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Can Hatton Slay the Dragon?

ByRichard Eberline

“I genuinely think I’ll win beyond a shadow of a doubt.”–Ricky Hatton on his upcoming fight with Kostya Tszyu.


© Mike Cleary

 Almost no one outside of his dedicated fan-base gives Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton a shred of a chance to pull off an upset over heavily favored IBF light welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu. So fearsome is the lethal combination of skill and power presented by the Russian now

living in Sydney, Australia that most in the boxing industry do not think the Manchester man will even finish on his feet. Ricky Hatton couldn’t agree less, of course, and the WBU titlist is quite happy to explain why he’ll prevail in perhaps the most anticipated fight to take place on British soil in quite some time.

“I’ve seen Tszyu’s style for so long, with him being the number one fighter in the division for quite a few years now, and he likes to prod and probe away with that left hand to obviously set you up for that right cross,” said “The Hitman.” “He has a very wide stance and that’s what I’ve been preparing for in camp. Obviously, I’ve got to be much slicker, much cuter than ever before and very good defensively, but I’ve shown that I can do that in fights, particularly the Ben Tackie contest which I suppose was my biggest test, but it was probably one of my easiest fights so far. I was aware of the dangers but I think that when I need to be good defensively, I can do so and I think that’s what will happen when I get into the ring with Tszyu.”

Don’t miss this exclusive interview with undefeated contender Ricky Hatton as the days draw him ever closer to his shot at the one true light welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu.

Hatton and Tszyu have two opponents in common, Ben Tackie and Vince Phillips,
and those two figure prominently in Hatton’s plans on how to slay the dragon.

“When I fought Ben Tackie, he was taking it to me and I showed good defense and good boxing ability, easing back rather than pressing forward and it was Tackie who was the one doing the pressing forward,” recalled Hatton. “Against Tszyu, I’m going to be the one pressing forward, I think. I’ve got to show the same skill, abilities and defensive qualities that I did against Tackie except that I’ve got to show that going forward on the front foot, if you like, against Tszyu.

“I’ve studied Tszyu’s fight with Vince Phillips for years and I think that Kostya was so surprised that Vince took his best and kept coming back at him. I think that with the pace, you could see Kostya with his mouth open after six or seven rounds and Vince just kept going at him and kept going at him. To be honest, I think it was with very little thought about what he was doing. He just kept chipping away until eventually, it didn’t look like Kostya was necessarily staggered or shaken up or hurt, I think he was just totally dejected, tired and had nothing left.

“The pace that Vince set proved too much for Kostya and that was about seven or eight years ago. With the rounds that he’s had under his belt since, particularly in the last four years and with him being thirty five years of age now, I don’t expect him to be any fitter than what he was when he fought Vince Phillips.”

One twist to this mega-pairing of light welterweights is the fact that the fight will take place in Manchester’s sold out 22,000 seat Evening News Arena at 2am Sunday morning. This is solely down to American cable television network Showtime’s intention to air the fight live to their subscribers during prime time U.S. viewing hours. The twenty-six- year-old Hatton is philosophical about the offbeat hour of combat.

“We’ve taken the advice of someone in a professional capacity that has advised us properly, concerning fighting in the early morning hours,” laughed the Mancunian. “It’s so unusual and I’ve never had to do it before but I don’t think it’ll affect me. It was initially going to be four o’clock in the morning, which that extra two hours would make a bit of a difference. But I don’t think two o’clock in the morning is that bad. I think I fought Mike Stewart at about eleven o’clock at night and there’s not that much difference between eleven o’clock and two o’clock so I’m not particularly worried about that. I can’t speak for Kostya, but I’m not particularly worried about it on the whole.”

Ricky Hatton is putting everything on the line, facing an enormous jump in class in Tszyu, who utterly dwarfs anyone the unbeaten light welterweight has faced to date in his seven year, thirty-nine-fight career. You would expect the stocky, quick-footed body puncher to have a bit of nerves about what some reckon to be a suicidal assignment, but Hatton exudes a relaxed serenity about what will most certainly be a most violent and bitterly contested affair.

“I’m just feeling very, very positive about the whole thing and I know what the dangers are with Kostya and it’s going to be a credit, a pleasure sharing the ring with someone of his talents, bearing in mind what he’s achieved and everything,” he said. “Just the fact that he’s coming to Manchester shows what a great champion he is, but I always say it the way it is and never say anything that is meant to sell tickets, it’s just not my way and people who know me know that. I genuinely think I’ll win beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

Richard Eberline can be reached at richardeberline@fastmail.fm

The fight will be on Showtime (9 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on West Coast).