Undefeated former junior welterweight world champion Richardson Hitchins made a successful Zuffa Boxing welterweight debut by dominating and picking apart Ricardo Salas to win a wide unanimous decision.
Fighting in the 10-round co-main event at the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, and live on Paramount+, Hitchins showed there truly are “levels to this” in boxing, by making easy work of the normally formidable IBF No. 7- and WBO No. 11-ranked Salas (24-3-2, 18 KOs)
In possession of one of boxing’s best jabs and a wealth of elite-level skills, IBF No. 3- and WBA No. 5-ranked Hitchins, (21-0, 8 KOs), of Crown Heights, Brooklyn kept his distance and picked the game Salas apart at will with effective movement and blazing fast hands.
28-year-old Hitchins, who vacated his title in April, signed with Zuffa Boxing and announced a move up to welterweight, never struggled and probably could have brought the fight to an early end, but chose instead to pitch a wide shutout on the cards (100-90 from all three judges), staying in command with little to no effective return fire from Salas.
Hitchins revealed he had suffered a hand injury after the contest.
Mexico’s Salas, who hadn’t lost since 2022 and had stopped five of his last six opponents, tried gamely to trap Hitchins along the ropes and go to work, but didn’t have the tools or the foot speed to compete with one of boxing’s current best. The ringside physician examined Salas’ damaged eyes before round nine.
“That’s what you call beautiful boxing,” said Hitchins after the fight. “The guy was tough. It was a fight that fans said I didn’t want to take, against a pressure-fighting Mexican, so I showed what I can do. I boxed. I stood on the inside, and I did what I had to do, so onto the next.
“I hurt my hand in the sixth or seventh round. I mean, I hurt my hand in camp, but it didn’t really hurt in the first two rounds. But then, I caught him with a good shot with my right hand, and my hand started hurting, so I didn’t really want to keep sitting down on shots, and make the later rounds difficult, so I said, ‘Okay, let me just cruise through it.’”
