In Saturday’s Ricky Hatton-Juan Lazcano undercard match Brooklyn junior welterweight proved that you can’t hit what you can’t see. The problem wasn’t the head speed of his opponent South African Lovemore N’Dou; N’Dou was relatively stationary. No, the problem was Malignaggi’s recently implanted 18-inch-long hair extensions.

In the first round of the IBF junior welterweight title bout The Magic Man more resembled a Komondor dog (pictured to the right) than a boxer. His long twisted fake locks escaped their weak rubber band-hold less than a minute into the fight. Paulie spent the next two minutes fighting through his heavily-obscuring hair. While the bush league Versus Network went to commercial the fight’s essential storyline played out as his corner wrapped the extensions in sturdy athletic tape.

The tape held the hair admirably until the eighth when the Milli Vanilli-style braids escaped their soft polycotton blend captor. The referee then inexplicably stopped the fight allowing Paulie to regroup and have his hair re-taped. The fight wouldn’t have been halted for a cut or abrasion so why did it stop for hair?

Before the ninth started, and while Versus again went to commercial, The Magic Man’s corner sheared off the hair with heavy-duty scissors. It couldn’t have happened too soon. I felt Malignaggi had dropped the previous two rounds because of his sartorial distractions. After the fight he stated that he had also broken his hand around that time.

Considering N’Dou’s late round domination I reasoned that Lovemore had done enough to win the fight, scoring it 115-113. One of the three judges agreed with me while the other too scored it 116-112 and 116-113 for The Magic Man.

Regardless the 27-year-old American dodged a major self-inflicted bullet in Manchester. It is unimaginable that any fighter would think it was a good idea to get hair extensions before a fight. It is even a dumber decision than Mike Tyson choice to get a facial tattoo less than a week before facing Clifford Etienne.

All week Malignaggi has been asking Ricky Hatton for a fight. Hatton must now be licking his chops to face Paulie given The Magic Man’s unprofessional and juvenile approach as well as his asinine disrespect for his own body and the sport of boxing. He’s definitely not Juan Lazcano who proved in the main event to be a disciplined tough warrior that gave Ricky everything he could handle.

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Magic Man’s Fake Hair Nearly Makes His IBF Title Disappear

In the main event of an entertaining mid-day Saturday pair of junior welterweight bouts Ricky Hatton outlasted Juan Lazcano by a wide margin.

55,000 screaming Mancunians poured into Eastlands, the home stadium of Manchester City FC, to see their favorite son outperform and out-brawl Lazcano. Hatton was hurt twice by Lazcano — in the 8th and in the 10th — but his near-constant pressure and successful stream of body punches and left hooks proved too much for the American.

The rugged fight was characterized by frequent close-quarter brawling and excellent action. The decidedly pro-American Versus network announcing team seemed eager to label the fight as a disappointing Hatton performance, a low energy and un-sharp effort, and a sign of his imminent decline. They accused Hatton of unduly influencing the referee and thought the judges (except the American) were out of line in their scorecards. (The American had it 118-110, the Briton scored it 120-110, and the Australian gave Hatton a 120-108 shut out.)

I saw it 119-109 giving Lazcano only the 10th. I thought Hatton looked excellent but not dominating against a very skilled opponent. Sure, Ricky’s face found its way into a lot of good punches but that was to be expected. I thought his work rate was terrific especially in the frigid 52-degree Manchester night air. I don’t think there was much decline or an indication of any diminished skills. Hatton is still the best 140-pound fighter in the world, one of boxing’s best draws, and still a good old-fashioned fun-to-watch scrapper.

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Ricky Hatton Gets Back on the Winning Track

At least that’s what Juan Lazcano, his opponent this Saturday, thinks. In today’s London Sun tabloid he referred to Ricky Hatton as the “Manchester Mexican” and generously opined “He’s got big testicles and you can’t do anything but tip your hat off to him.” Now that’s a compliment!

Do you want proof? How about 57 pints, 17 vodka and Red Bulls, four vodkas, three whisky chasers, and a bottle of Moet champagne. Yes, that was Hatton’s four-day long New Year’s Eve celebration intake as reported by London’s Daily Mail. During those hazy four days Hatton allegedly (and miraculously) stayed standing and upright avoiding his three-weeks-prior fate against Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

At the time Hatton told the Daily Mirror “Unfortunately I lost in Vegas but that’s the end of it. A few more drinks and I won’t remember anyway!” We applaud his forgetfulness and are confident that our Ricky is ready to rebound.

Today Hatton admirably told the Times of London “Greatness in a fighter is coming back when your back’s against the wall and everyone is expecting you to go down. I lost to the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world but I’ll be damned if I go out of boxing that way.”

That sure sounds like a winner and someone ready to re-establish himself as the greatest 140-lb. boxer alive. We’re in your corner Ricky. However, not everyone is.

Paul “The Magic Man” Malignaggi, who is facing Lovemore N’Dou on the Hatton undercard, isn’t impressed with Manchester’s pride and joy. This week he’s offered to British press “I don’t think Ricky has as good a chin as people think he has,” and “Ricky is solid but not great. If he wins or loses, it is all just a matter of what the referee lets him get away with.”

If the Magic Man’s taunts are aimed at goading Hatton into a fight he be reminded of Junior Witter’s failed example. Witter called Hatton out dozens of times to no avail; Ricky didn’t want to give the impudent challenger a share of his prize money. But Paul, watch what you say while in Manchester, you might end up with so much to answer for.

Juan Lazcano’s trainer Ronnie Shields also doubts Hatton and his aforementioned partying lifestyle. He told the Sun today “Hatton lives a very bad lifestyle for a fighter. Anyone who goes out and drinks the way he does is going to have problems.” He then surmised that Hatton lifestyle will bring him the same fate as Mike Tyson. We think Shields is ridiculous. Don’t stop being who you are Ricky.

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Ricky Hatton Has Big Testicles

When Ricky Hatton steps into the ring on Saturday against Juan Lazcano he will be fulfilling his lifelong dream of competing on his beloved Manchester City FC’s home pitch. Hatton’s love for all things Citeh has been well documented. His father and grandfather played for the Blues, he wears Man City-colored trunks, and his ring entrance music is City’s supporter’s song “Blue Moon”.

As a child Hatton surely always dreamed of playing at Maine Road. He will never get the chance to play in that venerated and now-demolished stadium but he will be fighting at Eastlands, marching to the ring in front of 55,000 Mancunians who will all be singing “Blue Moon” at the top of their lungs. As a City supporter myself I have chills after typing that last sentence.

But, as any football fan knows, the current state of MCFC is a mess. Their autocratic new owner Thaksin Shinawatra has presumably sacked manger Sven-Göran Erikkson, despite qualifying for Europe, equaling City’s highest-ever Premier League finish, and defeating rival Manchester United twice! Rumor has it he’s also placed the entire squad on the transfer list.

Yesterday on GranadaTV Ricky Hatton gave fans even more fodder to light up the message boards by declaring that he hopes Man Utd. win the Champions League (they did) and “bring another belt and trophy back to this great city of Manchester.” We all should have seen this coming when he said his brother Matthew (who is also fighting Saturday) is a Man United supporter.

Ricky’s statement is tantamount to treason! Imagine, American readers, the most die hard Mets fan saying he hopes the Yankees win the World Series. Would that person suddenly lose their fandom credibility? That’s the message board debate:

Manchester la la la la says: “And he calls himself a city fan???”
Dubai Blue states: “He’s obviously not fully recovered from that knock to the head”
Jay MCFC reasons: “Dear oh dear Mr Hatton. This is a step too far.”
Blunderer cleverly thinks: “No doubt he’s been told not to isolate United fans so they will be fans of his. He’s just playing the politician. He hates them as much as the rest of us.”
NReddishblue concludes: “No one can doubt Ricky Hatton is City fan, we all support City in a different way”

Indeed we do NReddishblue but not all of us get to fight of the Eastlands pitch. Maybe he should be more careful about what he says. Nevertheless, I believe that Hatton has done so much for City that he can say whatever he’d like. He’s a City season ticket holder, in the HBO 24/7 documentary he and his son wore City gear, and he has promoted the team at length equaled only by the Gallagher brothers.

In this time of Man City strife it would be wrong to turn on good old Ricky. If he shows up to the ring wearing red, however, then we will really have something to talk about.

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Ricky Hatton Supports Manchester United?