He’ll fight for the first time under the Zuffa Boxing banner and move up from 140 to 147 pounds when he faces Ricardo Salas in a 10-round welterweight bout in the co-main event of Zuffa Boxing 09 on Paramount +. The card is headlined by a 10-round super middleweight bout between Edgar Berlanga and Steven Butler at Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Hitchins feels the move to welterweight was long overdue.

“Way better and way stronger,” Hitchins told The Ring on how he feels moving up to welterweight. “That's my man body. I feel more durable, and I just feel overall great, conditioning-wise, everything. ... The weight cut is not as hard. The workouts don't be as taxing on the body, because at 140, some days I would have to do extra things when I should be resting a lot more. Now, at 147, I'm able to rest a lot more [and] just be better as a fighter. I think that it plays a big part in my training camp right now.

Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) won the IBF 140-pound title in December 2024 when he beat Liam Paro by split decision. The 28-year-old from Brooklyn defended the title once, beating former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos by eighth-round stoppage in June 2025, then was scheduled to face Oscar Duarte on Feb. 21.

Hitchins made weight but was battling an illness, although he doesn’t know whether the weight cut played a role in his health. He also had to make weight on the morning of the fight because of the IBF’s 10-pound rehydration clause, which prohibits fighters from weighing more than 10 pounds above the division limit.

Having campaigned with the IBF by fighting for the sanctioning body's secondary belts and in title eliminators, he noted the rehydration clause created another set of challenges beyond making 140 pounds.

“It was all a mission on its own,” Hitchins said. “Having to make weight, having to do an IBF rehydration clause. I've been on the IBF rehydration clause for years now, even before I was a world champion, because I was campaigning with the IBF, even with the ranking belts and stuff like that.

"I was on the IBF rehydration clause for some time. It was definitely difficult to make weight. Making a 140 weight was one thing, but having to hold the 10 pounds was another.” The illness didn’t subside after he made weight on fight day, which prompted Hitchins and his team to withdraw from the fight. “I had to do what’s best for me and my career and not step into the ring,” Hitchins said. “I just look at it as if someone is gonna beat me, they're gonna beat me at my best and not beat me when I know I'm not at my best. It's a sad case. A lot of money was spent at camp on both sides, but at the end of the day, things happen in boxing. All I have to do is move forward and show the world that I was supposed to move up to 147 a long time ago.”

Hitchins added that he’s open to facing Duarte in the future at 144 pounds.

Now, Hitchins enters the mix in a welterweight division that suddenly has much more juice compared to this time last year. Devin Haney (WBO), Ryan Garcia (WBC) and Rolando Romero (WBA) hold three of the four titles. Paro is the IBF champion.

Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs, 1 NC) will face Conor Benn (25-1, 14 KOs) on Sept. 12, while Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) will make his first title defense against former two-division champion Teofimo Lopez (22-2, 13 KOs) on Aug. 22.

Former titleholder Brian Norman Jr., Jack Catterall and former lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis moving up adds to the intrigue at 147 pounds.

“I think the glamour division now is 147,” Hitchins said.

Among the crop of names, Haney (33-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC) is the one Hitchins hopes to face the most. Haney, 27, has been mandated by the WBO to face Davis (15-0, 10 KOs, 1 NC) with purse bids set for July 27 at the sanctioning body’s headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“He’s one of the biggest names in the sport,” Hitchins said of Haney. “I feel like beating him would put me on the pound-for-pound list.”

Any hopes of entering the conversation with the top welterweights in the world will depend on him getting past Salas (24-2-2, 18 KOs). The 27-year-old Mexican enters the fight having won six straight in a row and eight of his last 10, with the two exceptions being majority draws.