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According to a report in Daily Express, former two division champion Ricky Hatton will start training in February for a comeback at welterweight. Hatton spent nearly his entire career at junior welterweight. It appears Ricky sees a tough struggle to get back down to 140.
Anthony Mundine (38-3, 23KOs) retained his WBA international middleweight title with a twelve round unanimous decision over Rob Medley (27-3, 17KOs) at the Entertainment Centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The fight was originally scheduled to take place at 154-pounds for the vacant IBO title but changed a few days ago to a middleweight contest after Mundine got into a rift with the IBO.
At the Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo, Japan, undefeated Takashi Uchiyama (14-0, 11 KOs), captured the WBA super featherweight title with a twelfth round stoppage over previously undefeated Juan Carlos Salgado (22-1-1, 16 KOs). Uchiyama wore Salgado down during the the fight and began to unload in the late rounds. He dropped Salgado in the final round and continued to batter him until referee Raul Caiz Sr. jumped in to stop the fight. Salgado was coming off a very impressive first round stoppage of Jorge Linares last October.
When Manny Pacquiao defends his WBO welterweight title against Joshua Clottey on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Texas, the fists will be flying. Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach recently said the overall goal in the fight is to knock Clottey out. Clottey has a jaw of steel and that gives him more motivation to train Pacquiao for a KO win.
Former heavyweight champion Michael Moorer had nothing but praise for WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. For a little while, Moorer worked as an assistant to Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach. Moorer spoke with Michael Marley to clear his name and squash any rumors that he informed Mayweather's camp that Pacquiao was using performance enhancing drugs, which caused the entire "blood test" saga that eventually killed the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Moorer told his close friend and former trainer Teddy Atlas that Pacquiao is a beast in the gym.
While Manny Pacquiao has moved on and plans to defend his WBO welterweight title against Joshua Clottey on March 13 in Dallas, Texas, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been left without a solid option for his next fight. Mayweather is still scheduled to return on March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas but there appears to be a chance that Mayweather might push his return to May 1 and fight Shane Mosley for the WBC/WBA welterweight titles - if Mosley gets past Andre Berto on January 30. May 1 is a date that Golden Boy Promotions has been targeting for the return of Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand.
Manny Pacquiao's defense of the WBO welterweight title against Joshua Clottey will not involve a catch-weight. Top Rank CEO Bob Arum told the Manila Bulletin that Pacquiao-Clottey will have no weight stipulations. The fight will be Pacquiao's third at welterweight. He fought and stopped Oscar De La Hoya in 2008. He moved down to 140 to knock Ricky Hatton out last May and then returned to welterweight in November to win the title from Miguel Cotto but there was a catch-weight of 145. With all of the catch-weight fights in the sport, it's refreshing to see a title being defended at the actual division limit.
WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan is good friends with Ricky Hatton but it won't stop the two of them from fighting. Khan knows Hatton is very close to retirement and he wants to fight the Manchester star very soon. Khan doesn't think his career will be complete without a showdown with Hatton on his record. He doesn't buy the talk that Hatton is finished. Hatton is rumored to be in the process of planning a ring return for the middle of the year. Khan doesn't want to miss his shot at Hatton before the year is out. Recently the WBA ordered Amir to fight mandatory Marcos Maidana but there has been no official decision on the fight.
Trainer Freddie Roach has had enough with the demands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. He is already preparing the strategy for Manny Pacquiao's next opponent, former welterweight champion Joshua Clottey. Pacquiao will defend his WBO welterweight title against Clottey on March 13 in Texas. If Pacquuao gets past Clottey, Roach would like to target the winner of the upcoming welterweight unification between WBC champion Andre Berto and WBA champion Shane Mosley on January 30.
British welterweight Matthew Hatton says the camp of Floyd Mayweather Jr. have placed three calls to his team for a possible future fight. Hatton wants to avenge older brother Ricky's knockout loss to Mayweather from 2007. He can't believe the fight between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao is off. Anything Floyd wants him to do in order to make the fight, he will do it.