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From Sporting Life
HATTON EYES LONG REIGN
Ricky Hatton has vowed to emulate Kostya Tszyu's long and distinguished reign as world light-welterweight champion after dethroning the Australian in Manchester yesterday morning.
Hatton battered Tszyu into submission to the extent the champion failed to answer the bell for the beginning of the final round, sending the 22,000 capacity MEN Arena crowd wild with delight.
And the 26-year-old quickly paid tribute to his vanquished opponent, who had first claimed the IBF title which now belongs to Hatton back in 1995.
Hatton said: "Hopefully now I can do the title proud and in a few years time Kostya can say, I lost my title to a great champion.
"With what Kostya has achieved I don't think he has anything more to prove to be honest.
"What a lot of people don't realise is that I have only just reached my peak. I am 26, I have had a lot of cuts along the way but I have not had too many thrillers."
But the 35-year-old Tszyu is unlikely to relish a rematch after being outworked by Hatton through the second half of the fight and trailing on all three judges' scorecards when the bout was stopped.
Tszyu came up with no excuses for his defeat, admitting: "I don't know why I stayed close to him. I never really caught him on the chin. He deserved the win.
"I have not been that tired or exhausted for years and years. I had one of the best training camps and I was in great shape. Something was wrong. He was the better man."
Asked if the defeat would bring an end to the glittering career which saw him ranked as the pound-for-pound greatest fighter in the world, Tszyu added: "I am not saying this is the end of my career. Maybe yes, maybe no."
Hatton's win came after 11 relentless rounds in which he expertly avoided the best of Tszyu's fabled right hands by bulling in close and mixing it up with the champion.
He came on more strongly as the rounds progressed to book one of Britain's biggest boxing victories and pave the way for a series of super-fights in the United States.
Hatton now sits in pole position on top of the best division in world boxing, with rival champions Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto and Vivian Harris all also putting their lesser belts on the line this month.
Fights with any of those three would be huge but as far as Jay Larkin, senior vice-president of the American Showtime pay-per-view network is concerned, Hatton is already number one.
"Ricky is now the undisputed world light-welterweight champion - the titles are a nonsense," said Larkin.
"Tszyu was the undisputed champion and was stripped of his belts by political back-room dealings. In the opinion of everyone in the world, Ricky is now the champion."
Despite the mega-fights and millionaire status which now approach, Hatton proved success would not change him by celebrating his success with a 'bad shirt' party at a local pub in Hattersley, Manchester.
He hailed 22,000 supporters who made his coronation a night to remember and added: "I am a Mancunian born and bred and I really, honestly do feel that I am no different to the man in the crowd.
"I think that's why I get the respect I do. It is not just the exciting style I have in the ring, but I think everybody thinks Ricky is just one of the lads and that is why they are so passionate towards me.
"It is so nice to reward them. Even when the big fights have fallen through there are still 15,000 here cheering me on, so I think they deserve this as much as I do."
For trainer Billy Graham, Hatton's success was the culmination of nearly 15 years of work during which his belief never wavered.
Graham honed Hatton's tactics to perfection then revealed he was so confident of an upset win he had been discussing his next opponent with promoter Frank Warren beforehand.
Graham said: "That was how confident I was because we were talking about maybe fighting Diego Corrales before the fight.
"I said years ago Ricky would be one of the best pound for pound fighters to come out of this country.
"I said that on TV when he was doing four and six-rounders and now I think he will go on to become the best of all.
"This kid is really special. He always told me he wanted to become a legend. He wasn't happy with anything but the undisputed title. He told me that when he was a little kid and now he has done it."
Warren refused to go into great detail about Hatton's next fight although Corrales - the world lightweight champion who engaged in one of the great all-time fights with Jose Luis Castillo last month - watched from ringside.
Warren said: "People are already trying to make us fights but Ricky is going to have a long, long break now."
HATTON EYES LONG REIGN
Ricky Hatton has vowed to emulate Kostya Tszyu's long and distinguished reign as world light-welterweight champion after dethroning the Australian in Manchester yesterday morning.
Hatton battered Tszyu into submission to the extent the champion failed to answer the bell for the beginning of the final round, sending the 22,000 capacity MEN Arena crowd wild with delight.
And the 26-year-old quickly paid tribute to his vanquished opponent, who had first claimed the IBF title which now belongs to Hatton back in 1995.
Hatton said: "Hopefully now I can do the title proud and in a few years time Kostya can say, I lost my title to a great champion.
"With what Kostya has achieved I don't think he has anything more to prove to be honest.
"What a lot of people don't realise is that I have only just reached my peak. I am 26, I have had a lot of cuts along the way but I have not had too many thrillers."
But the 35-year-old Tszyu is unlikely to relish a rematch after being outworked by Hatton through the second half of the fight and trailing on all three judges' scorecards when the bout was stopped.
Tszyu came up with no excuses for his defeat, admitting: "I don't know why I stayed close to him. I never really caught him on the chin. He deserved the win.
"I have not been that tired or exhausted for years and years. I had one of the best training camps and I was in great shape. Something was wrong. He was the better man."
Asked if the defeat would bring an end to the glittering career which saw him ranked as the pound-for-pound greatest fighter in the world, Tszyu added: "I am not saying this is the end of my career. Maybe yes, maybe no."
Hatton's win came after 11 relentless rounds in which he expertly avoided the best of Tszyu's fabled right hands by bulling in close and mixing it up with the champion.
He came on more strongly as the rounds progressed to book one of Britain's biggest boxing victories and pave the way for a series of super-fights in the United States.
Hatton now sits in pole position on top of the best division in world boxing, with rival champions Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto and Vivian Harris all also putting their lesser belts on the line this month.
Fights with any of those three would be huge but as far as Jay Larkin, senior vice-president of the American Showtime pay-per-view network is concerned, Hatton is already number one.
"Ricky is now the undisputed world light-welterweight champion - the titles are a nonsense," said Larkin.
"Tszyu was the undisputed champion and was stripped of his belts by political back-room dealings. In the opinion of everyone in the world, Ricky is now the champion."
Despite the mega-fights and millionaire status which now approach, Hatton proved success would not change him by celebrating his success with a 'bad shirt' party at a local pub in Hattersley, Manchester.
He hailed 22,000 supporters who made his coronation a night to remember and added: "I am a Mancunian born and bred and I really, honestly do feel that I am no different to the man in the crowd.
"I think that's why I get the respect I do. It is not just the exciting style I have in the ring, but I think everybody thinks Ricky is just one of the lads and that is why they are so passionate towards me.
"It is so nice to reward them. Even when the big fights have fallen through there are still 15,000 here cheering me on, so I think they deserve this as much as I do."
For trainer Billy Graham, Hatton's success was the culmination of nearly 15 years of work during which his belief never wavered.
Graham honed Hatton's tactics to perfection then revealed he was so confident of an upset win he had been discussing his next opponent with promoter Frank Warren beforehand.
Graham said: "That was how confident I was because we were talking about maybe fighting Diego Corrales before the fight.
"I said years ago Ricky would be one of the best pound for pound fighters to come out of this country.
"I said that on TV when he was doing four and six-rounders and now I think he will go on to become the best of all.
"This kid is really special. He always told me he wanted to become a legend. He wasn't happy with anything but the undisputed title. He told me that when he was a little kid and now he has done it."
Warren refused to go into great detail about Hatton's next fight although Corrales - the world lightweight champion who engaged in one of the great all-time fights with Jose Luis Castillo last month - watched from ringside.
Warren said: "People are already trying to make us fights but Ricky is going to have a long, long break now."