Promoting Kevin Hammond to Ricky Hatton keen

Former world champion Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton could be set to take a opportunity on Kevin Hammond, having moved into the world of promoting following his defeat to Manny Pacquiao in May.
The 30 year old has held talks with Hammond's manager, Carl Greaves, about promoting the International Masters light middleweight champion and has already arranged for the 28 year old to spar with his brother, Matthew, ahead of the Mancunian's IBO welterweight title challenge against Lovemore N'Dou in November.
Hammond is recently tied to a five fight deal with top international promoter Frank Maloney but that deal is in doubt following Hammond's shock frustration to Jonny Musgrave, in Lincoln, in May.
"I spoke to Ricky Hatton (pictured) last week about Kevin and I am going to take Kevin along in a couple of weeks to spar with with Matthew and Ricky will take a look at him," said Greaves.
"I have got to sit down with Frank Maloney and he might be happy to release Kevin from his contract.
"The contract was signed when Kevin was with Mike Shinfield and I have not read it yet but I know the deal is assignable after a defeat.
"I think Frank was likely thinking Kev would be levels above and was actually surprised when he lost to Musgrave.
"He has got a lot of fighters on his books and we have yet to hear anything from him."

Ricky Hatton: Learning the nurturing game

Ricky Hatton was back in the gym this week, but don’t expect him to be announcing a comeback yet. It is nearly five months since Hatton was knocked cold by Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas and while returning to the ring is the last thing on the former world light welterweight champion’s mind, he is about to take the longest step in his next career as a promoter.
Matthew Macklin faces Amin Asikainen, of Finland, for the vacant European middleweight title at Manchester Velodrome, tonight. It is a prestigious title for Hatton Promotions’ first televised show, a title formerly held by a host of the sport’s biggest names, from Marcel Cerdan through Laszlo Papp, Nino Benvenuti and Alan Minter, to Tony Sibson and Herol Graham. And the excitement is gripping Hatton.
“I don’t think anything can replace the thrill of getting in the ring, but the next best thing to being a champion is making one,” Hatton said. “Ricky Hatton without boxing in his life would be a bit of a lost man.
“I enjoy looking our prospects in the gym, watching them spar or go on the pads and passing on my experience.” Since setting up his promotional company earlier this year, Hatton has gone on a strict recruitment drive and staged small-hall shows across the country. Tonight is the first of an eight-show deal with Sky and Hatton hopes to make an impact.
“I suppose the dream would be to build a fighter to box at the City of Manchester stadium in front of 60,000,” he said. “I’m sure when Frank Warren and Golden Boy started out they dreamed of being the best and I’m no change.
“I’ve learnt a lot of things with all the promoters I have worked with, some good, some bad. The way I was brought through (by Warren) was absolutely perfect. The right fights at the right time, plenty of fights and staying busy.
“If I would have had my way, I would have fought Kostya Tszyu two years before I did. But that would have been the wrong thing to do, I wouldn’t have been ready. When I did fight him it was exactly the right time. That’s what I have to do for our young boxers, get them the right type of fights at the right time.”
At 27, Macklin believes his time is now. In March, he won the British title with an impressive three-round stoppage of Wayne Elcock and the Brummie, who sparred hundred of rounds with Hatton when they were both trained by Billy Graham, feels he is now ready to fulfil his potential after earlier disappointments.
Three years ago, Macklin challenged Jamie Moore for the British light-middleweight title but was viciously weight drained and was knocked unconscious in the tenth round after a vicious bout. Severe evaporation has been linked to serious injuries in boxing.
“I was kidding myself that I could make the weight when I had just outgrown the division,” Macklin said. “On the morning of the weigh-in I was 11st 5lb (5lb above the limit), I have no idea how I made the weight.
“At the end of the third round I was more tired than I’d ever been in my life, I fought every round like it was going to be my last. I remember being in the ambulance and having flashes of Michael Watson and Gerald McClellan.
“I will not do anything that stupid again. I am stronger at middleweight. Asikainen is rated No 6 by The Ring and has a win over Sebastian Sylvester, who just won the IBF title. If I win, Ricky thinks that fight can be made.”
As for Hatton’s own future, he has an open mind and was shown by the brilliant return of Floyd Mayweather Jr, his former opponent, that a period of inactivity is not necessarily a bad thing.
“When Floyd retired, I’m sure he meant it,” Hatton said. “For me, it’s only been four months. At the moment I don’t have the urge. You have got to want to do it. You have to have the urge to get up in the morning and do all the training and to make the weight. At the moment I don’t.
“What I need at the moment is have a rest. Maybe I will get the urge back. If I boxed again a year after the fight, you couldn’t call that a retirement. I’m just having a break.”

Matthew Macklin title fight, Ricky Hatton can have early promotion success

Bumping into Ricky Hatton at his gym last week, it's clear by his girth that he's enjoying being out of the ring.
But for all the pints of Guinness and Chinese takeaways he's putting away, the Hitman has been working hard in his new avatar as a promoter.
While some of our former world champions do little more than talk about being promoters, Hatton is prepared to put in the hours of hard graft wanted.
He has been slowly building up his stable with talents like former Olympic star Joe Murray and dreams of nurturing his own world champion.
He might have one in Matthew Macklin and the Brummie faces Finn Amin Asikainen for the vacant European middleweight title in Manchester's Velodrome on Friday.
It is Hatton's biggest gig to date and a step up from his cards at leisure centres and recreation halls.
Macklin is coming off a career best win over Wayne Elcock when they clashed for the British title and after making little headway for years, Hatton feels he is taking off.

He would be chuffed if Macklin could emulate him by becoming a world champion and says promoting is the next best thing to fighting.
"Winning yourself gives you most delight, but I've always said from day one once you've been a champion, the next best thing is to bring a champion through," said the Mancunian.
"The fact that Matthew Macklin is one of my friends, to do it with him would be absolutely sensational.
"He won the British title from Elcock and he's never looked as good. We've always thought Matthew Macklin can go further than domestic and be a champion, but his career has been on the slowburner a bit. He wants to get a move on and this is a dangerous fight for him."
Hatton, 30, will be as nervous as if he was topping the bill himself and he knows his critics are willing him to fail as a promoter.
"It's a big night for me," he said. "My first promotion on Sky Sports and a European title shot and I feel very proud of me and my team for doing that.
"Let's hope everything goes to plan and we'll be celebrating Matthew being the new European champion come the end of the night."

Lament tragic death of Darren Sutherland to Ricky Hatton and David Haye

Ricky Hatton and David Haye may be challenger promoters of their own arrangements, yet the pair of pugilists were on Wednesday united in their plaint for fellow boxer Darren Sutherland, who was found hanged in his south London flat on Monday.

There is nary a soul in the boxing sodality not shocked by the week’s events.
“I was sickened by Darren’s death, it still doesn’t seem real. I have known him a while, through his Olympic campaign, we had kept in contact and he had the world at his feet,” said Haye.

Hatton added: “It’s prefectly tragic. I was following Darren’s career with great interest. All of the Olympic boys have looked sensational but he had a little bit of class, he was very exciting and stood out.”
After boxing’s summer of discontent, with several major fights cancelled and a series of deaths involving boxers, the new British season has begun with a controversial refereeing decision, more postponed bouts, the suicide of Sutherland and a heart attack and surgery on Wednesday for promoter Frank Maloney.
Maloney, who suffered the heart attack after he discovered the body of Sutherland on Monday, insisted he will be back at work next week. “Boxing is my life. I have had plenty of highs in the sport and plenty of lows. But nothing will ever compare to the shock and sorrow of finding Darren in his flat on Monday night.”
Returning to matters inside the ring, Hatton tipped Haye to unseat 7ft Russian Nikolai Valuev from his World Boxing Association heavyweight title throne on Nov 7.
As Haye began six weeks of hard readying, Hatton said: “This is the perfect fight for Haye in the heavyweight division. The difference in this fight will be David’s velocity. Valuev is so, so slow compared to David.
“If David boxes a cagey fight and keeps his chin down it will be very hard for Valuev to nail him.
“David has the opportunity to do to Valuev what nobody else has done and then he can sit down and negotiate with the Klitschkos.”
Haye said: “The fights against Vitali and Wladimir (Klitschko) will happen, but in a merger contest. I can go to the table as a world champion. I believe I will stop Valuev or knock him out.”
Hatton said he had no plans to fight again after his last bout, against Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas in May, ended in frustration.
“This is the hardest game in the world. I’ve been doing it for a number of years and my last defeat was heartbreaking.
“In order to do the training, the sparring, the dieting, the roadwork, everything that goes with it, you’ve got to actually need it. At the moment, I don’t have that.”

Cotto tough to beat, Pac Man

Manny Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach are expecting a tough fight for the WBO welterweight title against Miguel Cotto on November 14.
Pacquiao will enter the ring as favourite contempt being the naturally smaller man, although that hasn't stopped him beating Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton in his last two fights.
However, the man currently rated the best pound-for-pounder in the world is taking nothing for granted against Cotto, who suffered the only licking of his career against Antonio Margarito last year.
"This will be my toughest test as a professional boxer," he said. "I know he is an brilliant, smart fighter and a great world champion.
"We also know that he is excellent in body punching and that he's strong so we have to study that, how to counter it and fight that in the ring.
"We also want to use our own advantage over Cotto. Everybody knows that I am faster than Cotto so how can I use that speed in the fight? I will do my best in this fight to capture my seventh title belt."
Roach, who correctly predicted Ricky Hatton would go down inside three rounds last time, expects this one to go the distance.
"It's going to be a much more tactical fight than people think because he (Cotto) is a very smart fighter," Roach said.
"It's who can apply their game plan and use it to the fullest advantage.
"I think this is going to be a 12 round fight, no knockout. This guy (Cotto) is very bounce. If a knockout comes, it comes but if you go out there looking for a knockout, you might get caught yourself. We have to be very tactical."

Place on Hatton's bill, Blackwell earns

TROWBRIDGE professional boxer Nick ‘Bang Bang’ Blackwell has been selected to fight on a Ricky Hatton Promotions show to be held on Sunday, October 4 at the Marriot Hotel in Bristol.
The 18 year old, who opponent is yet to be compulsive, who trains under Mark Kent at the Compitition Gym in Trowbridge, has been sparring with Masters and Western Area Champion Danny Butler, who is in training for an English Title shot against Darren McDermott on the 25th September in Manchester.
“Now and again someone special comes along and Nick Blackwell is the one,” said Kent.
“I have no uncertainty in my mind that this lad will take a British Title in two years and then his sights will be set on a world title.”
Blackwell, and fellow local pro Liam Richards, will be in action at Trowbridge Civic Hall on Friday, September 11. Bradford’s Gareth Heard will also be debuting.