BoxRec

Apparently anyway..... see secondsout.com or fightnews.com

The breaking news is that Hatton's camp have declared to the IBF that they are not vacating the belt and will take up there mandatory obligation by fighting the winner of Rabah/Ndou next.

Apparently the Castillo fight will now happen in November...... YAWN!!!

Is anybody REALLY surprised by this???

what a bore.

HBO surely won't approve of this?

And they surely won't want to renew with 2 poor performances?

The last fight was what Americans call an infomercial, to hype the NEXT fight.

For a good laugh, check out the poster on Hatton's home page!

http://www.rickyhitmanhatton.com/index2.php

YAWN!

hattons got to ditch the belt and fight castillo imo.
ricky should be fighting big names and if a belt is not on the line so what?
since tzyu its been unstellar opposition and if ricky now goes on to fight either a fighter who lost to urango or one who lost to witter after pronouncing in a fanfare of bugles he`s off to take vegas by storm then he`s going to have serious credability problems.
lets face it, even the proposed pot of gold at the end of the rainbow fight against a warrior who`s looking decidedly shopworn in castillo aint exactly fight of the century material.
he may even get some kudos by dropping a strap to look for tougher fights.

If this is true, then I give up on Hatton. I hope he loses to his mandatory.

Hatton is badly losing time, he has obviously gone for the "legacy by holding as many titles as possible...defences, belts" type of route. Similar to Calzaghe's WBO reign of 20 odd defences rather than ditching the strap and going after the big fights. It's a shame on both accounts, but typical of today's fight game.

I had not noticed any previous wriggling actions or squeeking noises from team Hatton prior to today's announcement, but i just found this article that was published on the SportingLife.com website on 31st January. Pay particular attention to the final quote from Hobson!

By Mark Staniforth, PA Sport

Hatton won't be rushed!

Ricky Hatton will not be rushed into announcing a decision over the identity of his next opponent despite the threat of being stripped of his latest world title by the end of this week.

The International Boxing Federation say Hatton has until Friday to make a commitment to defend his newly-won light-welterweight crown against the winner of Saturday's fight between Naoufel Ben Rabah and Lovemore N'Dou.

Hatton looks almost certain to dump the title he won less than two weeks ago from Juan Urango in Las Vegas for a second time, and pursue a much more meaningful summer super-fight against Jose Luis Castillo back on the Strip.

But Hatton's promoter Dennis Hobson insists all options still remain open - and that despite the existing agreement for the Castillo fight, they are unlikely to finalise their decision before the end of the week.

Hobson said: "We have got the Castillo fight on the table but there is also the option for Ricky of coming back to Manchester to fight Ben Rabah or N'Dou, then taking on Castillo after that.

"It all comes down to whether Ricky wants to hold onto his title but the IBF have got to give him time to make his mind up. He has just won the title back and they can't hold him to ransom for the sake of a couple of days."

The IBF are keen to press Hatton on the issue because if he does pursue his fight against Castillo, they will then be able to sanction Saturday's Ben Rabah versus N'Dou contest in Australia as for their vacant title.

Hatton first won the IBF 140lbs title from Kostya Tszyu but after one successful defence against Carlos Maussa, he was forced to give it up when he moved up to welterweight to meet Luis Collazo.

However neither Hatton's camp nor his American television paymasters Home Box Office are likely to baulk at the prospect of giving away the belt again, with even a non-title meeting with Castillo an infinitely more preferable option.

Hobson added: "At this stage in Ricky's career the names are bigger than the titles and I know HBO are totally unconcerned about whether a title is on the line in his fight with Castillo or not.

"Obviously when you are making your way up the titles mean more but, at this stage, although we maintain a good relationship with the IBF, the titles can become more of a hindrance than anything else."

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Why would Hatton be interested in fighting the man (Rabah) who lost to the man he just beat. Why would Hatton be interested in fighting the man (Ndou) who was beaten by his long time rival Junoir Witter? It beggars belief..........

Forgetting Hatton's carrot dangling career pre Tyszu for a minute, lets get real about Hatton's career post Tyszu..... his opoentents have all been cherry-picked, they were only permitted because they held titles, otherwise he would have been ridiculed. Castillo, in my eye's was payback to the fans for there long-time loyal support. I was prepared to forget that he was a lightweight comming up, that he looked shit in his first fight at 140lbs against a nobody. All that meant sweet F.A. because he was a big name with a big rep, just the kind of guy Hatton should be fighting....... Now Hatton's bottled out of it, i say fcuk him!!!!



Lets take the blinkers of and tell things as they are, always have been, and always will be......... Hatton and his camp are taking the fcuking mince out of all of us!!!

Fcuk them i say........ lets start getting real about Hatton's career around here!


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headhunter wrote:he may even get some kudos by dropping a strap to look for tougher fights.

i think it will be smoker screen and he will actually fight castillio but say he will take his amndatory then sack it off

sweetscience wrote:i think it will be smoker screen and he will actually fight castillio but say he will take his amndatory then sack it off

If you are right, then its a marketing fcuk-up at its best. If Hatton, as you predict, does actually fight Castillo next, many will now put it down to public pressure from the heat of this backlash rather than his own willingness. That, my friend, would be a first rate marketing fcuk-up!

Is a bit of a scam by the bent IBF though, they want Hatton to make his mind up so they can get some sanction money out of Rabah/N'Dou.

When the governing bodies have motives like that how can boxing ever operate as proper sport?

Hatton is an absolute joke if this turns out to be true.

He is taking his fans for a ride.

Supposedly HBO wouldn't approve Ben Rabah last year, why would they now?

Hatton is just after easy money it seems.

DISGRACE.

I hate to be repitive but if he wants a belt to face off with Castillo why not take Witters WBC and dump the IBF - Please tell me Witter-Hatton is not bigger than Hatton-Ndou/Rabah

I hope Witter-Castillo happens now though. If not what is Castillo going to do until November? Henessey need to get Witter interviewed with every fight mag/site calling out Castillo to take up his mandatory.

If this doesn't happen why are any of his fans suprised, lets look how many fights have fallen through over the years - Pinto, Mitchell, Harris, and now Castillo (did I miss any?). Also theres the fights that could have been made easily Mayweather, Cotto, Witter, Judah, Corley.

The thing is, Rabah is a bit of a style nightmare. A real spoiler who runs, runs and runs. How the hell would Ricky look good against him?

sweetscience wrote:

headhunter wrote:he may even get some kudos by dropping a strap to look for tougher fights.

i think it will be smoker screen and he will actually fight castillio but say he will take his amndatory then sack it off

correct

Its a case of power to the people,

Hatton will continue to fight who he wishes and while he gets sell out crowds and large purses, tv get high ppv figures he will continue to do so & they will continue to let him.

We need to show them that we will not pay to see these kind of fights & we want good match ups. But i can say i dont listen to my own advice and will no doubt be sat up at 4 in the morning watching some zzzz i just paid £15 for.
The MEN will be packed to the rafters, watching Khan bash some non punching journyman & Hatton & Calzaghe fighting low level rated fighters

We will continue to complain and just keep handing over the money

Was HAttons Hobson contract maussa, Collazo and Urango or was it Collazo, Urango and NExt fight? They may want to get more for the Castillo fight than the standard fee Hobson pays them

Least Calzaghe's on ITV for free though.

Is Hatton and Castillo happens without the IBF title then they better not sell the fight with just the IBO.

Here's hoping HBO do the right thing and tell Hatton and his management to take their tired act elsewhere ( Showtime?? dont think so..)

If they try and duck a half decent fight in favour of yet ANOTHER "warm up", then they really deserve all the scorn that will surely head their way.

--------------------------------------

Lets take the blinkers of and tell things as they are, always have been, and always will be......... Hatton and his camp are taking the fcuking mince out of all of us!!!

Fcuk them i say........ lets start getting real about Hatton's career around here!


.[/quote]

Very disappointing.

I honestly thought more of Hatton.

We should probably wait for the official confirmation of this before getting angry about it. It doesn't seem to make sense from a few angles. Hatton has shown in the past that he doesn't mind giving up titles, HBO would not be happy with the fight, Hatton already lost some momentum after his mediocre showing agains Urango and another b grade fight would be hard to tolerate. Also it doesn't make sense to possibly fight the guy who was just was beaten by Urango.
I still think Hatton v Castillo will be the next fight, but if it's not then nobody should pay £15 for Hatton v Rabah/Ndou.

Les Kendal wrote:We should probably wait for the official confirmation of this before getting angry about it. It doesn't seem to make sense from a few angles. Hatton has shown in the past that he doesn't mind giving up titles, HBO would not be happy with the fight, Hatton already lost some momentum after his mediocre showing agains Urango and another b grade fight would be hard to tolerate. Also it doesn't make sense to possibly fight the guy who was just was beaten by Urango.
I still think Hatton v Castillo will be the next fight, but if it's not then nobody should pay £15 for Hatton v Rabah/Ndou.

Yes, we probably should wait for an official announcement. But the very fact that the possibility of Hatton facing Rabah or N'Dou is being discussed should tell us all plenty about Dennis Hobson and Hatton's career under Fight Academy. It's been a total fornicate up. And Hatton has to share the blame for that. There is no possible way that Hatton should fight either of those two. If Rabah was so crap that 'HBO turned him down' 12 months ago, just so Hatton could end up facing Collazo (after months of fornicating about), then how the fornicate is he important now, when a fight with one of the sports biggest names is apparently a done deal? It's bollocks, all of it. I'm a big fan of Hatton, and I've defended him plenty of times in the past. But he is royally fornicating up his career right now. Fight Castillo, for fucks sake. It was only the possibility of a Castillo fight that made the last fight palatable.

Max Molyneux wrote:Is Hatton and Castillo happens without the IBF title then they better not sell the fight with just the IBO.

Yes, that's what we should all be getting angry about!!!

Show much for Sky's principals If they sell Hatton's fights with just the IBO.