Hitchins Takes Ortiz Fight After $2M–$2.5M Fee Chaos

IBF light welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins will be fighting Jamaine Ortiz on the Teofimo Lopez vs. Shakur Stevenson card on January 31st. He had hoped to fight Keyshawn Davis, but both asked for too much money to make it happen for the Ring 6 card.

Hitchins Wanted $2.5M

Tim Bradley says the out-of-work Keyshawn asked for $2 million, while Hitchins wanted $2.5 million—a lot of money for two non-stars with thin resumes filled with non-names.

Ortiz: A Real Threat

Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) is taking a big gamble fighting Jamaine (20-2-1, 10 KOs), because he’s someone with power, speed, and mobility. It’s not going to be the same easy fight he had against journeyman George Kambosos Jr. last June.

Bradley views Keyshawn and Hitchins as two “spoiled” fighters who haven’t done enough in their careers to justify the kind of money they’re asking for.

“These guys haven’t been fighting. They got to get some money. Guess who took the fight for less? Richardson Hitchins. So, he’s going to be fighting Jamaine Ortiz on the Shakur card,” said Tim Bradley on his YouTube channel.

Hopefully, Hitchins does fight Ortiz on the January 31st card because it’ll give fans a chance to see if he’s for real or not. We know Hitchins can beat Kambosos Jr. and Liam Paro-level fighters, but he looked poor winning a controversial decision over Gustavo Lemos in April 2024. The scores were 117-111, 115-113, and 115-113. That wasn’t that long ago.

Hearn’s Gamble on Hitchins

Promoter Eddie Hearn must believe in Richardson because he revealed last night that he’s working with him again. He’s been wrong before about fighters. If Hitchins loses to Jamaine, Hearn will understand that he should have waited to see how he does against decent opposition before working with him again.

“You got Keyshawn Davis. He wants no less than $2 million to fight Hitchins. Then you got Hitchins, who wants no less than $2.5 million,” said Bradley.