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| Date | 24 May 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | City of Manchester Stadium,Manchester, UK | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | IBO andThe Ring light welterweight titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hatton wins via 12-roundunanimous decision (120-110, 118-110, 120-108) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ricky Hatton vs. Juan Lazcano, billed asHomecoming, was aboxinglight welterweight fight betweenRicky Hatton and challengerJuan Lazcano for theIBO andThe Ring titles. It was held inManchester, England at theCity of Manchester Stadium in front of a record 55,000 fans. This was a record for a boxing eventpost world war II, until 2014 whenCarl Froch facedGeorge Groves, fight which sold 80,000 seats.[1] The fight went the full 12 rounds and Hatton won byunanimous decision.
Hatton was coming off his first career loss toFloyd Mayweather Jr. and was fighting for the first time back in Manchester. It was a thanks to all his fans who had travelled to theStates to watch his previous four fights and was held in his homeFootball ground of his belovedManchester City.[2]
Lazcano was a durable opponent who was in the top ten for light welterweights in theRing Magazine rankings. His only stoppage defeat was toGolden Johnson ten years previously and he was also coming off a loss toVivian Harris[3]
Paulie Malignaggi was on the undercard as he and Hatton were meant to fight each other later in the year.
The weigh-in took place at theTrafford Centre in Manchester and there was a lot of anticipation about Hatton's Ring Entrance. A lot of people were criticizing his diet between fights and were saying he was past his best, He wanted to prove them wrong and also take a dig at them at the same time.[4] Hatton said it could be his last in Britain.
The fight was onSky Box Office in the UK andVersus (TV channel) in the United States. Juan Lazcano saw an upset on the cards and trainerRonnie Shields was saying that Hatton was washed up and ready for the taking.
The ring entrance involved a version ofHi Ho Silver Lining with the words replaced to mention Hatton, followed by Blue Moon. Hatton appeared in a fat suit and walked to the ring in it,Michael Buffer announced the fighters.
The referee wasHoward Foster and the judges were Marcus McDonell, Pat Russell and Phil Austin. Hatton who was rocked badly in the eighth and tenth round, and in the tenth critics claim, only survived, when the fight was stopped, so he could tie his shoes, while badly hurt. Despite being a bad performance, the judges scores of 120-110, 118-110 and 120-108 . Hatton also rocked Lazcano several times and had him against the ropes using the full repertoire of shots, with Lazcano's back bruised from being constantly pushed against the ropes.[5][6]
Malignaggi also won a split decision againstLovemore N'dou to set up their fight.
Hatton decided to hireFloyd Mayweather Sr. for his next fight withPaulie Malignaggi and would go on to win that as well.[7] Lazcano has not fought since.
Confirmed bouts:[8]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 Mexico | Televisa |
 United Kingdom | Sky Sports |
 United States | Versus |
| Preceded by | Ricky Hatton's bouts 24 May 2008 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Juan Lazcano's bouts 24 May 2008 | Retired |