It’s still up in the air as to whether WBA welterweight champion Ricky Hatton will remain at welter or drop back down to 140. “I’m a natural light welterweight and nothing has changed,” he said. “I have to thank my strength coach Kerry Kayes because seven weeks before this fight, I was due to meet Juan Lazcano at light welterweight. And then I was fighting Collazo at welterweight, so I had seven weeks to build into a welterweight. If I stay at welterweight, I’ll only get better because I’d develop more into the weight. But, I showed that I can cut it, that’s the main thing; if a big fight is offered at junior welterweight, I’ll come back down but I showed that I can do it at welter as well.”
Hatton has been mandated by the WBA to fight Oktay Urkal by September. Also gunning for a rematch with Hatton is Luis Collazo. “I’m not saying I won’t fight Collazo again but, to be honest, I fought Collazo and I beat him,” said Hatton. “I’d much rather fight the winner of Gatti-Baldomir or Mayweather or go back down to light welter and fight Cotto or Corrales and Castillo. If the opinion is that there are better fighters at welterweight, then I’ll stay there and if the better fighters are at junior welterweight, then I’ll move back down.”
The landscape will begin to clear a bit in the next few weeks. The result of the Gatti/Baldomir fight, the Corralles/Castillo fight, and Cotto running over Malignaggi will give the next 6 months some shape.
I’ll go on record saying that ODLH will choose to rematch with Trinnidad instead of fighting PBF. Oscar is no fool and I think he knows that the money for a Trinidad rematch will be just as big if not bigger than anything Mayweather will bring to the table. Experts know PBF is the better fight and fighter but the PPV buys for Felix and his following will dwarf that of Floyd. Oscar is 33 and at best has 2 fights left and I don’t think he wants to take the chance of getting into the ring with a guy talented and fast enough to make him look 53.
That’s going to leave PBF looking for a dance partner for the fall. I know Arum will want to get him in there with Margarito and I’d be suprised if he takes on that fight.
The cards might be falling into place for Floyd to think that now is the right time to get a shot at Rick. He sure was avoiding him like the plague but after last weeks performance he might fall into the trap of thinking Hatton is ripe for the picking.
Margarito needs to fill his September date and I think we’ll see Collazzo slide in there (good for Louie - I like his chances).
I think that Baldomir will outpoint Gatti (hard to do in Atlantic City) and that will be the wild card. If Gatti wins that fight then it’ll be Hatton next for him (no way he goes to Margarito or PBF again). But if Gatti comes up short we may see Floyd slide into Baldi’s world for Carlos’ big payday.
In any event I really think that it’s the Gatti / Baldomir fight that everything in the 147 and 140 division hinges on. There’s plenty of room and opportunity for Rick to stay at 147 and I hope that he gives it a hard look before moving back down. All the major players at 147 will be former 140 fighters and he fits in the mix well.
WISE WORDS MATEY, BUT GATTI/BALDOMIR IS JULY 22, SO HOW SOON AFTER COULD THE WINNER FIGHT AGAIN? RICK MAY BE WAITING TOO LONG. TWIDDLING HIS THUMBS. HBO BREATHING DOWN HIS NECK AND ALL.
SADLY, I HONESTLY THINK HE IS DESTINED TO GO FOR CORRALES/CASTILLO . . . WHO FIGHT NEARLY 2 MONTHS EARLIER. AND WHICH HE SHALL BE RINGSIDE FOR.
November would be 6 months. Long but not too long. If it’s Baldomir then he’d be more willing to get back in there to cash in quickly - Gatti might require more time. The snag with the Castillo / Corralles situation is that Castillo has a date set with Cotto already. That leaves Rick with the opportunity for Corralles if he can win the rubber-match. I still don’t know if Diego takes Rick over Cotto though. It’s a big fight but so is Cotto and Cotto has a belt.
I like the idea of Jose or Diego but I don’t know if THEY pick Rick over Cotto. In all honesty, by that point Witter or Corley will have more appeal for either of them. They will fight for less money and have a strap (IBF i believe). If you were Corralles or Castillo would you move up to 140 and vacate your 135 title to fight a bigger guy for no trinket? The whole point of moving up in weight is to be a multi-division CHAMP.
There is a Ring belt. It may be a paper belt but the only way you can win it is by beating the belt holder in a championship bout or in the case of a vacant belt in the fight between the number one and number two (or sometimes the number 3) contender (Joe Calzaghe won the Ring belt by beating Jeff Lacey, the no3), the only way you can lose it is with a permanent move to another weight division, retiring or being beaten in the ring in a championship bout.
It’s the lack of mandatories and things like that that really make it work. Everyone knows that the alphabets are into making promoters pay for a shot at their “title”. It devalues the title to know that the number one contender is the guy with the promoter who pays. No boxer should lose their title in a courtroom.
I’m looking forward to the witter - corley matchup, should be an interesting fight and a good marker for judging where witter is now after his last couple of performances that were pretty dire!!
hehe CC for ya squealpiggy for the FABRICATI DIEM PVNC ;D
I think a match-up with Witter would be good for Hatton as a homecoming fight if he beats Mayweather and Gatti/Cotto/Castillo/Corrales. Especially if Witter is Champion of something at the time. Ricky would knock Witter’s chin off of course but that’s something I would like to see…