Richardson Hitchins boasted on social media today, calling himself “The best in the world.” IBF light welterweight champion Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) has yet to prove himself as being anywhere near the best on the planet at 140.

Richardson’s recent eighth-round knockout of George Kambosos Jr. wasn’t a big enough win to give him the status as the “best in the world” in that division. In a recent interview, Hitchins said he wanted to fight WBO 140-lb champion Teofimo Lopez in a unification.

Hitchins’ True Title Reign Test

Richardson can’t prove he’s the best in the world at 140 if he’s just focused on money and unwilling to fight these top fighters:

• Gary Antuanne Russell: WBA
• Subriel Matias: WBC
• Alberto Puello
• Oscar Duarte
• Ernesto Mercado

THE BEST IN THE WORLD 🌍

— Richardson Hitchins (@HeIsRichardson) August 13, 2025

If Hitchins can’t get Teofimo, he’s open to moving up to 147 to fight Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, Manny Pacquiao, or Brian Norman Jr. In other words, he wants just the big-money fights that would pay millions.

Without Turki Alalshikh getting involved, Richardson Hitchins’ chances of getting fights against any of those fighters are virtually nonexistent. He probably wasn’t serious about wanting to fight WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. unless Turki was going to offer him the same kind of money that Haney, Ryan Garcia, and Teofimo got last May at Times Square in New York.

The best solution to Hitchins’ problem is to stay at 140, and focus on defending his IBF title against the best contender he can get. That would be someone like Puello or Mercado. Those guys would jump at the chance to fight Hitchins if he were to offer them the fight. He might not want to. We saw how Gustavo Lemos came close to beating Hitchins last year with the pressure he put on him. Mercado and Puello are capable of doing a lot more.