i saw oktay urkal's recent defence of his european light welterweight title on eurosport the other night and it got me thinking he would be a perfect next opponent for ricky hatton.
his wba title fight with vivian harris looks as if its fallen thru so he's available plus he holds the european title well worth owning he's a former kostya tszyu opponent who not only that pushed tszyu close.
he would be perfect :P he's not much of a puncher but on the other hand he is a top 10 rated fighter, the ring mag have him 2 places above hatton. there's not much risk there cos he can't punch for toffee but he's well respected i say he's the perfect next opponent for the hitman.
It would be an interesting fight. I think its a little bit too much of a risk for Hatton for his next fight, I'm expecting a big summer fight with Mitchell or someone like that.
Urkal is vastly underated an has that awkard style that COULD cause Hatton some problems. I think Hatton passed the chin test last time, so it might not necessarily be a big puncher that will beat him.
Eamonn Magee fought an awkard/boxing fight against Hatton, and is still the man to have caused him the most problems. Urkal is better than Magee.
I think Omar Weiss will be the ideal fight for Hatton next, he's not quite as good as Urkal, but on the same lines (good preparation should Hatton go for Urkal later on in his career).
I doubt very much it will happen. Hatton was offered the chance to fight Urkal in a final eliminator for the vacant WBC title to be decided later this month between Gatti and Italy's Gianluca Branco, but Warren has vowed to have nothing more to do with the WBC and turned it down. Furthermore, Urkal would probably be reluctant to leave Germany for a big fight at this stage in his career (the Harris challenge was taking place in Berlin) - and there's no way Warren would let Hatton travel there!
Hatton-Urkal is not a forgone conclusion, but Magee showed that he is beatable, if Hatton can catch him he has a chance but Urkal covers a few miles in the ring on a good night. Hatton needs to get him to England because there is a slim chance of taking the decision in Germany, not that Warren would send Hatton over there anyway. I can only see him fighting away from home in a big superfight not for the likes of Urkal.
he's a former kostya tszyu opponent who not only that pushed tszyu close.