Richardson Hitchins Still Searching for His Next Fight

Richardson Hitchins holds a belt at 140 pounds. January 2026 arrived without a signed opponent, or a confirmed date. Talks happen. Names get mentioned. Nothing sticks. The title still sits there, but it is a waiting game, and waiting is starting to say more about where Hitchins stands than the championship itself.

He remains the titleholder, but the division hasn’t given him much to work with. Early noise around Jamaine Ortiz went nowhere. Oscar Duarte surfaced as a more realistic target, mostly because he brings action and fewer complications. Even that hasn’t been finalized. No venue. No announcement. Duarte makes sense on paper, but paper doesn’t book fights.

Junior Welterweight Offers Few Answers

The 140-pound division has slowed to a crawl for Hitchins. He hasn’t ruled out a defense or a unification, but neither looks close. The weight class holds fighters, not fights. His commitment to staying there feels conditional now, tied to whether the division can generate something real. If it can’t, the belt becomes a technicality.

A move to welterweight sits in front of him. That shift would mean giving up control for exposure, trading comfort for a busier landscape. Hitchins understands the calculation. Staying at 140 only works if the division responds, and so far it hasn’t.

Big Names Stay Out of Reach

Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney remain at the top of Hitchins’ target list, but those fights exist in theory, not negotiation. Lopez has other business to handle, and Haney’s direction stayed unclear through 2025 after complications that included Mario Barrios drawing with Manny Pacquiao and shifting attention across the division.

Hitchins and Haney have traded words online, but that hasn’t produced anything concrete. No contracts follow social media exchanges. No dates follow call-outs. The back-and-forth generates attention, not progress.

For now, Hitchins needs movement more than he needs talk. A title defense, a stay-busy fight, or one final appearance at 140 before moving up would all answer questions that statements can’t. Until something gets signed, his path stays open and his belt stays quiet.