IBF 140 lb. champ Richardson Hitchins has decided to vacate his title after signing with Zuffa Boxing claiming that it doesn't have anything to do with the IBF's feud with them, but rather trouble making that weight.
An interesting development Monday night, as world champ Richardson Hitchins will vacate his IBF junior welterweight title and move up to welterweight.
Hitchins' manager Keith Connolly confirmed the news to insider Dan Rafael for his Fight Freaks Unite Substack.
This move comes less than two weeks after Hitchins and super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga, also a Connolly client, signed multi-fight contracts with Zuffa Boxing. The IBF had scheduled a purse bid for Hitchins’ mandatory defense against Lindolfo Delgado for Tuesday afternoon at 12 p.m. ET, but that is obviously, now canceled.
Connolly rebuffed the notion to Rafael that the decision was made because of Zuffa Boxing’s disinterest in having fighters on its roster box for the established boxing organization titles. He added that Hitchins, whose Zuffa Boxing debut is planned for later this Summer, wants to fight in the future for sanctioning body belts and is allowed to so in his deal.
“Richardson Hitchins is vacating his IBF junior welterweight title to move up to 147 pounds. It was a tough decision for Hitchins, but he’s outgrown the weight class,” Connolly said to Rafael. “He’s been fighting at 140 since he was 16 as an amateur.
“Hitchins is an elite fighter and I truly believe he’ll be even better and stronger at welterweight and that he will be fighting for a world title at 147 in the next 12 months.”
The 28 year old Hitchins, 20-0, 8 KOs and a 2016 Haitian Olympian from Brooklyn, New York, captured the IBF 140 lb. title in December 2024 with a split-decision victory over then-undefeated Liam Paro. He has since made one successful defense, scoring a dominant eighth round knockout over former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos in June 2025. That was his final bout under his Matchroom Boxing contract.
He was set to make his second title defense against Mexico’s Oscar Duarte as the co-feature on the Mario Barrios vs. Ryan Garcia card on February 21st in Las Vegas. However, the fight was canceled after Hitchins fell ill following breakfast on the morning of the bout.
In the aftermath, the IBF ordered a mandatory defense against Top Rank’s Delgado, 24-0, 16 KOs, of Mexico. Although the fight was initially expected to proceed, Hitchins ultimately decided it was time to move up in weight.
With Hitchins vacating, Delgado is in position to fight the vacant title. Whom he would fight is unclear? The #2 in the most recent IBF rankings is vacant and the #3 is Duarte, but he has a fight scheduled against Angel Fierro on the David Benavidez-Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez undercard on May 2nd.
Still, if Duarte wins that fight and because he did nothing wrong by making the weight and then, losing out on the title shot with Hitchins in February, one could easily see a Delgado-Duarte match up for the vacant crown.