This Saturday superstar and British icon Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton, 43-1 (31), returns to his home of Manchester in the United Kingdom for his first appearance since suffering his first defeat by 10th round TKO to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last December. Hatton will face Mexican Juan “The Hispanic Causing Panic” Lazcano, 37-4-1 (27), at the City of Manchester Stadium before an expected 55,000 fans in a fight for the IBO/Ring Magazine light welterweight titles.
The fight will be Hatton’s first in the UK in three years and will be broadcast in the United States on Versus, beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. (Check your local listings for broadcast times. In the East there is an evening replay at 10 p.m.)
The co-main event features IBF light welterweight belt holder Paulie Malignaggi, 24-1 (5), in a rematch against former titlist Lovemore N’Dou, 46-9-1 (31). N’Dou lost his title to Paulie in June 2007 by unanimous decision and is exercising his return bout option in the contract.
Malignaggi’s name is the one that pops up most frequently as Hatton’s next opponent. While he couldn’t crack an egg with his fists, Malignaggi is a slickster who should win this one once again by points, and is an early 10-1 favorite.
But Paulie might just need a bit more than a mundane, pedestrian walk over to build up fan interest for a fight with Hatton. He’s already being categorized as broadcast poison because of his lack of power. In his last outing he had a tough fight with Herman Ngoudjo, getting wobbled a couple of times as he won a close decision.
Malignaggi’s main claim to fame is that he got pummeled by Miguel Cotto, and somehow finished the fight even with a broken jaw. So he could use an impressive victory to make the case that he is Hatton-worthy. A lackluster performance, even with a victory, won’t encourage fans to buy tickets, and since HBO just signed the Hitman to a huge three fight deal, they won’t want to waste their investment on a turkey shoot.
N’Dou is a decent second tier fighter but he was practically shut out on all cards in the first Malignaggi fight, and there’s no reason to believe that he will fare any better because the fight is overseas.
As for Hatton, he should be credited for getting back on the horse so soon after being starched by Floyd. Previously unbeaten, he certainly must have needed some recovery time emotionally and whether six months did the trick is what we will find out.
However, it is to Hatton’s distinct advantage that Lazcano will be entering his back yard, 55,000 strong, and those crazy Hatton-ites should get the champion pumped up.
And, I must say, the concept of promoting the fight as “Homecoming,” as opposed to “Comeback,” offers the illusion of the returning, conquering hero rather than a pug coming off a knockout loss.
I guess the question is whether Lazcano has the skills to be a realistic challenger. The odds makers don’t think so. Hatton is running around a 10-1 and up favorite.
Lazcano’s last fight, a unanimous decision loss to Vivian Harris in a WBC title eliminator, was 15 months ago. At 33, he might be getting a bit long in the tooth for advanced competition in the lower weights and the inactivity will not work in his favor. Between 2005 and 2006, Juan fought four times, winning each one after a loss to Jose Luis Castillo for the vacant WBC lightweight title in June 2004. But after the loss to Harris in February 2007 -nada.
I would say that the Hatton team scouted out their comeback opposition well.
Hatton is quite arguably the only fighter in the game today who could draw 55,000 fans to a fight, particularly when you consider that Lazcano is not exactly a household name. It would take most American stars 10 fights to approach that figure.
Not surprisingly then, Hatton is the headline on virtually every news service in the UK.
Last week The Mirror reported that a chest infection put a halt to Hatton’s training. The article mentioned that he had been ordered to rest by his doctor, but was determined to continue despite being given the opportunity to postpone the fight.
That’s what heroes are made of– a friendly press.
The Mirror stated That Hatton did not want to disappoint the fans and added that, “Hatton, 29, beat Juan Urango to win the IBF light welterweight title last year despite suffering from the flu.”
Lord, this is like listening to Keith Olbermann talk about Barack Obama. I was there when Hatton fought Urango, and Ricky really didn’t look all that great. He just beat a far inferior opponent.
In another article from The Mirror, the headline read, “Ricky Hatton Warned Over Drinking.” In the piece it turns out that the warning came from Lazcano’s trainer, Ronnie Shields. The Mirror reported Shields as saying that Hatton’s between fight indulging was beginning to take its toll.
“He lives a bad lifestyle for a fighter,” said Shields.
Another news service quoted Hatton’s long time trainer Billy Graham, knocking the critics who spread “rumors” of bad blood between the two men.
Graham was quoted by ITV.com as saying, “The more I see the fight, the more I blame the referee. Joe Cortez used to be a friend but now I wouldn’t shake his hand. He stopped Ricky from fighting.
“If Ricky fought Mayweather again, without Cortez, I’m convinced he would win.”
I’m not. Hardly anyone is.
Also in this variety of news reports, Hatton speaks of wanting another shot at Mayweather.
Good grief! At least Oscar lost a split decision; Hatton was knocked out. And it’s not as if Cortez threw the punch. Floyd will never get to Cotto as long as he can keep fighting big names that can’t accept that he was just better and they throw the big bucks at him for meaningless rematches.
The BBC quoted Hatton’s father, Ray, as saying, “Ricky has always said that he would prefer to fight Floyd Mayweather again, on an even playing field.”
Note to Billy, Ray and Ricky: There’s no such thing as an even playing field against Floyd.
One thing is for sure –Lazcano certainly won’t be on an even playing field, and will likely end up as fresh meat to a tiger.
But Shields wasn’t too far off base for the long term. Hatton has a history of fluctuating weight (Ricky Fatton) and he drops it before a fight. One of these days he’s going to wake up and find himself the British Jose Luis Castillo. And if those reports of his prodigious drinking between fights are as accurate as has been written, the combined abuse to his body might well shorten his career.
So Hatton might be vulnerable, but not this week.