Expectations that junior welterweight world champion Ricky Hatton and Jose Luis Castillo, both come-forward brawlers, will engage in a memorable fight are sky-high.
The fans expect a slugfest, and so do the fighters, who will meet in a much anticipated showdown Saturday night (HBO, 10 ET) at Las Vegas' Thomas & Mack Center, which will rock with thousands of Hatton supporters who have made the trip from England, as well as Castillo's loyal Mexican fans. It's a fight date that has been circled on boxing fans' calendars for months, especially after both successfully navigated more-difficult-than-expected tune-up fights on the same card in January.
"This fight has the potential to be like the first Corrales fight," said Castillo (55-7-1, 47 KOs), the former two-time lightweight champion, referring to his epic 2005 battle against the late Diego Corrales, who stopped Castillo in the 10th round of an all-time great fight.
Hatton is also hopeful that Saturday's fight will go down as a classic.
"When fight fans have video collections of the greatest fighters of all time and the greatest fights of all time on the shelves, I want one of Ricky Hatton's to be on those shelves," he said. "And I think this could be it because this has all the makings."
Hatton (42-0, 30 KOs), a great admirer of Corrales, also believes the fight with Castillo could be a memorable fight like Corrales-Castillo I.
"If you look at styles that make the best fights, it's people that don't take a backward step, body punches, people who have sharp uppercuts, doing a lot of in-close fighting," he said. "And to be honest, Castillo's fight against Diego Corrales was one of the fights of the century, and if anyone's styles could even beat that one, you'd have to say my style, and Jose Luis Castillo's style would.
"I'm going to go straight on the front porch stage for action. Those are the types of fights -- Castillo-Corrales -- that people will be watching in a year's time, and I want to be able to be in one of those fights. I want people talking about fights like that about Ricky Hatton in a few years' time. So Saturday night, I'm going to make sure that that becomes a big possibility."
As a rising star in England, Hatton engaged in regular slugfests. When he emerged on the world stage, it was by stopping longtime champion Kostya Tszyu in the 11th round of a punishing fight in June 2005.
In his next bout, Hatton unified belts by mixing it up with rugged Carlos Maussa before knocking him out in the ninth round.
But in his two fights since, which happened to coincide with the start of an HBO multi-fight contract, Hatton has done little to create excitement, and he knows it.
"I feel that the achievements have been a little better than the performances in my last two fights," Hatton admitted. "I know I've got a lot better performances in me."
John Gichigi/Getty Images
If Ricky Hatton, left, produces a clean fight, it could be one of the best fights in history.
In May 2006, Hatton moved up to welterweight and won a close decision to claim an alphabet title against southpaw Luis Collazo. Hatton knocked Collazo down in the first round, but the rest of the fight, which featured a lot of holding and too little clean punching, was a struggle.
Hatton, in fact, has maintained since the fight that he never wanted to move up in the first place, but when an injury to original opponent Juan Lazcano sunk their fight, there were few opponents available that HBO would approve. So up he went to 147 pounds to face Collazo.
Then came Hatton's January bout, when he moved back down to 140 pounds and reclaimed his old belt from another southpaw, Juan Urango. Hatton easily won the decision, but again, the fight produced very little action and Hatton was reduced to grabbing and mauling throughout the second half of the bout.
He chalked up those lackluster outings to everything from changing weights, to the southpaw style of his opponents and to a hard time getting up for fights against lesser names.
"I'm not saying I took Collazo lightly or I took Juan Urango lightly but, no disrespect to them intended, before the fights were mentioned I didn't really know them and the names didn't sound too familiar to me, and I was a massive favorite to beat them both," Hatton said. "So maybe without realizing, you know, you never take anyone lightly. But in the back of your mind, you're thinking 'I've got them beaten, these two guys' and maybe you fall complacent that little bit without realizing it. But because I'm fighting the person I'm fighting [Castillo], the big name, I think without realizing you just find that little bit extra."
Part of the reason Hatton gives for his lethargic outing against Urango is that the intense air conditioning in his Las Vegas hotel gave him a cold. For this fight, he rented a house off the Las Vegas Strip.
Hatton insists there will be no such excuses after the fight with Castillo, the sort of style match that suits both of them.
"This is more my kind of fight," Hatton, 28, said. "The only thing I will say in my defense [is] I was up at welterweight when I didn't want to move [and] then I moved back down to my normal weight. So that's difficult against a couple of southpaws. But this is really my time. I'm going to shine and I'm going to go straight to work on Saturday."
Top Rank's Bob Arum, Castillo's promoter, has promoted some of the best action fights in history, including Corrales-Castillo I and the legendary Marvelous Marvin Hagler-Thomas Hearns fight. Of more recent vintage, he promoted the May 19 Kelly Pavlik-Edison Miranda thriller and the June 9 Miguel Cotto-Zab Judah brawl. He is expecting more fireworks from Hatton-Castillo.
"I would be very disappointed if this wasn't another epic kind of fight," Arum said. "I think it will be a fight that you say after it is over, 'Wow, that was really exciting.' I think that's what we will get because these two guys come to fight. They don't know any other way to fight but to come forward."
Castillo, 33, escaped with a split-decision victory in a flat performance against Herman Ngoudjo on the Hatton-Urango undercard. Castillo was rusty after an 11-month layoff caused, in part, because a third fight with Corrales had been canceled when Castillo failed to make weight for the second time.
"I won, got my hand raised and that is all that counts," said Castillo, who moved up to 140 pounds for the Ngoudjo fight.
Castillo, who will owe Hatton a rematch if he wins, believes he should have moved up sooner. It would have saved him from a suspension and fine from Nevada officials for missing weight for the canceled fight with Corrales.
"Those five pounds are huge," Castillo said. "I will always have trouble making the weight, but it is a lot easier [to make 140] than 135. I just couldn't make that and should have moved up sooner. But with so many big fights at lightweight we made decisions that maybe we shouldn't have."
After his close call with Ngoudjo, Castillo watched Hatton's dull performance against Urango. He is hopeful that the Hatton who thrilled so many in previous fights shows up to fight him.
"I do not like the way Hatton has been holding and grabbing and hitting in some of his fights lately, especially against Urango," Castillo said. "Hatton is a good fighter and likes to fight. I'm hoping I see the early version of Hatton and not the one that hugs, clinches and holds and hits. I think the fight could turn ugly if Hatton tries to do that with me, but I expect a good, clean fight and one that the fans are going to enjoy. I will fight like I always do, which is moving forward. If he fights the way he did against Kostya Tszyu it will be a classic."
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
The fans expect a slugfest, and so do the fighters, who will meet in a much anticipated showdown Saturday night (HBO, 10 ET) at Las Vegas' Thomas & Mack Center, which will rock with thousands of Hatton supporters who have made the trip from England, as well as Castillo's loyal Mexican fans. It's a fight date that has been circled on boxing fans' calendars for months, especially after both successfully navigated more-difficult-than-expected tune-up fights on the same card in January.
"This fight has the potential to be like the first Corrales fight," said Castillo (55-7-1, 47 KOs), the former two-time lightweight champion, referring to his epic 2005 battle against the late Diego Corrales, who stopped Castillo in the 10th round of an all-time great fight.
Hatton is also hopeful that Saturday's fight will go down as a classic.
"When fight fans have video collections of the greatest fighters of all time and the greatest fights of all time on the shelves, I want one of Ricky Hatton's to be on those shelves," he said. "And I think this could be it because this has all the makings."
Hatton (42-0, 30 KOs), a great admirer of Corrales, also believes the fight with Castillo could be a memorable fight like Corrales-Castillo I.
"If you look at styles that make the best fights, it's people that don't take a backward step, body punches, people who have sharp uppercuts, doing a lot of in-close fighting," he said. "And to be honest, Castillo's fight against Diego Corrales was one of the fights of the century, and if anyone's styles could even beat that one, you'd have to say my style, and Jose Luis Castillo's style would.
"I'm going to go straight on the front porch stage for action. Those are the types of fights -- Castillo-Corrales -- that people will be watching in a year's time, and I want to be able to be in one of those fights. I want people talking about fights like that about Ricky Hatton in a few years' time. So Saturday night, I'm going to make sure that that becomes a big possibility."
As a rising star in England, Hatton engaged in regular slugfests. When he emerged on the world stage, it was by stopping longtime champion Kostya Tszyu in the 11th round of a punishing fight in June 2005.
In his next bout, Hatton unified belts by mixing it up with rugged Carlos Maussa before knocking him out in the ninth round.
But in his two fights since, which happened to coincide with the start of an HBO multi-fight contract, Hatton has done little to create excitement, and he knows it.
"I feel that the achievements have been a little better than the performances in my last two fights," Hatton admitted. "I know I've got a lot better performances in me."
John Gichigi/Getty Images
If Ricky Hatton, left, produces a clean fight, it could be one of the best fights in history.
In May 2006, Hatton moved up to welterweight and won a close decision to claim an alphabet title against southpaw Luis Collazo. Hatton knocked Collazo down in the first round, but the rest of the fight, which featured a lot of holding and too little clean punching, was a struggle.
Hatton, in fact, has maintained since the fight that he never wanted to move up in the first place, but when an injury to original opponent Juan Lazcano sunk their fight, there were few opponents available that HBO would approve. So up he went to 147 pounds to face Collazo.
Then came Hatton's January bout, when he moved back down to 140 pounds and reclaimed his old belt from another southpaw, Juan Urango. Hatton easily won the decision, but again, the fight produced very little action and Hatton was reduced to grabbing and mauling throughout the second half of the bout.
He chalked up those lackluster outings to everything from changing weights, to the southpaw style of his opponents and to a hard time getting up for fights against lesser names.
"I'm not saying I took Collazo lightly or I took Juan Urango lightly but, no disrespect to them intended, before the fights were mentioned I didn't really know them and the names didn't sound too familiar to me, and I was a massive favorite to beat them both," Hatton said. "So maybe without realizing, you know, you never take anyone lightly. But in the back of your mind, you're thinking 'I've got them beaten, these two guys' and maybe you fall complacent that little bit without realizing it. But because I'm fighting the person I'm fighting [Castillo], the big name, I think without realizing you just find that little bit extra."
Part of the reason Hatton gives for his lethargic outing against Urango is that the intense air conditioning in his Las Vegas hotel gave him a cold. For this fight, he rented a house off the Las Vegas Strip.
Hatton insists there will be no such excuses after the fight with Castillo, the sort of style match that suits both of them.
"This is more my kind of fight," Hatton, 28, said. "The only thing I will say in my defense [is] I was up at welterweight when I didn't want to move [and] then I moved back down to my normal weight. So that's difficult against a couple of southpaws. But this is really my time. I'm going to shine and I'm going to go straight to work on Saturday."
Top Rank's Bob Arum, Castillo's promoter, has promoted some of the best action fights in history, including Corrales-Castillo I and the legendary Marvelous Marvin Hagler-Thomas Hearns fight. Of more recent vintage, he promoted the May 19 Kelly Pavlik-Edison Miranda thriller and the June 9 Miguel Cotto-Zab Judah brawl. He is expecting more fireworks from Hatton-Castillo.
"I would be very disappointed if this wasn't another epic kind of fight," Arum said. "I think it will be a fight that you say after it is over, 'Wow, that was really exciting.' I think that's what we will get because these two guys come to fight. They don't know any other way to fight but to come forward."
Castillo, 33, escaped with a split-decision victory in a flat performance against Herman Ngoudjo on the Hatton-Urango undercard. Castillo was rusty after an 11-month layoff caused, in part, because a third fight with Corrales had been canceled when Castillo failed to make weight for the second time.
"I won, got my hand raised and that is all that counts," said Castillo, who moved up to 140 pounds for the Ngoudjo fight.
Castillo, who will owe Hatton a rematch if he wins, believes he should have moved up sooner. It would have saved him from a suspension and fine from Nevada officials for missing weight for the canceled fight with Corrales.
"Those five pounds are huge," Castillo said. "I will always have trouble making the weight, but it is a lot easier [to make 140] than 135. I just couldn't make that and should have moved up sooner. But with so many big fights at lightweight we made decisions that maybe we shouldn't have."
After his close call with Ngoudjo, Castillo watched Hatton's dull performance against Urango. He is hopeful that the Hatton who thrilled so many in previous fights shows up to fight him.
"I do not like the way Hatton has been holding and grabbing and hitting in some of his fights lately, especially against Urango," Castillo said. "Hatton is a good fighter and likes to fight. I'm hoping I see the early version of Hatton and not the one that hugs, clinches and holds and hits. I think the fight could turn ugly if Hatton tries to do that with me, but I expect a good, clean fight and one that the fans are going to enjoy. I will fight like I always do, which is moving forward. If he fights the way he did against Kostya Tszyu it will be a classic."
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
