BoxRec

As we all know its now been made official on Hatton's website that he is fighting Juan Lazcano on 24 May 08 at City of Manchester Stadium.

Are you satisfied with the opponent ??

And are you happy with him fighting Malanaggi next?

The answers to both questions for me are - Not completely delighted with Lazcano - the main reason is that I am a dreaful cynic - Lazcano is a Golden Boy fighter - he has also been out of the ring for a long time and I question his desire.

However with that said - How will Hatton be after the Mayweather mauling - considering the way the fight went - you could argue Lazcano is a reasonable choice and thus you have to say fair enough.

A further point is - on the strict condition Lazcano is coming to win and not just for one last pay day - then it could be interesting if he pressures Hatton.

With regards to Malanaggi - I hope that fight is made - I am dissapointed Hennessy Sports did not jump in there to get a fight with Witter and Malanaggi because that would have heaped pressure on Hatton to meet Witter.

All in all - although I have my suspicions about Lazcano's ambition it is an okay fight as long as the next one is a top notch one.

fine as a tune-up after a KO loss. Provided he shakes the ring rust off, the next one needs to be a decent one. Paulie just about OK (like everyone would prefer Witter but I'm not going to accuse Hatton of ducking/being scared of him). Third fight should be a biggie.

I will agree - but what I don't want to hear is TV making out this fight with Lazcano is a 50/50 life or death fight to big up their viewing figures - its a reasonable comeback fight and its a thank you to the fans.

I don't want the press or TV making out its anything else.

And as you state as long as the next fight is Malanaggi or better I think we will all be happy enough.

Keep saying it - for Witter he has to fight someone class and destroy him - otherwise no chance of it ever happening.

Witter has to convince the TV execs to put pressure on Team Hatton - at the moment Witter is finding trouble getting a fight - let alone a world class opponent.

Looks like you've fallen off the Hatton bandwagon now he's left Hobson, coincidence? As fickle as ever. ;)

As for the subject at hand, Lazcano is an ok opponent nothing to write home about but could have been a lot worse.

Spud wrote:I will agree - but what I don't want to hear is TV making out this fight with Lazcano is a 50/50 life or death fight to big up their viewing figures - its a reasonable comeback fight and its a thank you to the fans.

I don't want the press or TV making out its anything else.

And as you state as long as the next fight is Malanaggi or better I think we will all be happy enough.

Keep saying it - for Witter he has to fight someone class and destroy him - otherwise no chance of it ever happening.

Witter has to convince the TV execs to put pressure on Team Hatton - at the moment Witter is finding trouble getting a fight - let alone a world class opponent.

Harris was good enough an Witter battered him.

No excuses.

Hatton is a bottler, average slugger.

nickd wrote:Looks like you've fallen off the Hatton bandwagon now he's left Hobson, coincidence? As fickle as ever. ;)

As for the subject at hand, Lazcano is an ok opponent nothing to write home about but could have been a lot worse.

Actually I would love to see Ricky succeed - he is a top man and a bloody good boxer. I will leave it there.

Spud wrote:

nickd wrote:Looks like you've fallen off the Hatton bandwagon now he's left Hobson, coincidence? As fickle as ever. ;)

As for the subject at hand, Lazcano is an ok opponent nothing to write home about but could have been a lot worse.

Actually I would love to see Ricky succeed - he is a top man and a bloody good boxer. I will leave it there.

Now, I might be getting the wrong end of the stick here... but when Lazcano was towted as a Hatton opponent when Hatton was an FA fighter and CHAMPION you thought it was a perfectly okay fight.

Now its as a tune up/comeback after a pretty tough loss, the first lost he has for many years - and now its not acceptable.

mmmmm.....

I wouldnt object to the Lazcano fight as long as Witter was next. If his next oponent is Malignaggi, then quite frankly I dont give a toss about Hatton. No more buying PPVs to see his fights, in fact I probably wont even bother watching the replay a week later. Team Hatton are greedy bastards after all the money they can get. No consideration for the fans whatsoever. They only take fights they know Ricky can win, with the exception of the Mayweather fight which was all about making a fortune, win or lose. If Ricky could make 10 million fighting Witter he would go for it. Its all about not enough money and the risk of losing, bollocks to the personal issues, its just an excuse. I have followed and supported Hatton for years but not any more. The tide is turning, people I know are pissed off with Hatton. He had his chance to give his fans the fight they all wanted to see and he has completey ignored us. Well some of us are ignoring him now.

Just a little footnote to my previous post. Billy Graham said well over a year ago Hatton and himself had far more money than they needed. I believe Graham is a genuine man who just loves the sport and what he does and continues to work with Hatton for those reasons and not the money. No matter how much money Hatton has he is still a working class man and so are the majority of his loyal fans. Many of them have struggled to find the money to be at his fights but will he repay them for all their efforts, no.

What a tedious prospect. With an undercard that will inevitably extract the proverbial. Matthew Hatton vs s/o doesn't set the pulse racing.

If this is a 'thank you' to his travelling army Team Hatton evidently know the mug punters they are dealing with.

i would rather have seen him take on Malignaggi or even Torres, i don't know what he has to gain from facing lazcano other than money.
if this is on SBO then i won't be paying for it.

It's a waste of time. I'd rather watch the Sven Ottke fight.
It's hardly a 'homecoming' fighting a fighter who is over the hill and then staging the meaningful fight against Malignaggi in the US.

They say two 'world' title belts will be on the bill and possily one for the English title.
As they're now claiming the IBO belt as if it were a legitimate title who knows what it will entail.
I'm guessing it will be Malignaggi and possibly a Goldenboy fighter? Maybe even Jamie Moore.
I think Matthew Hatton will be fighting for the English title.

I, for one, missed Spud. Although he seems different, like a poster reborn.

This is fine for a comeback 'gimme' fight, but I don't think I can justify shelling out for a PPV fee on this one.

I will want to see it, but this simply isn't worth 15 quid to watch from home.

Loynesy wrote:fine as a tune-up after a KO loss. Provided he shakes the ring rust off, the next one needs to be a decent one. Paulie just about OK (like everyone would prefer Witter but I'm not going to accuse Hatton of ducking/being scared of him). Third fight should be a biggie.

I have to say though, that I have a real problem with a guy who is fighting every six months in the supposed prime of his career having tune up fights!

I think Hatton has lost his novelty a bit. There is the feeling that a couple of years ago we've seen his best. When Hatton fights there just won't be that big buzz anymore unless he fights Witter in an all British superfight.

Autobarn wrote:I think Hatton has lost his novelty a bit. There is the feeling that a couple of years ago we've seen his best. When Hatton fights there just won't be that big buzz anymore unless he fights Witter in an all British superfight.

Pretty much the way I see it, although I do think he can get that buzz back without Witter.

This is perfectly fine as a rebound fight, but I wont pay for it, rebound fights shouldnt be something you pay for. I'll watch it if its free ofcourse

As for a fight with Malignaggi, I'll watch it if its free but for me its not worth paying for, especially after Malignaggi is coming off a gift. I would have paid a PPV to watch Hatton-Diaz BUT now Diaz has lost I won't.

Everyone wants to see no1 versus no2 at 140lbs in a 50-50 fight. And thats Witter v Hatton. That I would pay £100+ to watch the PPV.

BTW what happens if Ndou beats MAlignaggi (very unlikely) and Kotelnik beats Rees (likely)? Where does Hatton go then? TO WItter leftovers when Witter isnt on his radar

Heard according to Sky Sports news It will be a PPV fight but I don't have Sky Sports In my house so Is this true?

Yup. PPV on Sky Sports. Never in a million years would I pay for this shite. What a terrible fight.

Hatton sounded like a man approaching retirement at the press conference. Kept talking about how he was ticking the final boxes that had to be ticked (boxing at Man City, for one).

To me, Hatton's only relevent now if he fights Junior Witter.

Who thought It was a good Idea at Sky to put It on PPV after being brained by Floyd?

I'd pay £15 for Hatton-Witter gladly. Lazcano RELUCTANTLY, only because I'm a hardcore boxing fan who has to see everything.

Sky got around 1 million buys for Mayweather even if they lose 60% of those who paid for that fight it adds up to a colossal amount of money

PPV seems a bit at odds with his assertions that this fight would be a gift to the fans.

I don't know very much about Lazcano but I gather from what you lot are saying that he's someone who is just there to collect a paypacket and give Hatton a few rounds.

In my opinion, it would have been a far shewder move to try and broker a one-off deal with ITV (I understand that FW no longer has an exclusive contract) because the exposure would have been a great way of drumming up interest for his next competetive clash.

Emerson Poncey Name Ghent wrote:I, for one, missed Spud. Although he seems different, like a poster reborn.

Spud is cool- but if he starts with the.

I HAVE IT ON GOOD AUTHORITY THAT BLA BLA THIS AND BLA BKA THAT BUT I AM NOT SAYING ANYMORE lark then he can piss off back to weherever he went!

Other than that - wah gwann, Spuddy?