Hatton left in the dark

REAL_DEAL · Post by **REAL_DEAL** » 19 May 2004, 09:02

Taken from tonights Manchester Evening News
By Stuart Brennan

HATTON IS LEFT IN THE DARK

'Ricky Hatton has expressed his "dissapointment" after his next opponent was announced before he had been consulted.

The Manchester ace is scheduled to fight Carlos Wilfredo Vilches at the Manchester Evening News Arena on June 12 - but he only found out after receiving phone calls from journalists last night.

Earlier in the day, promoters Sports Network had said he would fight Brazil's Antonio Mesquita - again without Hattons knowledge - but within hours the name had changed.

"I have had a few phone calls and they seem to know more than me, because nothing has been confirmed" Hatton told M.E.N. sport "I am not too happy about Sports Network"

A week ago Sports Network chief allegedly said the choice of opponent was down to two men, believed to be Mesquita and Vilches and that a final decision would be taken after Hatton had studied tapes of both.

Hatton said last night that he was still awaiting tapes, although he was due to recieve one of Vilches today.

Hattons last fight was also shrouded in problems, when opponent Kelson Pinto failed to show and was replaced at a few days' notice by Danish fighter Dennis Pederson, much to Hatton's disgruntlement.

Now Hatton is unhappy again:"What with the Pinto fiasco last time it looks like we are going down the same road."

Vilches has a good record, but is independantly ranked at number 40 in the world, having been destroyed inside four rounds by world-class Sharmba Mitchell, who was originally touted as Hattons opponent in January of last year.

He has 41 wins from his 48 fights and is the former South American light welterweight champion.

The biggest scalp on his record is that of Omar Weis, who he beat to claim the Argentinian title in 2001 - but Vilches has lost 3 of his last seven fights after recording just one defeat in his first 40.

Putting aside his dissapointment at the way he learned of his opponent, Hatton is satisfied. He is hoping to land a big-name fight in September from a short list of former world lightweight champ Paul Spadafora, WBA king Vivian Harris and former European champ Otkay Urkal.

"Looking at Vilches' record, I dont see it as being a problem" he said

knockout artist · Post by **knockout artist** » 19 May 2004, 09:22

Ricky, ditch Sports Network.

Go with Hobson-Evans Waterman.

They are working wonders for David Haye.

J · Post by J » 19 May 2004, 09:39

YEAH THAT WOULD BE GREAT AT LEAST HE IS MAKING THE RIGHT NOISES BUT.......

he also needs to look at his training and the fact he was putting in public appearances overweight too close to a fight. Dont look good that Ricky.

Hopefully SN get pissed off with him too and that will speed the process, imagine that Hatton on the beeb even...almost a return to the old Benn ./ Eubank / watson days.........

probs wont happen but Im an optimist.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 19 May 2004, 09:42

What happened to his new training regime and diet which was supposed to stop him balooning between fights, that seems to have gone out of the window. Maybe he is getting demotivated?

Hardhitters11 · Post by **Hardhitters11** » 19 May 2004, 09:43

Im fed up of reading and hearing about Ricky Hatton, I am completely disillusioned with boxing at the moment.

J · Post by J » 19 May 2004, 09:47

Know how you feel mate, I felt the same when posting tickets back and stuff, as in why the eff am I going to all this hassle, then the marquez / pacman ending in a draw which in my opinion had an element of "rematch" to it for the money makers and I found it hard to watch any for few days, well that and I was in poland.

it passes buddy, you'll be back, get a tape of haye's last fight that should whet the appetite. he da new man!!!

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 19 May 2004, 09:50

Marquez v Pacquaio scoring was dodgy, but are you unhappy that the two men came away with a draw? I had the fight for Marquez by 1 round, so it's not like either man lost by a mile.

glittermonkey · Post by **glittermonkey** » 19 May 2004, 09:53

Right, that's the last straw.

Why exactly does he need to see tapes to choose who he'll fight next. If he wants to fight in world class, which he tells us he does, then he should already know enough about the top guys to pick one of them.

This will be my last post on the subject of Hatton until he fights one of the following.

Mitchell
Cotto
Harris
Gatti
Witter
Mayweather
Tszyu

The names that are being thrown around are a disgrace for someone who claims to belong in world class.

J · Post by J » 19 May 2004, 09:57

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Marquez v Pacquaio scoring was dodgy, but are you unhappy that the two men came away with a draw? I had the fight for Marquez by 1 round, so it's not like either man lost by a mile.

No i dont disagree, I wanted pacman to win but thought Marquez did, I just thought no way could that have been scored a draw, the chances of it happenineg are too far off with those 3 knockdowns in the first round. and for the scoring to 115-110 eoither way is a massive swing you have to admit.

Thats all, it just seemed fishy Im not unhappy bout it, I just thought well is this bent or what?

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 19 May 2004, 10:19

Had I scored either round 10 or 11 for Pacquaio, my card would have been a draw.

I have Manny winning round 1 10-6, and round 2 10-9, then losing every round until round 10 which he won, and then gave the next two rounds even.

So it's not so hard to end up with a draw. However, none of the scorecards were particularly credible, I have copies of them in my bag and they are all a bit screwy to me.

J · Post by J » 19 May 2004, 10:21

had the same but gave the last two to marquez.
just.
But yeah you are right I suppose, I just couldnt get the pacman 115-110 card.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 19 May 2004, 10:27

That was definetly bullshit, how on earth they managed to have Manny win by that Margin is beyond me, all he did was bounce around for about 5 rounds.

However, having Marquez win by 5 is equally incredible, if not more so, seeing as he is 4 rounds down after 1 round! That means he won all but 1 of the remaining rounds, which is ridiculous, no way on gods earth he won the second round, he was still hanging on for dear life for most of it, Manny also definetly won

I think the scorecards are pretty ridiculous given that amongst the three judges, not a single even round was given...

J · Post by J » 19 May 2004, 10:37

aaah good was beginning to think i know even less than i do!