England's Ricky Hatton came to Las Vegas to win back his title and make an big impression doing it.
He accomplished the first, taking Colombian Juan Urango's 140-pound (63.5kg) title with a unanimous 12-round decision on Saturday to set up a lucrative fight in June against Jose Luis Castillo, who fought on the undercard against Hermann Ngoudjo.
The big impression, though, will have to come another time.
PHOTO: AP
Hatton made a successful debut in this boxing mecca by beating Urango, but even the 3,000 or so fans who came over from Britain to cheer their countryman didn't seem all that excited about his lackluster win.
Hatton outhustled Urango to win back the title he vacated last year when he moved briefly to welterweight, winning easily on all three ringside scorecards. But Hatton did little to improve on a reputation that slipped some when he won a controversial decision last May against Luis Collazo in Boston.
"The first six rounds felt too comfortable, maybe I took my foot off the gas," Hatton said.
Hatton, who has a huge following in his native Manchester, England, had wanted to fight in Las Vegas to broaden his base among US fans. He will fight here again June 2 when he defends the 140 pound title against Castillo.
Hatton stood on the ring ropes and took a microphone to address his fans after the fight.
"I hope I did you proud and I'll see you back here in June," he said.
All three judges scored the fight 119-109, giving Urango only one round. The Associated Press also scored it 119-109.
Hatton said he wanted to make the fight a boxing match instead of a brawl like most of his fights.
"I think I showed another side, that I can box," he said.
Urango, who won the vacant title in his last fight, was never in this one. He was slow, didn't punch enough and never seemed interested in making it a real fight.
Hatton (42-0, 30 knockouts) won the fight with one punch, a lead right hand he landed all night. Hatton often followed that by going into a clinch with Urango, then repeating the same scenario when the two were separated.
While Hatton failed most of the time to back up the lead right with any combinations, Urango (17-1-1) did even less himself.
There were no knockdowns and neither fighter was in any trouble, but the rounds had such a sameness to them that there was little singing among the normally boisterous British contingent who followed Hatton here for the fight.
Urango apparently thought he was doing better than the judges did, raising his arms in triumph at the end of each round as he went back to his corner. But the rounds went to Hatton, mostly because he was quicker getting off.
Ringside punch stats showed Hatton landing 258 of 755 punches to 153 of 570 for Urango.
Castillo, meanwhile, barely escaped with a split decision win over his far less experienced opponent, winning by the slimmest of margins to keep his hopes alive for the fight with Hatton.
Castillo used a relentless attack to the body to win 115-113 on two scorecards, enough to offset the 115-113 margin given Hermann Ngoudjo by the third judge.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS