Hitchins Rejects Jamaine Ortiz Fight — Fifth Turn-Down in a Row

Richardson Hitchins has reportedly declined a fight against 140-lb contender Jamaine Ortiz for the January 31, 2026, ‘The Ring 6’ event on DAZN.

Hitchins Says No to Ortiz

Jamaine (20-2-1, 10 KOs) joins a growing list of top-level fighters that Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) has turned down for a fight. It’s no surprise he doesn’t want to fight Ortiz, as he’s a great talent who gave Teofimo Lopez and Vasily Lomachenko huge problems in their fights.

Boxing insider, Dan, broke the news on X of Hitchins turning down a fight against Jamaine Ortiz. That’s a disappointment. This would have been an excellent addition to the Teofimo Lopez vs. Shakur Stevenson event on DAZN at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

List of Callouts Keeps Growing

• Jamaine Ortiz
• Keyshawn Davis
• Ernesto ‘Tito’ Mercado
• Gary Antuanne Russell
• Subriel Matias

Is Hitchins Waiting on a Payday?

It’s unclear who Hitchins is waiting on. For him to have turned down five fights that would have increased his popularity suggests that he’s hoping that a big-name fighter will fall into his lap. We’ll see if the tooth fairy will bring him a popular mega-million payday fight that he’s likely hoping for.

Hitchins hasn’t fought since knocking out George Kambosos Jr. in the eighth round on June 14, 2025. That was the one in which Richardson blindsided his promoter, Eddie Hearn, announcing inside the ring that he was a promotional free agent.

Turki Hopes That Never Came

By announcing the ring after his victory, Hitchins may have expected a storm of promoters to want to scoop him up, or for Turki Alalshikh to get interested. It hasn’t worked out that way.

Jamaine is like a better version of Shakur. If you add power, hand speed, combination punching, and outstanding mobility, you get Ortiz. He’s a more advanced fighter than Stevenson in my book. The difference is he doesn’t post nonstop on X, and he’s been more willing to take risky fights than Shakur. Ortiz doesn’t go looking for fights against guys like Josh Padley.