Hitchins Calls Out Haney For Saudi Showdown

Richardson Hitchins said today on social media that he wants to fight Devin Haney in Saudi Arabia if he’s no longer fighting Teofimo Lopez. Hitchins (19-0, 7 KOs) first needs to get his title defense of his IBF light welterweight title out of the way against George Kambosos Jr. on June 14th.

(Credit: Matchroom Boxing)

“If Teo is not fighting Haney anymore after I f*** KamBOZO Up, I’ll fight Haney in Saudi. Hit my f**** line,” said Richardson Hitchins on X, calling out Devin Haney.

Haney vs. Hitchins Marketability

It’s questionable whether a fight between Haney and Hitchins would be a marketable event. Despite holding the IBF title, Hitchins isn’t well enough known by casual boxing fans for a fight between him and Haney to sell on PPV. Haney would likely reject a fight against Hichins, viewing it as a high-risk, low-reward matchup.

The only way it would make sense is if Turki Alalshikh were willing to finance the fight. It would be an interesting fight for a co-feature on Alcatraz, but definitely not the headliner.

Hitchins is getting ahead of himself because he still has Kambosos to beat. After that, Richardson has his IBF mandatory fight, which is due against Subriel Matias. Unless Hitchins can pay Matias a step aside, he’s going to have to defend against him next. He’s been avoiding Matias for ages, and now he can’t do it any longer because he’s his mandatory.

Haney Lopez Fight Drama

Haney (32-0, 15 KOs) had hoped to fight Lopez next on August 16th, but that clash is in jeopardy after Teofimo was reportedly “fired” by Turki Alalshikh yesterday. It was believed that it was going to finance the fight.

Yesterday, Devin posted on X, saying, “I’ll handle him [Teofimo],” and tagged Turki Alalshikh. That fight isn’t likely to happen with Teofimo’s insults of Alalshikh on social media. Today’s trolling of Turki by Lopez took the cake, with him making gay jokes. That post may have permanently burned the bridge for Teofimo with Turki.