Hatton to drop the IBF Strap

Ricky Hatton will give up his IBF light-welterweight title after refusing to fulfil a mandatory defence against number one contender Naoufel Ben Rabah.

Hatton is poised to move up a division in May to meet American Luis Collazo for the WBA welterweight crown.
But it means he will surrender the belt he won last summer from Kostya Tszyu.

Hatton told the Sun: "I have a great relationship with the IBF and they understood why I couldn't go through with a defence against Rabah."

Hatton hopes that by beating Collazo in May it will open the door to even bigger fights in at 147lb.

He said: "After that fight there should be a few more big-name bouts for me.

"They would be career-defining fights for me - and with all due respect to Rabah he cannot be counted among the big names.

"In an ideal world I'd like to keep all belts but that is not possible in this day and age."
Rabah, an Australian-based Tunisian, won an IBF eliminator last September against Mexico's Arturo Morua but could now face another opponent for the vacant title.

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/spo...ng/4855752.stm

He no longer needs the belts, he has a big enough name and reputation to fight the best rahter than the meanignless mandatorys