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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. [details]
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. [details]
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