By Mark Vester

WBC junior welterweight champion Junior Witter, currently in training camp for his March defense against unbeaten Demetrius Hopkins, is upset that UK-rival Ricky Hatton has once again turned him down. Hatton announced that he would return to the ring on May 24 in his hometown of Manchester. Team Hatton publicly said that Witter is not even a consideration for the May date. 

Witter, speaking with the Manchester Evening News, says Hatton is letting down the entire country by not taking this fight. He says a clash with Hatton is the biggest fight in British history.

"There's no bigger fight," Witter said. "It would be bigger than Nigel Benn vs. Chris Eubank. Boxing is not as big as it was then, but the interest a fight between me and Ricky would generate would be massive. It's been building for ten years. It could've happened if he wanted it to. It is a fight that definitely should take place.

Witter has claimed for years that Hatton is running from him. Now that Hatton was knocked out by Floyd Mayweather Jr. last December, Witter sees no reason why the fight could not be made.  

"You either step up or run away. The fans want it and so do the boxing public. He is a hell of a fighter, but if you want to be the best you have to beat the best that's out there. Mayweather has done that throughout his career and that's why he's the best," Witter said.

Hatton and his camp have said that Witter's big mouth cost him the fight. Witter has been very vocal in the media with his challenges, and Hatton appears have taken some of his comments very personally by vowing to never give Witter the chance to earn a big payday by agreeing to fight him. Witter shoots back and says Hatton used the same tactics by calling out Mayweather over and over in the media. 

Ricky's father and manager, Ray Hatton, told the paper that his son's tactics against Mayweather were never on a personal level until the fight was announced. He says Witter has been hurling personal insults against his son for years.

"Ricky only criticized Mayweather once the fight was announced. It is not as if he was baiting him constantly over many years, so there is no comparison between the two," Ray said.

Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingscene@hotmail.com