There’s not enough action in boxing’s welterweight division, despite nice names

The welterweight division is somewhat alluring, but that won’t mean anything if the best guys aren’t fighting each other. Some of them are talking a big game but not backing it up. 

Recently, Richardson Hitchins posted a video calling out Brian Norman Jr., and then backed off saying “the higher ups” wouldn’t grant the fight their blessing, after the former champion responded that he wanted it. 

Who could forget that shameful waste of time Keyshawn Davis pulled, being offered the biggest payday of his life against Devin Haney only to back out and leave the public questioning his desire for greatness?

Ryan Garcia, who was gifted a championship fight versus Mario Barrios, taking the WBC strap, is saying he’d “beat the brakes” off Teófimo López, the latest WBA champ who seized the belt from  Rolando “Rolly” Romero on Aug. 22. Notably, López beat the man Garcia could not and who left him distraught after his second loss. 

The next intriguing fight at 147 is Garcia’s clash with Conor Benn on Sept. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that many expect him to win, considering Benn’s inferior footwork, subordinate talent and the picture posted recently of him looking like a POW.

Benn saying it will be his last fight at welterweight has Garcia believing he is suffering to lose weight. Intentional or not, that revelation is also a built-in excuse in case he loses and it has thrown a little bit of cold water on the event.

But after their fight, the buzz in the division fizzles while the public waits for a big-time fade. Maybe López, who wants to be undisputed,  steps up, taking on the winner of Garcia- Benn. There’s also the Australian IBF champ, Liam Paro, who said he believes he’d beat Lopez. 

If talk is cheap and the other sides stall on a unification, Norman is always a worthy and dangerous opponent for López, and so is the Englishman, Jack Catterall, the lesser champion of the WBA, who wants a piece of him, too.

Other Notes:

• Gervonta Davis is a lowlife fraud, pissing away his talent because he can’t keep his hands off women. On top of that, one gets secondhand embarrassment watching the body-cam footage from his July 2025 arrest as it proves he’s as dumb as they say.  He recently insulted the memory of Haney’s dead mother in an instagram post, and one wonders how that and all his recent misdeeds are in accordance with his Islamic faith, which he converted to a few years ago. 

• Of course, much of the boxing world wants to see Naoya Inoue defend his undisputed titles at 122 pounds against Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, but Junto Nakatani should be calling dibs against the pugilist from San Antonio. It’s hard to see Rodriguez risking the massive payday with Inoue by taking on Nakatani first, but if he loses to Inoue he should move on to the former Japanese champion for another enormous fight. 

• Shakur Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs) hasn’t shown public interest in fighting José “ El Rayo” Valenzuela (16-3, 10 KOs), but beating him would be a nice name on his résumé. Valenzuela just got revenge, knocking out Edwin De Los Santos in three rounds, who Stevenson got a unanimous decision against in November 2023. There are worse ways to stay busy.