaler, told The Good Fight. “Having to lose all that weight in camp and do all this extra stuff, barely drinking any water, it takes a lot out of you.
“I’m looking to make weight tomorrow, rehydrate as great as I possibly can and show everybody that what I’ve been saying about the IBF and making 140 wasn’t just excuses. Even in my previous performances, I still got it done and put on spectacular performances, but my days in that weight class were numbered.”
Wilson, who has trained Hitchins since he was 15, has observed a noticeably different fighter throughout this training camp.
“He’s not concerned about the weight,” Wilson said. “He’s confident with the weight that he’s making, as opposed to in the past, like at the Oscar Duarte fight. He always had an issue with his weight.
“Now that he’s fighting at 147, from observing him and being in training camp, the guy is ready. He’s sharp, focused and ready to go. I think the guy he’s getting ready to fight is going to realize that 147 is his weight division. After this fight, I believe he’s going to put the 147-pound division on notice.”
Salas, however, is not being presented as a ceremonial opponent for Hitchins’ welterweight introduction. The 27-year-old from Mexico City owns an upset knockout victory over heavy-handed welterweight Roiman Villa, whom he stopped in the third round in September 2024, and has been unbeaten over his last ten fights, including an eighth-round stoppage of Jesus Saracho this past March in his Zuffa debut.
“Ricardo Salas is the type of guy I love,” said Gibbons, who also represents another Zuffa fighter, Mark Magsayo. “He’s like Mauricio Lara or Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz. He had a couple early losses in his career and was floating out there in the abyss, waiting and looking for something.
“I think Salas is one of these real wild card type guys. He’s not your typical Mexican fighter. He’s from Mexico City, so they can box some. They have an A game, a B game and a C game. It just depends on how he handles the big lights, New York and walking into the Garden. If he handles the pressure, he has a great shot of winning.”
Salas insists that fighting in his opponent’s hometown on a card that appears built around the New Yorkers in the main and co-main events doesn’t intimidate him at all.
“It actually motivates me to be here. I know that I’m the B-side. I know that there are a lot of factors against me, but we’re here to dominate the division and fight,” Salas (24-2-2, 18 KOs) said through an interpreter.
“Everybody has their specific style, but I’m a warrior. I come with the traditional Mexican warrior style. I apply pressure and come forward, and that’s exactly what we’re planning on doing on the 26th. We’re coming out with the win.”
Salas believes Hitchins’ move up in weight could benefit both fighters. The 28-year-old Hitchins will no longer have to drain himself to reach 140, but Salas is the natural welterweight – who turned pro a decade ago at 158 pounds – and has already shown that he can absorb the power of a physically strong 147-pounder.
“Although he is coming up in weight and this is my natural weight, I believe he did what he needed to do to prepare for this fight, mentally and physically,” said Salas. “But so did we. We’re here to give it our all and come out with the win on the 26th.”
Hitchins expects Salas to apply pressure but warns that recklessly charging forward will only make the Mexican easier to stop, as he demonstrated when he broke down George Kambosos Jr. over eight rounds in his lone title defense last year.
“If he’s smart, he shouldn’t just come into the ring and be a warrior,” Hitchins said. “I’m going to stop him regardless, but I’m going to stop him quicker if he comes into the ring and just fights off heart, because heart will get you killed.
“I feel like the only chance he has is landing a lucky punch. If he doesn’t land that lucky punch, it’s going to be a long night. I’m in shape. I’m dialed in mentally. My weight is good, so there’s no escaping this ass-whipping.”
Hitchins nevertheless recognizes that Salas is a solid fighter, but believes he’s a level above.
“Salas is a great fighter, but I feel like I’m a pound-for-pound type of talent,” Hitchins said. “If he can present something that’s different, that’s the work I need. I’m in boxing to get better. If he can show me something different, I can come out of the ring saying, ‘I fought a guy who did this.’ It’ll be great work.”
Sunday’s appearance will also provide Hitchins with his first opportunity to fight under the Zuffa Boxing banner after months of promotional appearances alongside Berlanga, with whom he shares manager Keith Connolly. Hitchins has attended UFC events, participated in a formal press conference and even appeared at Fanatics Fest, a level of visibility he says surpasses anything he received earlier in his career.
Hitchins already has a list of fighters he would like to face if he gets past Salas, including Conor Benn and Julian Rodriguez, plus former WBA welterweight titleholder Eimantas Stanionis and former WBO welterweight titleholder Brian Norman Jr.
“I’m naming these guys’ names,” Hitchins said. “If I can’t get one of the champions, give me one of the big names. I don’t want to fight Liam Paro again – not because I’m scared of him, but because I already beat him.
“I want the best guys at 147 to prove that I’m pound for pound. In another year or two, I should be on the pound-for-pound list.”
Before any of those fights can be considered, Hitchins must first show that the version of himself he has promised at welterweight is more dangerous than the one who became a champion at 140. On Sunday, he intends to ensure his arrival at 147 makes considerably more noise than Friday’s workout did.
Ryan Songalia is a New Jersey native who has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.