MY GREATEST NIGHT Ricky HATTON

Freddie Roach says Manny Pacquiao's crushing frustration of Ricky Hatton was his greatest moment.
Pacquiao's trainer confidently predicted the Filipino icon would beat Manchester's finest inside three rounds when they met in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas back in May.
And Manny duly backed up that boast, sending the Hitman to the canvas twice in the opening session before producing a chilling knockout in the second.
Roach, speaking on HBO's Pacquiao/Cotto 24/7, said: "Hatton, and I hate to say this about a world champion, he wasn't that good.
"The Hatton night, I was actually satisfied, I was glad my prediction came true, and to look it work was the best night of my life."
Pacquiao meanwhile said: "Freddie and I were so happy because we learned is perfect for Hatton's style."
Pacquio and Cotto will lock horns on November 14 at the MGM Grand in one of the most eagerly-awaited bouts of 2009.
They'll fight at 145lbs with Cotto's WBO world welterweight crown at stake.

HATTON: HAYE CAN DO IT

Ricky Hatton believes David Haye's speed will help him defeat Nikolai Valuev when they meet head on next month.
'The Hayemaker' will go toe to toe with the giant Russian for the WBA world heavyweight title in Nuremburg on November 7, live on Sky Box Office.
The fight has been billed as 'David and Goliath', but despite Valuev's 7ft 2in frame Hatton is confident Haye will be leaving the ring as world champion.
"I think he can beat him and I've thought from the start that he will," he told Soccer AM.
"As big as that fella is, he isn't the quickest and he isn't the most mobile and if there's one thing that David is, it is quick and he can hit double his body weight.
"When I saw him at the press conference though, I was a little more nervous! But to be honest I still think he will beat him.
"David is about 15 or 16 stone and if you get it on the chin with 15 stone, it doesn't matter how big you are, you're going to go."
Hatton himself hasn't stepped into the ring since his devastating second-round knockout by Manny Pacquiao in May, and he is yet to make up his mind about his future as a fighter.
Instead 'The Hitman' has taken his first steps on the road to becoming a top boxing promoter.
Last month his friend and sparring partner Matthew Macklin gave him his first significant champion in his new role and the Manchester City fan admitted that he didn't have the desire to fight again just yet.
"At the moment I'm just sitting back, recharging the batteries and having a bit of a break really," he said,
"As far as the actual fighting goes it is the hardest game in the world. So to get up at six in the morning and go running and go in the gym everyday you've got to want to do it and you've got to have the bit between your teeth and I don't really feel that at the minute.
"But like any fighter once you've had a rest and you start getting itchy feet I'm sure you'll come back."
"There's no time limit on it," he added. "I've likely had more fights than most British world champions over the years - I've had 47 fights now - and I'm still only 31 years of age, so I've got loads of time to come back, but I just want to have a rest at the minute."

as a top promoter I hope Ricky Hatton can establish himself

At a press conference to publicise the title fight between his brother Matthew and Lovemore N'Dou in Stoke next month, Hatton was keen to talk up the venue.
He told his conference that when he fought Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas, fans kept coming up to him and asking: "When are you going to fight in Stoke?" With the delights of the Strip so close at hand, the casinos, the swimming pools, the bars, the buffets, the hotels, the sunshine, it looks rather a strange question to have put to the man who was then Britain's biggest boxoffice draw.
The promoter would never admit Hatton to this, of course, but I suspect his answer would have been something close to: "Not in your lifetime."

Ricky Hatton's shoes John Murray ready to step

John Murray emerged as British boxing's next superstar in waiting, with the potential to take over from Ricky Hatton as a Manchester legend, as he took only four rounds to stop Jon Thaxton, the former European champion, on Saturday.
Aged 24 and unbeaten in 28 bouts, Murray seems ready for the big time. Saturday's win in Altrincham enabled him to regain the British lightweight title he lost when weighing 2oz over the limit for a title defence in June.
But lesson learnt, Murray is beginning to look a complete boxer. While he now chases a world title at lightweight, in the long term a clash with another boxer from Greater Manchester, Amir Khan, the WBA light welterweight champion, becomes a mouthwatering prospect.
The similarities with Hatton, another aggressive pressure fighter, are obvious. Murray trains, under Joe Gallagher, in the same gym in Denton where Hatton worked with Billy Graham for 11 years and he even supports Manchester City. But Murray must now make the step from selling out leisure centres to filling big arenas, although the healthy crowd that watched him weigh in at the Arndale Centre in Manchester shows that he is becoming well known.
“Ricky is coming to the end of his career now, so hopefully I can be the heir apparent,” Murray said. “I'm starting to make a name for myself in Manchester and I want to build on that.”
He hunted down Thaxton, 35, in fine style, throwing hard punches from behind a high guard. Thaxton was caught flush several times by Murray before an overhand right had him backtracking to the ropes, prompting Howard Foster, the referee, to stop the bout. Thaxton and his corner protested, but the outcome looked inevitable.
“Every time I landed I seemed to rock him to his boots,” Murray said. “He's had a great career, there is no point him going out on his back.”
Gallagher, who trained Matthew Macklin to win the European middleweight title eight days earlier, called it “a punch perfect performance”.
Murray is mandatory challenger for the European title, held by Anthony Mezaache, of France, but Mick Hennessy, his promoter, could look farther afield. “He's one of the very best lightweights on the world stage now,” he said. “He could be ready for a big fight in America.”
Murray has already boxed across the Atlantic four times, twice in Las Vegas in 2007, where he fought on the Floyd Mayweather Jr-Oscar De La Hoya undercard and topped a bill the night before Mayweather Hatton.
“I've proved I'm the best in Britain,” Murray said. “I want to box again as soon as possible and I want to box for a world title within 12 months. Michael Katsidis [the interim WBO champion from Australia] has just won a title. That would be a great fight and I think I have the style to beat him.” Hatton, of course, beat an Australian [Kostya Tszyu] for his first genuine world title.
Audley Harrison hopes to challenge for the European heavyweight title after winning the Prizefighter tournament in London on Friday.
“Hopefully a door in the UK has opened again for me,” Harrison said. “There is still hope for me. I don't worry or get upset about the boos. I come from the ghettos, have been to jail, went to college, went to university, won an Olympic gold and should be celebrating that I am the boy done good.”
Meanwhile, Danny Williams, looks likely to retire after losing his Prizefighter first round bout to Carl Baker. The British heavyweight champion had his greatest moment in 2004, when he knocked out Mike Tyson in four rounds in Louisville, Kentucky. He challenged Vitali Klitschko for the WBC title in Las Vegas in his next bout and was stopped in eight rounds.
A judge in Las Vegas has issued an arrest warrant for Roger Mayweather, the trainer and uncle of Floyd, after he failed to show up for a court appearance. He is charged with attacking a female boxer.

Thalidomide victim's hunger strike supports Ricky Hatton

Former World light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton MBE has given his full support to Liverpool comedian Gary Skyner's hunger strike. Victim of the drug Thalidomide Gary Skyner, 49, and his mother Frances, 72, are protesting at the government's refusal to pay compensation to the users of the anti morning sickness drug.The group have been on hunger strike for nine days, refusing all food except vitamin tablets and drinking only water and coffee until the government capitulates. Skyner, who has no thumbs, wrists, elbows or radius bones in either arm, was the second person born in the UK with horrific side effects of the drug prescribed to combat morning sickness in the 50's and early 60's. Ricky Hatton is supporting his friend Gary Skyner, yet is concerned for Gary’s health he has a history of heart problems. In addition to this, his 72 year old mother is on daily medication which is required to be taken with food. Ricky is urging Health Minister Andy Burnham MP to intervene and meet with both Gary Skyner and his committee to find a satisfactory resolution to this 50 year battle. A spokesman for Ricky Hatton said: "Ricky and his supporters would like to wish Gary and his mother their best wishes during their dissent and would like to be kept informed of developments."