By Padraig Ivory: I once saw a black and white photo of Ricky Hatton as he lay unconscious after his last bout in 2009. His ripped abdominal muscles almost gave a cobblestone appearance to the Las Vegas canvas. It was a devastating knockout of the raucously supported English favourite. Now three years later ‘The Hitman’ is preparing both physically and mentally to re-enter the boxing ring.
Envision the early runs. The dew unevenly evaporating from the terrain as the nights shadows slowly recede. The footpaths appear two toned, the white frost fading towards the kerbs edge. His warm breath vaporising as it meets the cooler morning air. The thoughts and dreams of the former champion oscillating to and fro as he paces the city streets.
Turning by Victoria Station he automatically decelerates to a slow jog. Nostalgia weighs heavy. The blurring figure of a younger Ricky Hatton running that same street overtakes the now 33 year old. Inspired by the vivid memory he speeds up, chasing his younger image.
By Rob Smith: Ricky Hatton reportedly will be revealing who his next opponent during a press conference this Friday to discuss his upcoming comeback fight on November 24th in Manchester, England. It was thought that Australian Michael Katsidis would be Hatton’s next opponent, but those rumors were quashed earlier today when Katsidis’s agent Matthew Tripp told Sky Sports News “At this stage there has been no discussions. But it is something that we would consider depending on the purse and depending on the weight.”
By Michael Collins: Former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye desperately wants to get a fight against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko before the 41-year-old longtime World Boxing Council champion retires from the sport. However, there are limits to what Haye is willing to put up with in order to get the fight. Haye doesn’t want to fight Vitali in his native Ukraine because he feels it could be dangerous for him to travel there due his fears of being attacked by racist people.