HBO VOW TO MAKE RICKY A 'HUGE STAR'
Wednesday 12th April 2006


Ricky Hatton has received a massive boost with the backing of American TV giants HBO.

The cable network have vowed to make the Hitman as "as big a star in the US as he is in Britain" ahead of his WBA welterweight showdown with Luis Collazo.

Hatton has been in Boston to promote the May 13 date and met up with HBO officials, who have promised to put him on the map and deliver fights with Floyd Mayweather and Arturo Gatti after Collazo.

"Ricky Hatton is a huge star in the making," vice president for programming Kery Davis Davis told the Boston Globe.

"We've had our eyes on him for a long time. If there was anybody in the sport we wanted to get our hands on, it was Ricky.

"This is a tough challenge for Ricky, facing a slick southpaw like Collazo, who everyone seems to underestimate.

"But if he wins, we foresee matching him against Arturo Gatti and then Floyd Mayweather Jr. By the end of those three fights, he'll be as big a star in the US as he is in Britain."

Hatton, who broke off from his training to nip over the Atlantic, will start as favourite when he takes on the 25-year-old WBA champ from Brooklyn.

But he insists that by trying to make his name in the States, he is removing himself from the so-called comfort zone British boxers are often accused of fighting in.

"I had to come to the United States to prove myself," he said. "I fought for a long time in England and a lot of people thought I was a protected fighter."