The Hitman shines on Setanta Sports
Tuesday, June 26th, 2007Ricky Hatton reclaims IBO crown
Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton is now the holder of the IBO light welterweight crown following his fourth round demolition of Jose Luis Castillo, shown live on Setanta Sports.
Entering the ring in a sky blue sombrero with matching poncho, he was flanked by the great Mexican fighter Marco Antonio Barrera and Manchester United footballer Wayne Rooney, both carrying Hatton’s existing belts.
Starting a little over-enthusiastically, it took only four rounds for “The Hitman” to send, the much fancied Castillo to his knees, after a devastatingly accurate left-hook to his right kidney. McGuigan and Co. in the Setanta Sports studio claimed this to be the best shot to the body they have ever witnessed and purred at the enormity of this stateside victory.
Spurred on by over 10,000 English fans making the long trip to the Thomas and Mack Arena at Ceasars Palace, Las Vegas, Hatton surely has earned the right for a “super fight night” against the supposedly retired Floyd Mayweather Jr. or the Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya.
Castillo himself came close to beating Mayweather Jr. in 2002 – maybe The Hitman, who is expected to retire after the next four major bouts, will cross paths with “Pretty Boy” Mayweather before he hangs his gloves up.

June 28th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Go Ricky!
Watched the fight live on Setanta and loved every minute of it. He’s a real gritty old school fighter and deserves all the credit he gets. I just hope he can get De La Hoya or Mayweather out of retirement and beat them!
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:32 pm
It sure was a good display by Hatton, I haven’t seen him perform that well in quite a few of his last fights.
I personally would like to see him fight Floyd Mayweather, as it would be a clash of two totally different styles.
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Personally, I would sway towards Hatton v Mayweather so Ricky could catch him hard in the jaw to stop all that jibber jabber that comes outta Mayweather’s mouth!!!