“To be honest, Zuffa gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse. A lot of zeros,” Hitchins said. “They see my career the way I see it for myself.”
Hitchins explained that one of his biggest frustrations during his time with previous promoters at Matchroom was never being allowed to establish himself in his home market despite being one of New York’s top fighters.
“Being in a meeting with Dana White and Nick Khan, I was vocal and transparent about how I never really got promoted the way I wanted to get promoted,” Hitchins said. “You see a lot of fighters like Shakur Stevenson when they were coming up, they’d be fighting a lot on the East Coast. Boots Ennis is always on the East Coast, Philly, Atlantic City.”
“I felt like when I was with different promoters, they had me all around the United States, but never really home, around the tri-state area to build my name. Zuffa gave me their word to help me build my name, especially around my home area and eventually around the world.”
Hitchins acknowledged that Matchroom attempted to repair the relationship before he entered free agency, but negotiations ultimately stalled after a planned January bout against Jermaine Ortiz was scrapped and another proposed fight with Oscar Duarte never materialized.
“We tried to reconcile,” Hitchins said. “We spoke. We sat down. We was in agreement, and things kind of got weird.”
Hitchins will make his Zuffa Boxing debut on July 26 when he faces Ricardo Salas at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. The bout marks his first appearance since moving up to the welterweight division after vacating the IBF light welterweight title.
With Dana White and Nick Khan promising to build the promotion around recognizable stars, Hitchins believes the move finally gives him the opportunity to become a major attraction in the city where his professional career began.
