Hatton, Malignaggi Doubleheader in The Works

Published

Sources have informed BoxingScene.com of talks taking place for a possible doubleheader in late May/early June, in Manchester, with Ricky Hatton and Paulie Malignaggi competing in separate bouts.

Hatton will return to the ring for the first time since his knockout loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last December. The return opponent has not been named, but junior welterweight champions Gavin Rees and Junior Witter have both been ruled out.

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Malignaggi would defend his IBF 140-pound title in a rematch with Lovemore Ndou. The fight with Ndou would satisfy the rematch clause from their first meeting, which took place last June. Ndou has been very vocal about pursuing a lawsuit if Malignaggi does not fight him next. Staging the fight on the undercard of Hatton’s return will help build a potential Hatton-Malignaggi showdown for later in the year.

Comments

MJ406Wed Jan 23, 2008, 11:07 PM UTC

agreed. Paulie shouldn't risk his title over skipping out on Lovemore. N'Dou is 36 so Paulie should fight and outbox him all over again and ngoudjo lost, point blank. (he'll be back in the title mix) I found after seeing the fight live THE first time, absolutely disgusted with the decision, thinking it coulda been a robbery saw it again, scored it 8-4 for Malignaggi. when you look past Herman's really good 7th round, he was horribly inconsistent with his #age of landed punches.

Scott9945Wed Jan 23, 2008, 9:20 PM UTC

i dont know, malignaggi should give ngoudjo a rematch instead of ndou It's not a question of what Paulie wants. N'Dou has a return fight guarantee in writing. Burying the fight on an undercard is a good tactic to make it go away quietly.

MikeBrew328Wed Jan 23, 2008, 9:15 PM UTC

My first thought about this was "WTF? Why not fight each other? This is ********." But then I thought about it, Malignaggi is still a nobody when compared to Hatton, this is the only way this fight will make money, after all, nobody wants to see the number one light welter beating on bums nobodies ever heard of, at least if some people have heard of him it will make more money. Typical UK response. Malignaggi is pretty well known. If this fight took place in Madison Square Garden, with the combination of New Yorkers and Hatton fans, the place would sell out. Should be a good card then. When hatton and paulie fight its a close call. Before malignaggi/ngougo I would of picked paulie to outbox hatton, but now im thinking hatton may be to strong like cotto was. Plus hatton wont be weightdrained like cotto. The Ngoudjo fight was a fluke. Malignaggi is using shooting the jab out more frequently, he didn't do that in the fight for whatever reason

ml2niceguyWed Jan 23, 2008, 8:57 PM UTC

lookin forward to it

cupcrazy01Wed Jan 23, 2008, 6:28 PM UTC

Yawn. Gotta love these "separate bouts to promote a future fight" WCB cards. Ugh. At least I hope it wouldn't be PPV...

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