Ricky Hatton retained his recognized Jr. Welterweight world-title with an eleventh round stoppage over former IBF belt holder Paulie Malignaggi after Malignaggi’s trainer Buddy McGirt at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The heavily pro-Hatton crowd booed as Paulie Malignaggi entered the ring and erupted as “The Hitman” entered in his Ricky “Fatton” alter-ego gear. With two of the best trainers in each corner, Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Buddy McGirt, one would expect to see many adjustments throughout the fight. The early rounds saw Hatton pressing the action but Paulie keeping him at bay with his jab and a few hooks. Hatton landed a ferocious right hook that almost dropped Malignaggi in the second round. Hatton continued to press the action for the next few rounds, landing shots while Malignaggi attempted to jab and tie Hatton up. Paulie seemed to eek out a few close rounds in the middle by constantly flicking his jab in Hatton’s face.
Rounds 7, 8, 9, 10 were dominated by Hatton. He landed the more meaningful punches while Paulie seemed content to throw a jab and clinch. Round 11 saw more of the same. Paulie seemed to be fighting not to get knocked out and was receiving too much pressure from Hatton. Malignaggi’s cornerman Buddy McGirt waved the white towel only :28 seconds into the round. Malignaggi drops to 25-2 while Hatton improves to 45-2.
In the lone middleweight bout of the night, the highly ranked James Kirkland came out with fury as he pressed and backed Brian Vera. From the first bell, it was evident that Kirkland was the faster, stronger man. Kirkland dropped Vera early in the second with a left hook and continued to press attempting to end the fight. Vera fought valiantly before being dropped again to end the round. The next three rounds were more of the same as Kirkland landed big shots but Vera did not give up, landing counter rights of his own. Brian Vera was a very game fighter, taking what seemed like hundreds of big shots, mostly up top, and throwing back. In the eight round, Vera finally caved and fell from a body head combination. He got up and tired to fight on, but the referee, Vic Drakulich, stopped the fight with 1:45 left in the round for fear Vera was taking too much punishment. James “The Mandingo Warrior” Kirkland improves his record to 24-0 while Vera drops only his second fight, and goes to 16-2.
The younger brother of Ricky Hatton, “Magic” Matthew Hatton, saw action on the under card (as he usually does) against a formidable foe in Ben Tackie. The first five rounds saw Hatton pressing the action, throwing punches in bunches and landing the majority of his shots. Tackie was more workman like picking his spots and attempting to land bombs. The fifth round saw a change as Hatton began to retreat with Tackie becoming the aggressor. Hatton, still throwing and landing more, was momentarily stunned early in the ninth round but managed to make his way to the end. Tenth and final round was a slugfest ending with Hatton landing big punches en route to a unanimous decision win, 98-92 on 2 cards and 97-93 on the other. Hatton moves to 35-5-1 and Tackie drops to 29-11-1.
One of the most anticipated fights of the night featured Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista against Heriberto Ruiz in a super bantamweight fight. Bautista, the favorite, saw much pressure from Ruiz from the onset of the fight. The first round saw numerous exchanges with Ruiz doing most of his damage to Bautista’s body. The third round was filled with action. Bautista suffered a cut over his right eye from a clash of heads. Shortly after, Bautista was floored from a left hook. He got up and ended the round. The fourth was more of the same, Ruiz continued to dominate but mixing up his attack going back and forth from upstairs to the body. The only saving grace for Rey seemed to be the 5th round where he became more aggressive; seemingly due to Ruiz taking a break. The final three rounds Ruiz knew he had the fight in the bag so he slowed up, still landing punches that counted. Bautista looked overmatched the entire fight and the score cards reflected this. Bautista falls to 26-2 while Ruiz wins the UD 77-73, 78-72, and 80-70, all for Ruiz who improves his record to 40-7-2
The fourth bout of the night pitted two somewhat seasoned welterweights against each other, Sirimongkol Singwancha and Rogelio Castaneda. One of the closer fights of the night, the now 60-2 Singwancha won on two scorecards 78-74 and 80-72, while scoring a draw of 76-76 on the third.
In another one sided affair, this time from the junior welterweight division, Danny Garcia and Adam Hernandez battled. Garcia, now 10-0, won on all three scorecards 59-52. Both fighters were deducted a point for low blows, Garcia in the 5th and Hernandez in the 6th.
From the onset of the bout between lightweights Adrian Broner and Terrance Jett, it was apparent where the fight was going. Bonner, coming into the fight undefeated in his young career proved just why. Bonner planted Jett twice on the canvas in the first round but seemed to carry him until the sixth where he finished him off 33 seconds into the round. Broner is now 4-0 with Jett falling to 4-12-2.
In the first fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, lightweights Hylon Williams and Ramon Flores met up in a four-rounded, one-sided affair. Williams proved to be too much for a game Flores, winning all four rounds on each of the judges scorecards. Williams is now 6-0 while Flores drops to 2-4-1.