By Rick Reeno

Later tonight, Ricky "Hitman" Hatton (42-0, 30 KOs), of Manchester, England, takes on two-time lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo (55-7-1, 47 KOs) of Mexicali, Mexico, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Hatton, facing his most dangerous opponent since the 2005 upset of future hall of famer Kostya Tszyu, is predicting a potential fight of the year performance. I personally predicted the same kind of performance until I witnessed their January double-header on HBO. Hatton's title winning effort over Juan Urango was a hugfest, and Castillo barely got the nod against 15-0 Herman Ngoudjo, who was recently given a gift decision over Randall Bailey.

I was more concerned with Castillo’s performance than anything Hatton did in the ring against Urango. Castillo was barely a mirror reflection of himself when measuring his past performances against the lackluster effort with Ngoudjo. Hopefully, for Castillo’s sake, his shortcomings against Ngoudjo were caused by a case of ring rust, and not case of physical decline.  For the first time in his career, Castillo is stepping in the ring with a fighter who is not only stronger, but also physically bigger.

For years, Castillo has been overpowering opponents by pushing them around and breaking them down with his signature hooks to the body. The strategy won’t be as effective against a guy like Hatton, who wants Castillo to stand right in front of him and trade.

Based on his only junior welterweight performance, at least officially, Castillo did not come off as the physically imposing fighter that we’ve become accustomed to seeing in the lower weight divisions. But, if the same Castillo shows up against Hatton that showed up against Corrales - we could be in for a real treat. The fight will become a war of attrition.

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