By Mark Vester
It appears to be official, AFP reports that Ricky Hatton has dumped the WBA welterweight title he won from Luis Collazo in May. The now vacant title could be up for grabs when Miguel Cotto meets Oktay Urkal on a December 2 card on the Showtime Network. Hatton said that his main reason for dumping the title and moving back down to 140 pounds is to set up a megabout with Jose Luis Castillo in April 2007.
"We are going after Ricky's old title and although we don't want to pre-empt things, the defining fight we want is the one against Castillo. We have already opened talks with Castillo's promoter Bob Arum and we are confident we can make that fight for around April time. Ricky is in a very lucrative position at the moment," said Hatton's promoter Dennis Hobson.
Hatton must first beat 140-pound champion Juan Urango in a December bout scheduled to take place in Atlanta, Georgia.
