Despite that, Hitchins is already talking about Teofimo. And it’s not just Hitchins who could lose on January 31. Lopez’s fight with Shakur is one that could easily go the wrong way for him, too. There’s a realistic scenario where both Hitchins and Teofimo lose on the same night.
If that happens, the last thing Teofimo would want is another defensive, hit-and-don’t-get-hit fight against Hitchins in what would look like a losers’ bracket matchup. If Turki Alalshikh wanted to throw money at it anyway, maybe it still happens. Otherwise, it’s hard to see the appeal.
“I thought I was going to be in the ring with Teofimo after the George Kambosos fight. That’s what was on my mind. When he says, ‘Build me up more,’ I feel like it’ll be a bigger fight down the line when I’m a bigger name,” Hitchins said to Brian Custer’s channel, reacting to Lopez saying the fight doesn’t interest networks yet.
Hitchins believed Lopez would enter the ring so he could call him out after his victory over Kambosos Jr. That was never realistic.
“Right now, I’m still scratching the surface,” Hitchins said. “Everybody is calling out my name now. Everybody wants to fight me. Everybody is noticing me.”
He didn’t say who “everybody” is.
The fighters actually calling him out are the dangerous ones — the fights that come with consequences if they go wrong.
These fighters who have called out Hitchins:
- Ernesto Mercado
- Gary Antuanne Russell
- Subriel Matias
- Keyshawn Davis
Those are four of the most dangerous fighters in the division. They’re not soft touches. They’re the kind of fights that change things fast for Hitchins if he were to lose.
“When I go to the mall, wherever I’m at — even out on vacation — people are noticing who I am. Maybe next year in 2026, it’ll be a big fight,” Hitchins said about Teofimo. “I’m glad he said he would love to do it because that’s someone I’d love to get in the ring with and show the world who I say I am.”
Fans haven’t reacted well to that line of thinking. Much of the criticism online has focused on the same issue that keeps coming up — Hitchins continues to talk about Teofimo Lopez while a real fight sits right in front of him against Gary Antuanne Russell, a WBA champion who has been calling for him.
Talking about Teofimo is easy. Taking the fights that actually get you there isn’t.
