WBA Welterweight Champion Ricky Hatton will sit ringside in Las Vegas next Saturday for the third bout between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales, intending to challenge the victor of this epic trilogy. "Ricky has flown out to Vegas for the Corrales and Castillo fight," said Ray Hatton, manager and father of "The Hitman". "He'd like to fight the winner, although we have heard rumours that Castillo will jump right up to welter afterwards and possibly fight Miguel Cotto."

The Hatton camp is also reacting to the recent WBA ruling that Ricky must face his mandatory challenger Oktay Urkal if he is to keep that organization's welterweight crown. "We'd definitely have to consider fighting Oktay Urkal," said Ray. "He's well respected as no one has ever really done a proper job on him yet; I think it all depends what happens in the next three or four of weeks. But we don't want to leave who Ricky fights until the last minute again."

With Hatton not due back in action until October, there's still time before the Englishman must strike out on a definite course of action. "Don't forget that I don't make the decisions of who Ricky fights, that's between Ricky and [trainer] Billy Graham," cautioned Ray. "But for me personally, if we can't fight the winner of Castillo - Corrales, then an ideal way to go may be for Ricky to fight Urkal and then fight Gatti, if he beats Baldomir, at Madison Square Garden in February of next year. I think it would be a good scenario for the fight fans with the box office selling out in a few hours; it would be brilliant."

Adding to the array of choices already being considered, the Hattons are still hoping to get pound for pound king and fellow welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather into the ring. "I think the Mayweather fight is going to happen at some point," said Ray. "But Ricky and Billy are going to have to decide when the time is right or when the money is right, looking at it realistically. If someone comes up with obscene money to make it sooner rather than later, then it will be sooner."

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