Tweet
Ricky Hatton has vowed to turn up the heat on Jose Luis Castillo when the pair meet in their eagerly anticipated light-welterweight showdown in Las Vegas on June 23.
Temperatures in the desert city have sizzled at over 40 degrees Celsius since Hatton and his team arrived one week ago, and the Manchester Hitman is intent on producing a performance fit for the history books.
Hatton said: "Castillo's fight against Diego Corrales was one of the fights of the century and if there was any pair-up of styles that could even beat that, you would have to say it was me and Castillo.
"I don't want to be remembered as the greatest of all time but in years to come I want people to say, he was a good fighter.
"People have DVDs of great fights on their shelves and I want a Ricky Hatton fight to be one of those."
Both Hatton and Castillo will enter the fight with something to prove after failing to shine on the same bill last time out, when Hatton outpointed Juan Urango and Castillo struggled to overcome Herman Ngoudjo on the undercard.
But Hatton is wisely leaving no room for complacency as he believes 33-year-old Castillo will also be better prepared than ever as he seeks to make the most of what could be his last shot at staying in the limelight.
Hatton added: "I expect him to train harder than he has ever trained before in his life because a win against me could lead to so many big-money match-ups for him, but if he loses he stock goes down.
"I think this will be a similar fight to my Kostya Tszyu fight. This really is my kind of fight. Styles make fights and we are two people who don't take a backward step."
Hatton is staying in rented accommodation in Las Vegas and putting the finishing touches to his gruelling training programme before he begins to wind down in preparation for the fight next week.
Hatton added: "When you fight a guy who's done what he's done you get a little bit hornier about it.
"My training camp has been the best I've had by a country mile, and that's because of the man I will have in front of me."
Temperatures in the desert city have sizzled at over 40 degrees Celsius since Hatton and his team arrived one week ago, and the Manchester Hitman is intent on producing a performance fit for the history books.
Hatton said: "Castillo's fight against Diego Corrales was one of the fights of the century and if there was any pair-up of styles that could even beat that, you would have to say it was me and Castillo.
"I don't want to be remembered as the greatest of all time but in years to come I want people to say, he was a good fighter.
"People have DVDs of great fights on their shelves and I want a Ricky Hatton fight to be one of those."
Both Hatton and Castillo will enter the fight with something to prove after failing to shine on the same bill last time out, when Hatton outpointed Juan Urango and Castillo struggled to overcome Herman Ngoudjo on the undercard.
But Hatton is wisely leaving no room for complacency as he believes 33-year-old Castillo will also be better prepared than ever as he seeks to make the most of what could be his last shot at staying in the limelight.
Hatton added: "I expect him to train harder than he has ever trained before in his life because a win against me could lead to so many big-money match-ups for him, but if he loses he stock goes down.
"I think this will be a similar fight to my Kostya Tszyu fight. This really is my kind of fight. Styles make fights and we are two people who don't take a backward step."
Hatton is staying in rented accommodation in Las Vegas and putting the finishing touches to his gruelling training programme before he begins to wind down in preparation for the fight next week.
Hatton added: "When you fight a guy who's done what he's done you get a little bit hornier about it.
"My training camp has been the best I've had by a country mile, and that's because of the man I will have in front of me."
Comment