Hatton Boxing Celebrates A Big First Year In Business

The year began with intense speculation surrounding a potential mega fight between the reigning Light Welterweight champion, Ricky Hatton and pound for pound star, Manny Pacquiao.

And it wasn’t long before the bout was confirmed as Ricky and his team held a press conference at the Village Hotel, in Ashton Moss to confirm the Pacquiao fight. However the press conference also saw the unveiling of the newly formed promotional company, Hatton Promotions.

A stable of an initial six fighters was revealed, including Olympian Joe Murray, Scott Quigg, Danny Butler, Matty Askin, Rhys Roberts and Ricky’s brother, Matthew Hatton.

The first promotion was held in Altrincham on March 28th and saw Matthew Hatton face Ted Bami in a 12 round IBO Welterweight title eliminator. Matthew gave a career defining performance as he became the first man to stop Bami in six years and secured himself a shot at the IBO title. The undercard also saw wins for Scott Quigg, Rhys Roberts and debutant Joe Murray on a hugely successful evening for Hatton Promotions.

All eyes were then on Vegas as Ricky took on Manny Pacquiao for the IBO Light Welterweight title, but moreover, for the right to be called the number one pound for pound fighter in the world. With an ever frenetic atmosphere provided by Ricky’s travelling support cheering ‘there’s only one Ricky Hatton’, it was clear that on that night in May it was a different Ricky Hatton in the ring as he was stopped in the second round.

If the Hitman does indeed decide to continue it will be in order to give a better account of himself, and with the desire to one day avenge that defeat.

On a more positive note, Joe Murray fought for the first time in Las Vegas securing a unanimous decision against Missael Nunez whilst Matthew Hatton also scored an emphatic points win over Ernesto Zepeda.

Hatton Promotions continued to go from strength to strength with the signings of Martin Murray and Mark Thompson, and staged their second show at Altrincham Leisure Centre in July, before the brave decision to stage a card at the Manchester Velodrome.

The last boxing staged at the venue had been when Ricky scored a fourth round TKO win over Jason Rowland back in 2001, whilst in August it was former world title challenger Michael Brodie, who was making his return to the ring after a four year absence.

It may have looked like a mistake to return as Brodie was floored in the first and third rounds, but he then produced a spirited comeback to win by a knockout mid-way through the fourth. Also on the card, Kirean Maher made a successful start to his professional career whilst Joe Murray took his record to 3-0. There were also wins for Alex Dilmaghani, Dezzi Higginson, Craig Watson and Andy Morris on the card.

September saw Hatton Promotion’s first live show on Sky Sports as Matthew Macklin made his bid for a European title, taking on Amin Asikainen of Finland.

It was clearly evident that Matthew Macklin has matured and improved since the brutal Jamie Moore fight, nearly three years to the day earlier, but no one could have predicted the way that Macklin would dispose of Asikainen in a brutal one-sided destruction. A left hook put the Finn down heavily midway through the first round and the Birmingham fighter immediately pounced on his opponent after he rose from the count, forcing the referee to end the contest.

After Matthew Hatton’s proposed encounter with Zab Judah on the Mayweather-Marquez undercard was postponed he went on to face former World champion Lovemore N’Dou for the IBO title.

Held at Stoke’s Fenton Manor, Matthew had to settle for a controversial draw, though many in the audience believed that Hatton had done enough to secure the victory over the South African. Scores of 115-114, 114-115 and 114-144 denied Matthew the IBO Welterweight title, but he is now knocking on the door again for a Commonwealth or British title shot.

The strong undercard for that show also illustrated how far Hatton Promotions have come in their first year, featuring a contender for fight of the year between Paul Samuels and Cello Renda, an English title fight between Danny Butler and Darren McDermott, and an enticing matchup pitting Scott Lawton against Derry Mathews.

Hatton’s last show of the year, in Wigan, featured British and Commonwealth Light Middleweight champion Anthony Small taking on Thomas McDonagh. Though the contest didn’t quite live up to the verbal exchanges pre fight, it was another strong card with a local battle between Michael Brodie and Anthony Crolla.

‘Million dollar’ Crolla more than lived up to his nickname stopping his fellow Manchester fighter at the end of the fourth.

Meanwhile, Martin Murray, Denton Vassell, Kieran Maher, Scott Quigg and Joe Murray all remained undefeated whilst there were also wins for Andy Morris, Craig Watson and Mark Thompson.

As the year draws to a close Gareth Williams and Ricky Hatton are very proud of the progression the company has made, in particular with the staging of British, European and World title fights in their first three shows with Sky. The stable of British boxers continues to develop and there are high hopes for all in 2010.

The undefeated pair of Scott Quigg and Mark Murray will look to become champions, as will Mark Thompson who will hopefully get the opportunity his talent deserves. There are also high aspirations for the prospects Joe Murray, Rhys Roberts, James Barker and Kieran Maher, and that Andy Morris continues his successful run of form. Ricky has a soft spot for his brother and believes that 2010 will be the year he will become a champion after his draw with N’Dou.

After such a successful beginning to Hatton Promotions, Ricky Hatton and Gareth Williams would like to thank everyone for their support over the course of the year and wish them a Happy Christmas and New Year.