This Saturday night, Manchester's Ricky Hatton makes his Las Vegas debut when he tries to annex his old IBF Junior Welterweight Championship from unbeaten Colombian, Juan Urango. Come fight night, Hatton will be stepping into the ring following eight months of inactivity, the longest of his professional career.
Unbeaten in 41 bouts, Hatton's greatest night came in June 2005 when in a compelling bout, he ripped the 140 pound title from Australian great Kostya Tszyu in 11 brutal rounds. Since then, Hatton has picked up the WBA 140 pound title with a ninth round knockout of Colombian toughman Carlos Maussa and the WBA 147 pound title with a points verdict over American Luis Collazo last May.
Once again, Hatton finds himself in the challenger's role and I've a feeling that he won't have things his own way against Urango. Also unbeaten, with 17 wins and 1 draw, Urango is generally unknown to the casual fan. After early bouts in Spain and Columbia, the champion based himself in Florida and after winning the Latin American version of the 140 pound crown, he found himself pitched into a fight for Hatton's old title against the crafty Australian, Ben Rabah.
In a close fight, Urango won a 12 round decision and now faces old champion Hatton in his first defence. With 13 KO's in his 17 wins, Urango has power that should be respected and appears to be a very capable fighter. However, reports have been surfacing that Hatton has been looking red hot in training and is happy to be back in his old weight class.
In his last fight at 147, the 5 foot 6 Hatton seemed to fade against Collazo after a bright start. Although the shorter man again in his title challenge, I feel that Hatton has enough big fight experience come Saturday night to win back his old title. But I do feel that he may have to go the full distance to do it. Hopefully about between Hatton and Jose Luis Castillo will be next.
Ricky Hatton has overcome an arm injury during training sessions for his January 20 Las Vegas debut and continues preparing for his HBO/SKY televised showdown with IBF Light Welterweight Champion >
The very next day after arriving in Las Vegas, Ricky Hatton engaged in fierce combat over the course of twelve rounds of sparring as "The Hitman" prepares for his IBF >
On the strip the high rollers are rolling, the tourists are checking out the sights, and fight fans are taking in the big event atmosphere that no other sport can >
Junior welterweights Ricky Hatton and Juan Urango both showed great respect for each other when they came face-to-face for the final press conference ahead of Saturday’s showdown at the Paris >
Undefeated former two weight world champion Ricky Hatton is in the midst of a visit to America this week and it's anything but a vacation as "The Hitman" is covering >
Ricky Hatton returned to the light welterweight ranks in authoritative fashion last night at Las Vegas' Paris Hotel, overcoming Colombian strongman Juan Urango via a wide points decision to once >
Colombian knockout artist Juan Urango is healed from an injury to his left hand, back in the gym, and ready for his long-awaited shot at the IBF Junior Welterweight championship >
Ray Hatton has been busy managing the careers of his sons Ricky and Matthew Hatton as they prepare for their Las Vegas debuts on January 20. Ricky will challenge >
