By Terence Dooley
Ricky Hatton has welcomed British middleweight champion Matthew Macklin into his promotional fold, and the popular fighter thinks that his latest signing can go onto grab some world honours down the line.
Hatton has already snagged his former gym-mate a European title tilt; the Hitman told the Sunday Mercury that a win over EBU middleweight boss Amin Asikainen would be an ideal springboard for the Brummie boxer.
Macklin will fight Amin at Manchester’s Velodrome on September the 25th, in a fight that will launch the middleweight towards the top of the world ratings.
“I’ve had my fair share of success with world titles in the ring but now I want to start producing world champions as a promoter and I firmly believe that Matthew Macklin will be one of them,” Hatton enthused.
“I’ve known Matthew for a long time,” he continued. “We’ve trained together, sparred together and worked each others corners over the years and I’ve always believed that he has the ability to go all the way. He won the British title in very impressive fashion last time out and I think he has the ability to step straight up to European title level and I’m delighted to be able to give him that opportunity on one of my shows.”
However, Ricky had a few words of warning for Macklin. “Matthew’s facing a very tough challenge because Asikainen is a vastly experienced operator and he’s been European champion before but I believe that it’s a fight Matthew can win and use as a springboard to a world title fight next year,” he claimed.
For his part Macklin, 27, has welcomed the Hatton link-up, as well as declaring that he has what it takes to hand Asikainen his third professional defeat. “It’s fitting that I’m working with Ricky as my promoter now because we’ve been good friends for so long,” he said.
“We’ve sparred hundreds of rounds together and we’ve always supported each other throughout our careers. Ricky promised that he would deliver me the big fights and I’ll be fighting for the European title so it’s a huge opportunity for me.”
Macklin is a student of the game; he knows that Amin presents him with his stiffest test to date. “I’ve seen quite a bit of Asikainen and I’ve got a lot of respect for him,” he confirmed. “He’s a big puncher and brings all that experience to the table but he has frailties as well and I believe I’ll be able to set a pace that he can’t cope with.”
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