Ricky (Hitman) Hatton - Retires (Finally?)

Really happy to see that Hatton has made a decision on his glittering carreer and decided to call it a day. He will however be carrying on his fine work as a promoter (Hatton Promotions) of the sport in which he became a modern day hero. His fan base was swollen when he faced some of the best light welter and welterweight champions, all chanting "there's only one Ricky Hatton!", arguably one of his career defining performances was (at the time) pound for pound kingpin Kostya Tszyu - Where Hatton produced such a titanic performance Tszyu down on points going in to the final round, failed to answer the opening Bell.

He was well known for ballooning up in between fights, but still managing to shake it all off and then make a meal of all his opponents, all bar that is, Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Manny Pacquiao.

I'm not overly pleased to see him retire, but I'm happy he has made a decision, whether that decision remains final is always questionable with a Boxer.

There's Only ONE Ricky Hatton!

boxing dvds

Making Haye.

Less than a week to go and we see David Haye take on Wladimir Klitschko, in what could be a sensational heavyweight contest not seen since Lennox Lewis was in his prime as world champion.

Hopefully Haye will be able to provide a decent account of himself!

Some Good Times and Some Very Bad Times!

As promised David Haye produced a fantastic result against John Ruiz, who by all accounts gave it his all! What else is new, the guy is a true warrior but may now have to think about his future in the Ring. I like Ruiz but he can't go on doing what he does with big, hard hitting guys in the heavyweight division - they will eventually turn him (and I hate the term by the way) punch drunk! And no one wants to see that! Haye was on typically good form and I have to say the atmosphere in the MEN Arena was electric! I've very rarely been in a crowd... Let alone 20,000 people that let the jeering fly in such a one sided way, but they boo'd poor Mr Ruiz something awful! I was guilty of a couple myself and will admit I enjoyed the experience immensely!

Groves proved why he is the domestic flavour of the month at the moment with his one sided victory over Charles Adamek for the commonwealth title. And I also watched the Harrison - Sprott fight and thought that it truly was one sided with Sprott doing all the damage. It was unfortunate for him that Audley caught him late, but should Sprott have gone all guns blazing when he was notably winning? I gather the corner and Sprott were slightly worried that Harrison had clipped a couple more rounds than he actually did and thought a last ditch attempt for a KO was necessary.

I love it how Martinez pulled his rump off the canvas to take Pavlik the distance and rip the decision from him. No ill will towards Pavlik but I reckon with a fair few others that Martinez is awesome and he is undeniably a force to be reckoned with. Possibly a re-match with Williams will be on the cards... Here's hoping! Lucian Bute also pulled off another cracker with his win over the weekend and I can't wait to see it!

Something to look forward to is the Froch - Kessler fight which I believe is this weekend and what a fight it will be with the ever challenging Dane looking to do the business coming off his loss to Andre Ward! Froch should be looking to give a bigger and better performance to eradicate memories of his last time out with the frustrating Dirrell. Although I thought surprisingly that Dirrell looked really good against Abraham and that disqualification was a bad way to finish that fight. Froch - Kessler will be a true war and I do hope the Volcanic ash doesn't prove to be a problem for the fans travelling to Denmark.

Some sad news to finish with, as most will know (if you've been avidly reading my blog) the piece I did on my previous post was on Edwin Valero who was alleged, tragically to have murdered his wife last month and was found hanged in his cell this morning. A very sad day indeed.

Edwin Valero: Venezuelen masterclass @ 27 (27) - 0, impressed?

Valero took another KO victory from DeMarco in a WBC lightweight defence, it was good to see Valero take on another southpaw and use skill and speed to dismantle his opponent rather than just the wild (but powerful) windmilling we are used to. This takes his record to an impressive 27 wins all by way of KO with no losses, this guy has only fought twice during the 9th round and hats off to DeMarco for making it that far!

Could we see him fight anyone really good though? Someone with real class, I reckon he will continue to impress but not unless he has some real competition like Marquez or even (shot in the dark here) Prescott, who we know can bang as well. Having said that Prescott was taken to school by Kevin Mitchell on the undercard of Khan - Salita, again Khan would be another good possibility if he didn't mind dropping back down to lightweight which is highly unlikely! The problem is that Valero can only fight in select places in the world due to most governing bodies refusing him on health issues. I'm led to believe he previously suffered an injury from a motorcycle accident, which involved extensive surgery to his head, making him somewhat (to put it mildly) a liability in the ring. He is by far the most exciting lightweight prospect if he can maintain his KO reign, but the UK has a stunning line up as well with Dagenham boy Kevin Mitchell and Manchester's John Murray. The UK is crying out to see these two battle it out and I would expect once they both achieve a world title a piece that we can see it happen. Then you have the Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez who recently moved up to light welterweight to be dismantled by a huge looking Mayweather. Now linked with a summer bout with Hatton, not so sure I like that one! Hatton is in need of a real defining come back and I don't believe Marquez is the man to do it for him. Until then though there is plenty to look forward to on an international and domestic level!

Next Saturday sees Nathan Cleverly take on Italy's Antonio Brancalion in a European light heavyweight bout with Cleverly looking on fantastic form I do hope he manages something special for the fans!

In need of a little catch up!

Well, finally I'm back after a long lay off, I have been training at the St John's Chorlton ABC, and my good lord it's tough but I've enjoyed every minute... Well except getting knocked so hard I thought I'd never see again!

Anyway back to the topic or should I say "topics"!? As we all know there were some great fights to finish off 2009 with Manny Pacquiao dominating the Awesome Puerto Rican, welterweight Miguel Cotto. In what can only be described as "being schooled", absolutely phenomenal! I know I keep saying this but Pacquiao just keeps getting better and what with the Mayweather fight scheduled for 13th March, unfortunately cancelled I stand corrected on thinking that Mayweather would have been salivating to get in the ring with him. Olympic style drug testing in my view is not a bad idea and most of the boxing community would love to see it come into effect. Funny though how Mayweather will fight someone who has been known to have used banned substances... Sugar Shane Mosely recently admitted to have used some form of steroid to gain weight for his light middleweight showdown with Oscar De La Hoya in 2003. But I can't personally complain since I've been dyeing to see this fight for a long time and so have many others. I feel that Mosely stands a fantastic chance of ruining Mayweathers undefeated run on 1st May, but I have thought the same of so many others, Hatton, De La Hoya, Castillo, Judah, Gatti and I even hoped (well a little) that Marquez would surprise us all. This will shape up to be a good fight, Mosely has changed an awful lot to maintain a good fighting composure even if he is lacking a little on speed compared with Mayweather he still packs a far bigger punch and is noticeably bigger framed as well.

Pacquiao takes on Ghanian Joshua Clottey who Cotto beat not so long ago, this as most will know means nothing as Clottey is tough and cannot be underestimated, end of! He is rather slow, his workrate rather low, but this guy has a champion defence and has never been stopped so is as tough as old boots! Promises to be a good bout but not really what the Pacman's fans are after.

The big domestic fight for the 3rd April See's our very own David Haye take on John Ruiz after an amazing November win over the "beast from the east" Nikolay Valuev, claiming the WBA heavyweight title in the process. Bearing in mind Haye fought only one year earlier against Monte Barrett and suffered injury and other set backs with the Klitschko brothers, I think he did rather well by becoming the heavyweight champ with only one previous fight at this division. It will be a cracker this fight though, instead of having to stay out of range and jump in with a couple of shots, it should be an all out war which plays very well with our boys style, he has one of the most devastating punches in the fight game today! Ruiz as most will know is no beginner or (as some have called him) an experienced journeyman, he is by all standards one of the toughest guys on the planet, who boxes well and is known to make other boxers pay dearly whilst taking him to the later rounds. He has also fought some of the best heavyweights in the business and has only been stopped once by David Tua. Well I'll be there at the MEN Arena, Manchester cheering Haye on, I just hope the under card is a decent one!

Murray too much for Thaxton!

Thaxton looked good and really up for this fight and he had high hopes of doing the business, which the public and everyone who counts in Boxing all said he couldn't do. It was a case of last chance saloon for the ageing and well loved Norwich fighter. And he reckons he didn't get a proper chance to do himself justice. I can sort of agree with that in so far as he looked good during the first round and easily won it, but by the second just looked sluggish, dropping his left hand and it all seemed to be wrong from that round to the fourth. Murray completely dazed him and took the fight right out of Thaxton's hands and so was called by the ref and I would normally say it's too early but was it? Thaxton looked gone and I know in the past, present and future, heart filled fighters can and will get up to take the win. But Thaxton was being punished and the ref did right by him especially since Murray found his range with the big right hand which by this time was landing consistently on Thaxton since his left hand had dropped. Murray from the start looked composed, so much so that he never once dived in head first which he normally does and usually with great effect. But this just goes to show that he looked at Thaxton as a proper opponent, with vast amounts of respect for the power Thaxton can unleash and still has even though he didn't really get the chance to employ it. I believe if they had let the fight go on it would still be a Murray victory who is now 28-0 but also believe that Thaxton would know he did all he could and therefore be more certain of his future in the sport. As it is I don't believe that Thaxton will end his career just yet but there are few options for him after his fourth loss in five fights, I wish him well though. Murray however can now look to his future and hopefully a well deserved crack at a world title, he is capable, hungry and indeed "well deserved" as his record now shows 28-0.

Good to see a couple of Fury fights as well on ITV4 with Phil Fury, Tyson Fury's cousin throwing vast amounts of hooks, but unfortunately I missed the outcome due to boredom whilst watching him and concentrated on my Poker game instead. I did watch Tyson who looked very much as he always does and was not very exciting but then noticing he had hurt his hand and suddenly he was so much better, taking the fight to his opponent and really hammering at him. I would personally suggest strapping that arm to his face when he tee's off on McDermott again to get a better result. Because as it stands if he fights the same as always McDermott will have have his number and tear him apart.