Golden Boy Promotions representatives will be meeting with former IBF and WBC junior welterweight (140 pounds) champion, Ricky Hatton
, this week, to determine whether or not they will be working together on a future comeback for the 31-year-old, Manchester, Lancashire, England resident.Hatton (45-2, 32 knockouts) has not fought since May, when he was stopped in the second round by Manny Pacquiao.
Golden Boy CEO, Richard Schaefer, told FanHouse that members of the promotional company will be in Manchester as part of their work with this weekend's WBA heavyweight title defense by champion, David Haye (23-1, 21 KOs), of Bermondsey, London, against 38-year-old, former three-time titlist, John Ruiz (44-8-1, 30 KOs), of Chesea, Mass, that will take place at The M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester.
"I really don't know if Ricky Hatton is retired or not, because you hear all of these conflicting reports. Ones that say that he's retired, and ones that say that he is not," said Schaefer. "But one of our matchmakers, Roberto Diaz, will actually be in Manchester this week because of the Haye-Ruiz fight, which is taking place this weekend."
Among the other subjects that will be discussed, said Schaefer, is Hatton's brother, Matthew Hatton (39-4-2, 15 KOs), 28-year-old welterweight (147 pounds) who earned the European title with Friday night's unanimous decision over 39-year-old Gianluca Bronco (43-3-1, 22 KOs), of Civitavecchia, Lazio, Italy.
"Roberto will be meeting, as well, with Ricky Hatton, and with Matthew Hatton for that matter as well because he had this great win over Gianluca Bronco over the weekend," said Schaefer. "Now, Matthew Hatton is the European welterweight champion, and we'll see if there are any opportunities with Matthew as well."
Schaefer said that he is "currently working and trying to finalize that we are going to be able to show the Haye-Ruiz fight here in the United States," adding, that "we acquired the rights for it, and we would basically do it as a preview an hour before the pay per view, and it would be available for free to the American public to watch the heavyweight fight."
Schaefer said that he is "working on the technical aspect of the situation [Haye-Ruiz,] together with HBO," such as the channel the fight will be on, and that "it looks pretty good."
In addition, Schaefer said that 36-year-old, Mexican, three-time world champion, Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KOs) will face 26-year-old Juan Diaz (35-3, 17 KOs) in a rematch Marquez's, February, 2009, ninth-round knockout of Diaz for the vacant WBA and WBO lightweight (135 pounds) titles that was named Fight Of The Year.
"We're just waiting for some signature pages, but both fighters have, in principle, agreed to the fight," said Schaefer. "The date would be July 10, and it looks like it's going to be at The MGM Grand. We're going to be meeting with the MGM people this week."
Shaefer also said that if 29-year-old former WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) champion and Contender series winner, Sergio Mora (21-1-1, five KOs), of Los Angeles, defeats 32-year-old Calvin Green (21-4-1, 13 KOs), of, Baytown, Tex., on Saturday night, he could set up some lucrative, future possibilities.
Mora-Green will take place at the Mandalay Bay Hotel on the undercard of Saturday's pay per view light heavyweight (175 pounds) match up featuring 41-year-old Roy Jones (54-6, 40 knockouts) and 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KOs) in a rematch of Jones' unanimous decision victory in May of 1993.
"If Sergio Mora wins this weekend, you know, the plan would be to see if we could put Sergio Mora and Winky Wright together on the Marquez-Diaz card," said Schaefer. "We'll see how it goes this weekend, and then we'll sit down next week. But that's definitely a fight we'll be looking at."
A 38-year-old, southpaw, former WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO junior middleweight champion, Wright (51-5-1, 25 KOs) has lost his last two bouts to Hopkins, and, Paul Williams, respectively.
Wright has not been in the ring since the loss to Williams in April.
In the wake of Saturday night's sixth-round knockout victory by 26-year-old, Argentinian WBA interim junior welterweight titlist, Marcos Rene Maidana, (28-1, 27 knockouts), over 25-year-old, Dominican Republican, Victor Cayo (24-1, 16 KOs), Schaefer said that he is looking for options for Maidana in what is perhaps the deepest division in boxing.
One of those considerations is 23-year-old, southpaw, IBF and WBC junior welterweight king, Devon Alexander (20-0, 13 KOs), of St. Louis, Mo., who is coming off of a March 6, eighth-round knockout of then-IBF champ, Juan Urango (22-3-1, 17 KOs).
"I'm in Las Vegas right now, and the HBO people, Kery Davis and Mark Taffet, are going to be out here. So I'm going to be talking to Kery about Marcos Maidana, who has a spectacular performance again," said Schaefer, of Maidana.
"That's [Alexander] is one fight that I'm going to be discussing with them, and I know that they're not afraid of fighting anybody -- you can see it in the style Maidana has, that he'll fight anyone," said Schaefer. "That [Alexander] could definitely be a possibility, yes. We'll have to see if a deal can be structured and if the money is right."
Alexander's manager and trainer, Kevin Cunningham, believes Alexander-Maidana is the fight that should happen, particularly with 26-year-old WBO king, Tim Bradley (25-0, 11 KOs), of Palm Springs, Calif. and, 23-year-old, WBA titlist, Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KOs), of England, having already lined up their next fights.
Maidana was originally a mandatory defense for Khan, who, instead, will defend his crown against 29-year-old Paulie Malignaggi (27-3, five KOs), of Brooklyn, on May 15 at The WaMu Theater in New York's Madison Square Garden.
And on June 19 at the Agua Caliente Casino, Rancho Mirage, in Calif., Bradley will fight in a non-title, over the division weight limit match up opposite 27-year-old Luis Carlos Abregu (29-0, 23 KOs), of Salta, Salta, Argentina.
"I think that Alexander and Maidana would be a great fight, and I think that the fight needs to get made because I think that Devon and Maidana are the two most feared guys in the division," said Cunningham.
"Devon has chased Tim Bradley to welterweight, and Maidana ran Amir Khan away from his mandatory. So, with that being said, everybody's scared of these two guys," said Cunningham. "So, the man who is truly the best, 140-pounder can be decided out of these two guys, because they have continuously demonstrated the will and the courage to fight anybody."
Former WBA super featherweight (130 pounds) titlist, Jorge Linares (28-1, 18 KOs), who was dethroned as champion following October's first-round knockout loss to 25-year-old Juan Carlos Salgado (21-1-1, 15 KOs), bounced back with Saturday night's majority decision victory over 38-year-old, Dominican Republican-born, Franciso Lorenzo (34-8, 15 KOs), of Irvington, N.J.
"We're trying to get him back on the road in the United States," said Schaefer. "I'd like to bring him back and maybe have him on one of those cards as well, because I still think that he has a tremendous opportunity and some possibilities."
Schaefer said that the Solo Boxeo series is likely to debut on April 30 the night before the May 1 welterweight clash between Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) and WBA champion, Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs), at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
"The largest Spanish network in the United States, Univision, their sister station, Telefutura, they used to have a weekly show called Solo Boxeo, that means basically, 'Only Boxing,' in Spanish," said Schaefer.
"It had been going for a long time -- 10 years or more. They took it off the air about two years ago, and we were working on bringing that Friday night boxing back on the Spanish language network," said Schaefer. "We were able to succeed there, so the first one of them is going to be on April 30, from Las Vegas."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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