Zuffa Boxing
Richardson Hitchins Wants To Make Up For Lost Time | Zuffa Boxing 09
Former Super Lightweight World Champion Has Moved Up To 147 Pounds, And Plans On Putting The Welterweight Division On Notice.
Richardson Hitchins is a man on the move, and he’s ready to make an impact in a brand new weight class. After capturing world championship gold as a super lightweight, Hitchins has signed with Zuffa Boxing and has announced that he will compete in the welterweight division moving forward.
The promotional move was a simple decision for Hitchins to make, as he explained.
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“It’s just the promotional company believing in me as a fighter,” he said. “They want to put just their real effort into me, and it really wasn't hard. I feel like Zuffa is the company that's gonna take over boxing, so I want to be a part of that… Everything been great, just like every other fight week. A lot more promotion, though, [compared with] other times I competed. But that’s what comes with the game. Zuffa have started off the relationship great, bringing us home.”
The promotional change is just one of the changes Hitchins has made. The other is equally significant, with the 28-year-old opting to vacate his super-lightweight world championship in order to move up to the welterweight division. Hitchins is already feeling the benefits of the move.
Richardson Hitchins Fight Week Interview | Zuffa Boxing 09
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Richardson Hitchins Fight Week Interview | Zuffa Boxing 09
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“Physically, camp’s been great,” he said. “Making weight has been a lot easier than it has been at 140 through the past years. So I feel stronger, I feel sharper, and just overall great.”
With a perfect 20-0 (8 KOs) record and now at a weight class he feels will allow him to perform at his best, “Africa” feels like he’s entering his fighting prime.
“Oh, I'm gonna perform great,” he said. “I'm gonna have energy to go the whole fight three times, back-to-back, if I had to. So I’m gonna be in great shape. I’m already in great shape, but my conditioning, plus me not having to suck down is gonna come together, and it’s gonna go great.”
His first test at 147 pounds comes in the Zuffa Boxing 09 co-main event, where he’ll take on 24-2 contender Ricardo Salas.
“He's a good fighter,” said Hitchins. “He's gonna come, he’s gonna be tough, and yeah, I feel like he's he's young, he's explosive, he's in his prime, just like me. So there’s no excuses. He’s at his best. I’m at my best… [I plan on showing] everything I've been showing my whole career. Just pure boxing skills, great defense, sharp boxing, and going out there and proving I'm one of the best pure boxers in the sport of boxing.”
After a period of relative inactivity, Hitchins is keen to get much more active under the Zuffa Boxing banner, and after Sunday night’s promotional debut, he plans on adding a second fight to his Zuffa Boxing resumé later this year.
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“I want to get back in the ring before the year is over,” he said. “Fight some of the best fighters, whether they're a Zuffa fighter or whether they’re with another promotional company. Just getting the rounds in, getting experience in, and catching back up to my career.
"Through my career, I had a lot of long layoffs with my past promoters, and even this past year, looking to see who I was gonna sign with, and eventually, eventually having to pull out of my last fight and move up to a new weight class [and], drop my world championship. So [I’m] just trying to get back in rhythm. That's really what I'm looking to do.”
Many already know what Richardson Hitchins is capable of, but now, in a new weight class, the New Yorker is ready to take over a new division, and he signed off his conversation with UFC.com by putting the rest of the 147-pound class on notice ahead of his arrival.
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“[It’s] just a wake-up to the division that I am who I say I am,” he stated. “Richardson Hitchins is here at the welterweight division, and I will take over this whole division.”
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