Hitchins falls ill, has IBF title defense vs. Duarte called off

Andreas HaleFeb 21, 2026, 05:47 PM ET

CloseAndreas Hale is a combat sports reporter at ESPN. Andreas covers MMA, boxing and pro wrestling. In Andreas’ free time, he plays video games, obsesses over music and is a White Sox and 49ers fan. He is also a host for Sirius XM’s Fight Nation. Before joining ESPN, Andreas was a senior writer at DAZN and Sporting News. He started his career as a music journalist for outlets including HipHopDX, The Grammys and Jay-Z’s Life+Times. He is also an NAACP Image Award-nominated filmmaker as a producer for the animated short film “Bridges” in 2024.

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LAS VEGAS — Richardson Hitchins’ IBF junior welterweight title defense against Oscar Duarte has been canceled due to the champion falling ill, The Ring announced on Saturday.

The fight was one of two 140-pound title fights on the “The Ring: High Stakes” card and served as the co-main event of Mario Barrios’ WBC welterweight title defense against Ryan Garcia at T-Mobile Arena.

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Brooklyn’s Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) reportedly had fallen ill shortly after making weight on Friday and was vomiting before being removed early Saturday from his second defense of the title he won back in 2024 by beating Liam Paro.

The IBF implements a rehydration clause that requires fighters to weigh no more than 10 pounds over their weight class limit. Hitchins had spoken out at Thursday’s news conference about the rehydration clause and how it affected his performance against Gustavo Lemos in April 2024, which he won by a narrow unanimous decision and looked lethargic late in the fight.

The fight gained momentum this week as Hitchins and Mexico’s Duarte (30-2-1, 23 KOs) had ramped up the trash talk. However, with Hitchins’ withdrawal fans will not be able to see the outcome of their fight. It is not known if the fight will be rescheduled for a later date or if Hitchins will opt to move up in weight.

Gary Antuanne Russell’s WBA junior welterweight title defense against Andy Hiraoka will now serve as the evening’s co-main event.