Remember When Junior Witter Called Ricky Hatton Out To His Face?

[Heru]

Actually Castillo was ranked 1 by the Ring when he fought Hatton (which was after Witter won the WBC title). There was an article in the Ring commending Hatton for dropping a belt to fight Castillo as it was the two best junior welters going at it.

In hindsight, you could say Castillo wasnt the best but hindsight is always 20/20 and at the time, people labelled it an even fight and the one everyone wanted to see.

I didn't mention Castillo for that same reason, at the time, he was thought of as a legit threat and was Hatton's 2nd biggest fight to date and I remember HBO really wanting that fight, but Urango and Lazcano weren't.

Wait till the Hatton fanatic who only started watch Hatton after he beat Tsyzu come on here and tell you how nobody wanted to see the fight between Hatton/Wtter pre-tsyzu.

It was a big fight that Sky wanted to put on at the time but the fight was too risky for Warren to put on.

Haha, Warren hates putting in his golden goose with a legit threat. Murray and some other British lightweights are getting the same treatment with Khan.

[Ray*]

Hatton was being broadcast by Showtime. I suppose he should've just cancelled the contract to give us all the Witter "megafight". Hatton put it in his contract with Warren demanding the Witter fight.

The fight was scheduled to go ahead when they both fought on the same night at the MEN, American tv was interested and Warren had made plans for the fight. Hatton had a thrilling win over Vince Phillips whilst Witter got rocked and struggled to get rid of Jugen Haeck.

Yes maybe you can blame Warren for some of it, not getting it done earlier but Witter has to shoulder some of the blame for completely bottling it and putting in horrendous performances when given the chance to impress

No-one is denying the fact that Showtime refuse the fight based on Witter's performance against Judah but thats because Warren was trying to sell it to them so he could make some money from the american market.

But the fight could have made million in the UK alone because of Hatton and the fight was big enough for us not for american, Haye v Maccarinelli was for us not american audience, I dont blame Hatton entirely for the fight not happening but people saying he didnt didnt duck Witter are incredibly biased especially when you know the entire story behind it.

[Ray*]

Hatton forced on the defensive again after muted win fails to satisfy critics
By Ron Lewis
FOR such an exciting boxer, Ricky Hatton has a tough job keeping people happy and Saturday night was no exception. At the MEN Arena, Manchester, Hatton became the first man to stop Aldo Ríos, a tough-as-nails Argentinian who took everything Hatton had to throw at him, getting up off the floor twice before his corner wisely called off the bout at the end of the ninth round.
Hatton had not looked great — Ríos’s cagey style had ensured that — but, in his first bout in six months, he had secured a one-sided victory over a boxer who had twice competed for the world lightweight title. But a man stepping up to light-welterweight had been enough to have the critics carping: what about Kostya Tszyu, the world champion, Zab Judah, Arturo Gatti or even Junior Witter? “When I fight the top guys, they will come and try to win, so that will leave openings,” Hatton said. “This guy doesn’t have a mark on him and I now know why: he was very hard to catch. People may start to say this shows I am not a devastating puncher, but it was more a case of finding the punches.”

One of the people who was saying the same was Witter, Hatton’s domestic rival, who retained his Commonwealth title with a two-round stoppage of Fred Kinuthia, an old-looking 34-year-old from Kenya via Australia. The pair have long been expected to meet in the ring, but Witter has been rejected by Showtime, the American television network.

At least the pair’s relationship has developed. Instead of insulting each other, they now insult each other’s opponents. While Witter now regards Hatton as “one of the world’s best light-welterweights”, Ríos was “just a blown-up lightweight”. Hatton regards Witter as “a very good fighter”, while Kinuthia was “a ten-fight novice”.

The route Hatton now takes, though, is riddled with politics. Having been shunted down the queue for shots at the WBC and WBA titles, Hatton’s hopes of a bout for a significant title may now rely on Witter winning the WBO title. Witter is due to face Kelson Pinto, a Brazilian, for an interim version of that title later this year.

However, Frank Warren remains certain that Hatton will get all the big bouts he wants and favours a meeting with Gatti, regarded by many as the world’s most exciting boxer. “If the public demand is there, it will happen,” he said. “It won’t take as long as it took to make Lewis-Tyson either.”

What is disappointing is that the language being used by Hatton and Warren would imply that they are happy to hold on to the WBU title — for the record, this was Hatton’s tenth defence. Instead of talking of boxing for “real” titles, the pair now talk of “unification”, giving the WBU, which is unknown in the United States, credit it does not deserve.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/article1164308.ece

[floydjoy]

witter destroys hatton