Zuffa Boxing announced on Tuesday that IBF junior welterweight champion Richardson Hitchins and super middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga have signed promotional deals with the TKO-backed promotion, adding a reigning world titleholder and a high-profile 168-pound name to a roster that has expanded aggressively since January.
The signings were confirmed through Zuffa Boxing’s official social media accounts and an accompanying press release. Both fighters are managed by Keith Connolly, who also brokered Conor Benn’s move from Matchroom to Zuffa earlier this year.
The promotion described Hitchins as joining “in the prime of his career as one of the world’s best super lightweights,” while Berlanga “will return to the ring under the Zuffa Boxing banner to reclaim his position as a top contender in the super middleweight division.”
What the Hitchins Signing Means
Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) is the most consequential addition Zuffa has made since Jai Opetaia. He is a reigning world champion at 140 pounds, the IBF’s top man in a division stacked with marketable names including WBO titleholder Shakur Stevenson and rising contender Keyshawn Davis. He is also the first fighter to sign with Zuffa after publicly weighing the IBF title risk that played out in real time during the Opetaia-Glanton situation in March, when the IBF pulled its sanctioning one day before the fight over the presence of a competing Zuffa belt. That Hitchins has now signed anyway suggests either that some resolution with the IBF has been reached behind the scenes, or that the financial terms were significant enough to outweigh the sanctioning body risk.
The IBF had ordered Hitchins to defend against mandatory challenger Lindolfo Delgado in late February. Whether that fight happens under the Zuffa banner, whether the IBF sanctions it, and whether Hitchins retains the title through this promotional shift are now among the most pressing open questions in the 140-pound division.
Berlanga Finds a Landing Spot
Berlanga (23-2, 18 KOs) arrives at Zuffa as a free agent in need of a reset. He has not fought since a fifth-round stoppage loss to Hamzah Sheeraz in July 2025, a result that followed his decision defeat to Canelo Alvarez the previous September. At 28, Berlanga remains one of the most recognizable names at 168 pounds, but his two consecutive losses against elite competition have shifted his profile from contender to rebuilding project. Zuffa’s language about reclaiming contender status signals the promotion intends to build him back through activity rather than throw him immediately into another world-level fight. The roster depth and event frequency give him a platform to do exactly that.
The Bigger Picture
Hitchins and Berlanga are the latest in a wave of signings that has reshaped Zuffa’s roster since its first Paramount+ event on January 23. The promotion now counts Callum Walsh, Jose Valenzuela, Jai Opetaia, Conor Benn, and Ivan Dychko among its fighters, with a multi-year Sky Sports broadcast deal in place for UK and Irish distribution. Zuffa has staged five events in under three months and has projected 12 to 16 cards for the full year.
The Connolly connection is impossible to ignore. Three of his clients, Benn, Hitchins, and Berlanga, have now moved to Zuffa, a pattern that has strained his relationship with Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn. Hearn has said publicly that he will not work with Connolly going forward. Whether that fracture widens or stays contained will depend in part on how many more fighters follow the same path.
Richardson Hitchins
Hitchins, 28, was born and raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and represented Haiti at the 2016 Rio Olympics before turning professional in 2017. He won back-to-back New York Golden Gloves titles as an amateur and built his pro career methodically under Matchroom, earning dominant decision wins over Jose Zepeda and Gustavo Lemos before dethroning Liam Paro for the IBF junior welterweight title in December 2024 in San Juan. He defended the belt with an eighth-round stoppage of George Kambosos Jr. in June 2025. A technically sharp, defensively responsible fighter with improving punch output, Hitchins is ranked second at 140 pounds by The Ring.
Edgar Berlanga
Berlanga, 28, was born in Brooklyn and raised between New York and Puerto Rico. He turned professional in 2018 after a decorated amateur career and generated early buzz with 16 consecutive first-round knockouts to open his pro record, a streak that drew attention and scrutiny in equal measure. Promoted initially by Top Rank and later by Matchroom, he challenged Canelo Alvarez for the WBA and WBO super middleweight titles in September 2024, losing a competitive but clear unanimous decision. His most recent outing, a stoppage loss to Sheeraz, exposed defensive vulnerabilities that he will need to address. At his best, Berlanga is a heavy-handed, physically imposing presence at 168 pounds with genuine fan appeal and a strong Puerto Rican following.
With Hitchins and Berlanga now official, Zuffa has a world champion and a name-brand contender on its books in two different weight classes, and three Keith Connolly clients under one promotional roof. How the IBF responds to Hitchins and how Berlanga is matched coming off two losses will determine whether these signings accelerate Zuffa’s trajectory or simply add depth to a roster still searching for its first signature event of 2026.
