Hatton Delights Homecoming Crowd
By Arvin Nundloll
Ricky Hatton came out victorious in a convincing 12 round demolition of the Hispanic causing pain, Juan Lazcano. Hatton gave the crowd of just under 58,000 one last chance to see the Hitman, before he begins his campaign in America to fight Floyd Mayweather and didn't disappoint.
Amazing the crowd with a brutal onslaught on Lazcano for 12 rounds, Hatton showed no signs of any physical or mental scars from his knock out defeat in December.
Since his defeat at the hands of the pound for pound number one Floyd Mayweather, many questioned Hatton's will to fight and what was left in the tank.
Hatton was able to answer those in the ring, where he soundly destroyed Juan Lazcano. Fighting with a more aggressive style than usual, maybe due to the added pressure of fighting at home, Hatton controlled the pace and style of the fight at all times, preventing a frustrated Lazcano from using his reach advantage.
Coming out in a crowd pleasing fat suit, a joke on himself, Hatton had his hometown pumped up for the Ricky Hatton experience.
As the first round got underway, Hatton showed no mental scars from a knockout defeat and made it a night to forget for Juan Lazcano.
Hatton had Lazcano stumbling and hurt throughout the fight, much to the delight of the crowd, with excellent body shots which were coming out in bunches.
Closing down the ring to prevent Lazcano using his reach advantage, Hatton fought a smart fight yet was still showing
Hatton was down in the 3rd round, however the referee ruled it a slip, one of Lazcano's very few rounds to be won in the fight.
The 8th round was Lazcano's only round where he had Hatton in trouble with an excellent combination of body punches with a hapless Hatton struggling to hold on.
Hatton was also in trouble in the 10th round when Lazcano began to mount a last minute attempt to rescue the fight from his grasp. This showed Hatton's lack of judgment in sacrificing his defense to attempt a knock out to please the crowd.
With the bruises visible, Ricky Hatton may be blamed for being too aggressive and taking unneeded risks against Lazcano.
Speaking in the post fight press conference, Hatton accepted that he sometimes fights to please the crowd rather than to win.
“Anybody who has done a bit of boxing and had the misfortune to get knocked out will tell you the first one back is probably your hardest. I expect my performances to go from strength to strength from here. The hardest one is out the way now.”
"I don't make things easy for myself. Maybe I should have eased my way back into action but 55,000 fans doesn't exactly make you do that. It wouldn't be Ricky Hatton. That's the way I like it.
"From the start of my career to my current fight, I've always played to the crowd and it's landed me in trouble, and I'm sure it will land me in trouble again.
"It landed me in trouble against Floyd Mayweather. The fight was slipping away, I got frustrated, and instead of trying to last the distance I went for the knockout.
"But I think that's why people come and follow me like they do."
Lazcano was full of praise for Hatton, claiming that he lost to a great champion. It also appears to be the last time for Lazcano in a ring, as he had a previous 15 months off before taking the fight and showed no desire to carry on.
“He took a tough fight after losing to Mayweather and it was an honour to fight him, I lost to a great fighter.”
The judges scored the fight in favor to Hatton, 120-110, 118-110 and 120-108.
Also on the under card was the rematch between the current IBF Light Welterweight Paulie Malignaggi and the ex champion Lovemore N'Dou.
Paulie Malignaggi made the fight tough for himself with his eccentric hairstyle, which blurred his vision and in a boxing first, having a haircut in the ring.
Paulie fought well and managed to use N'Dou's aggression to his favor with counter punching and speed. N'Dou failed to control the fight and never took the opportunity to finish off Malignaggi when he had him rocked. Malignaggi also fought from the sixth round onwards with a broken right hand.
Malignaggi done well to get through the full 12 rounds carrying the injury against N'Dou who took him to the full 12 rounds The result ended in a split decision, favoring the Malignaggi with the scoring 116-112, 116-113 against the 115-114 awarded to N'Dou.
The Golden boy Oscar De La Hoya also commented on the likely match up between Malignaggi and Hatton in November.
“When you look at what Ricky Hatton accomplished of filling up an arena with 57,000 people no other fighter can do that,” De La Hoya said. “The pressure was on and Ricky demonstrated so many things tonight it shows you he can still be champion for many years to come. Styles make fights and Ricky against Malignaggi would be a great fight.”
Having predicted both outcomes, I was shocked at Hatton's reckless boxing, taking shots too easily from Lazcano and being put in danger to please the crowd. Hatton has shown some lapses in his defense, now with an extra trainer on board these will need to be ironed out when the match up with Malignaggi takes place.
A previous problem with Hatton has always been his preparation and mentality for the fight. Many criticised his way of life and out of ring drinking as a problem. It was either these or Hatton's ring age that are coming out. Hatton looked exhausted and confused when Lazcano came in with a flurry of punches and had to cling on in desperation. This isn't the Hatton of old who was able to carry out devasting body punches and putting fighters to sleep, credit due to Lazcano for enduring the pain but asky any other expert and they would say Hatton failed to knock out Lazcano as he burnt himself out.
There seems to be a sparkle missing from the Hatton performance and that hungry young contender who would give it his all in the ring seems to have faded out. Hatton has become not only an athlete but a borderline superstar and this may play a part to his performance. Hattons head movement was non existent on Saturday and blocked very few shots with his gloves. I'm often left wondering what would Hatton be with Freddie Roach or Floyd Mayweather Snr as a coach.
The fans will continue to adore him, however if Hatton was to face Mayweather again on that form there is no question who would win. Hatton showed lapses in defence and failed to fight to his tactics, similarly to the Mayweather fight. Hatton needs to rewatch the fight and consider what comes first friendship or success. Hatton will have no problem disposing of Malignaggi, as he will not be able to sustain the body punches Hatton would deliver and if Vegas is anything to go by, the atmosphere and occassion might well defeat Malignaggi before he event steps foot inside the ring.
So with both fighters coming out on top form, the match up is now on and according to Lou Di Bella and Richard Schaefer, the only thing left to decide is the venue and exact date. The fight penciled in for mid November, however strong hints indicate the MGM Grand and the Maddisson Square Garden, with ticket sales bound to be sold out within hours.
The event was promoted by Frank Maloney Promotions who also broke the British post war record for the attendance. The figure is was just under 58,000.
Also on the undercard, Magic Matthew Hatton lost in a contraversial 12 round decision against the current commonwealth champion Craig Watson. The judges scored the fight 116-112, 117-112 and 118-111 all in favour of Watson. Matthew Hatton was unavailable for comment.
Jamie Moore finsihed off late sub Essar Hererra in the 9th round with the referee stopping the bout at 1.31 of the fifth round. Moore was having difficutly in adjusting to to Hererra's style of boxing and finally managed to knock him out in the 5th round and continued his onslaught when he arose before the referee stopped the bout.
Mark Moran scored a win against Danny Wallace, with the referee stopping the bout in the ninth round.
Andrew Facey scraped by with the draw against Thomas McDounagh for the English Light-Middleweight title with the referee scoring the fight 96-96.
Full Malignaggi Post Fight Press Conference
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