Breaking news: new opponent for Hatton
Posted: 01 Apr 2004, 10:06
Promoter allegedly has just announced that Ricky Hatton will now be fighting American-based Argentinian Omar Weis on Saturday at the MEN Arena in Manchester after Kelson Pinto's blatant no-show yesterday threw the whole event into doubt.
"It was a fun day," he told The Guardian boxing correspondent Steve Bunce of yesterday (The Guardian have just broken the story). "We concentrated on Europe for a few hours and pinned down Denmark's world class Dennis Pedersen, who fought only last month and is in shape. But Showtime wanted an opponent more familiar to American fans, and we switched to Weis, with whom I have options (Pedersen has now been promised a big fight on the Johnny Nelson-Thomas Hansvoll WBO title show in Denmark in May).
"Weis has been sparring Oktay Urkal in Germany and will be at the press conference this afternoon (Thursday)," added Warren.
"I have a very good relationship with his manager Amilcar Brusa, whom I'd like to publicly thank for providing such a quality opponent at such short notice."
Hatton was unavailable for comment, but is said to be taking events in his stride.
The 31-year-old Weis outpointed American cutie Emanuel Augustus in his last fight a year ago in Las Vegas - and that emulates what Kelson Pinto did to Augustus (also last year). Before that, Weis took current WBO champion Zab Judah 10 tough rounds in the states. Judah, returning from a six month suspension after a disastrous two-round defeat at the hands of Kostya Tszyu, dropped the Argentinian with with a big left in round two, but then had to work all the way to secure the unanimous verdict in his favour.
In his very next fight, Judah edged out DeMarcus Corley for the WBO title.
So Weis did well against the hard-hitting American southpaw, and, despite a rugged reputation, is actually more boxer than slugger (like a lot of Argentinians). He counterpunched flawlessly against the experienced Augustus last year - and also outboxed Hector Camacho Junior en route to another convincing 10-round decision (in 2002).
He's cute, tough and knows his way around a ring.
The 30-year-old turned pro in Argentina back in 1995 and went unbeaten in 28 fights before rugged Venezualan Elio Ortiz stopped him in 10 bruising rounds in Caracas in 1998.
Weis bounced back with five straight wins, including a 10th-round stoppage of Cesar Leiva for the vacant Argentinian light-welterweight title in 2000, then made a massive impression in his first fight in America in the June of that year.
Weis took on the highly-ranked Antonio Diaz, a man who had just stopped Ivan Robinson and held a win over Cory Spinks, and looked to have done more than enough after 12 bruising rounds in California, only to see the decision go Diaz's way.
A fight later, Diaz licked 'Irish' Micky Ward.
Weis was brought back to the States a year later to face perennial contender Ray Oliveira, who had licked Vivian Harris, Vince Phillips and Charles Murray, among many others. Again, the cute Argie looked to have won, but was given a draw after 10 action-packed rounds.
Weis finally got the big win he deserved in 2002 when, as he does with Hatton, he faced an unbeaten, carefully-matched prospect in the shape of Hector Camacho Junior, who was 33-0 going into the fight, but was comprehensively outpointed after 10 surprisingly one-sided rounds.
Weis has proved hard to match since and has boxed three tough opponents - Arturo Urena (w pts 10), Judah and, last time out in February 2003, the excellent points win over Augustus.
Trained by the legendary Amilcar Brusa of Carlos Monzon fame, Omar, 36-4-3 (16), is a solid opponent for Ricky.
"It was a fun day," he told The Guardian boxing correspondent Steve Bunce of yesterday (The Guardian have just broken the story). "We concentrated on Europe for a few hours and pinned down Denmark's world class Dennis Pedersen, who fought only last month and is in shape. But Showtime wanted an opponent more familiar to American fans, and we switched to Weis, with whom I have options (Pedersen has now been promised a big fight on the Johnny Nelson-Thomas Hansvoll WBO title show in Denmark in May).
"Weis has been sparring Oktay Urkal in Germany and will be at the press conference this afternoon (Thursday)," added Warren.
"I have a very good relationship with his manager Amilcar Brusa, whom I'd like to publicly thank for providing such a quality opponent at such short notice."
Hatton was unavailable for comment, but is said to be taking events in his stride.
The 31-year-old Weis outpointed American cutie Emanuel Augustus in his last fight a year ago in Las Vegas - and that emulates what Kelson Pinto did to Augustus (also last year). Before that, Weis took current WBO champion Zab Judah 10 tough rounds in the states. Judah, returning from a six month suspension after a disastrous two-round defeat at the hands of Kostya Tszyu, dropped the Argentinian with with a big left in round two, but then had to work all the way to secure the unanimous verdict in his favour.
In his very next fight, Judah edged out DeMarcus Corley for the WBO title.
So Weis did well against the hard-hitting American southpaw, and, despite a rugged reputation, is actually more boxer than slugger (like a lot of Argentinians). He counterpunched flawlessly against the experienced Augustus last year - and also outboxed Hector Camacho Junior en route to another convincing 10-round decision (in 2002).
He's cute, tough and knows his way around a ring.
The 30-year-old turned pro in Argentina back in 1995 and went unbeaten in 28 fights before rugged Venezualan Elio Ortiz stopped him in 10 bruising rounds in Caracas in 1998.
Weis bounced back with five straight wins, including a 10th-round stoppage of Cesar Leiva for the vacant Argentinian light-welterweight title in 2000, then made a massive impression in his first fight in America in the June of that year.
Weis took on the highly-ranked Antonio Diaz, a man who had just stopped Ivan Robinson and held a win over Cory Spinks, and looked to have done more than enough after 12 bruising rounds in California, only to see the decision go Diaz's way.
A fight later, Diaz licked 'Irish' Micky Ward.
Weis was brought back to the States a year later to face perennial contender Ray Oliveira, who had licked Vivian Harris, Vince Phillips and Charles Murray, among many others. Again, the cute Argie looked to have won, but was given a draw after 10 action-packed rounds.
Weis finally got the big win he deserved in 2002 when, as he does with Hatton, he faced an unbeaten, carefully-matched prospect in the shape of Hector Camacho Junior, who was 33-0 going into the fight, but was comprehensively outpointed after 10 surprisingly one-sided rounds.
Weis has proved hard to match since and has boxed three tough opponents - Arturo Urena (w pts 10), Judah and, last time out in February 2003, the excellent points win over Augustus.
Trained by the legendary Amilcar Brusa of Carlos Monzon fame, Omar, 36-4-3 (16), is a solid opponent for Ricky.
ya 
.What ticket(s) did you get?..£125,£75?.
