Ricky Hatton v Juan Lazcano is now confirmed for 24th May 2008 at COM Stadium. The fight will be in British time btw, not American. 10pm Ray Hatton (Ricky's father) reckons.

Tickets go on sale on Friday, and will cost as little as £30, with family of 4 tickets costing £100.

Might go to that - never seen Hatton before.

would love to go wathcin that but it was good enough in the pub last time

I got the pre-sales link today and bought some tickets this morning. £30 tickets, although wanted £35 (they were unavailable). Our tickets are still awesome though. Just to right of the half way line, 3rd tier. Can't wait!

Hatton VS WHO ?

Hatton against a nobody.

Not the best of opponents agreed, but after a defeat like the one against Mayweather this is the ideal opponent and who can blame him?

Already shifted in the region of 20,000 tickets before they officially go on sale tomorrow morning, so not that bad hey?

I know you're pretty clued up about Hatton, so why do you think the Witter fight has never happened or even come close to happening?

Both are British, both are genuine class boxers at the top of their game and the peak of their careers and Witter is the current WBC champ.

Witter has said in the past he'll fight Hatton for peanuts, but the Hatton camp have always come across as quite dismissive of him so I'd love to know what the reality is and why the opportunity for these two to meet in what we would be a massive event has passed by, any idea?

not the greatest of opponents but at least he aint done a naz and sulked at home for a year or so! good on hatton for getting straight back on the bike(so to speak)

Good idea by Hatton IMO.

Don't face the "biggest" of opponents in his first fight after the defeat, beat him well, gain confidence and get good support in front of his home crowd.

He's already stated that this fight isn't about money generation, I think it's good for his support TBH. A lot of people gained interest when the Mayweather fight happened, now that he is back in England, the "newer" fans of boxing won't know whether the opponent is world class or not, so a victory from Hatton shows them that he is a good boxer and boost his profile...so that if he has a rematch with Mayweather or even a fight against Witter, there will still be a lot of interest in the fight to give him a major fight deal IMO.

Over 40,000 tickets sold apparently. Unbelievable!

Extreme high risk for little-to-no reward.

I feel sorry for Witter. In an ideal world he'd go ahead and unify the division. But every fighter worth his salt knows Hatton is a bigger (and perhaps easier) draw. Why fight Witter for nothing when you can fight Hatton and become a millionaire overnight?

So Witter is effectively frozen out. All he can do is keep fighting the mandatories and HOPE a big name comes up.

Witter has only got himself to blame IMO.

When the fight could have been a possibility about 4 or 5 years ago Witter was too busy bad mouthing Hatton and putting in dreadful performances at the same time.

Since the Kostya Tsyzu victory though, Hatton's goal has all about making his name in the boxing capital of the World. Because of this a fight with Witter has been impossible to make.

People who say Ricky is ducking Witter, need only look at Ricky's last opponent and at what weight that fight took place to realise that Ricky is afraid of taking no-one on if the fight makes sense.

Only in his last couple of fights has Witter done enough in the ring to even warrant being mentioned in the same breath as Ricky. Unfotunately the timing of that isn't good for Witter because his next two fights were always going to be a hand picked 'easier fight' (Lazcano) and then to top the bill at MSG against Paulie.

If Witter can bite his tongue a bit and concentrate on putting on two good performances in the ring in the next 12 months and everything goes to plan for Ricky, then I honestly believe the fight will be made next year.

Having followed Ricky for a long time now and got to know a lot of his die hard fans, slowly the opinion on a fight with Witter is turning. From laughing it off as a joke 3-4 years ago people are now really wanting it on and if things go well for both in their next two fights then it simply has to be made, and will be IMO.

Pretty much spot on. Let's be honest, Ricky Hatton will sell out COM Stadium against a reasonable fighter, but a fighter everyone expects Ricky to comfortably beat. Ricky is a huge draw and everyone wants to fight him. Ricky will pick out the very best fighters, but also the ones who are likely to draw big money all over the world, particularly in America. Witter simply doesn't do that at the moment, despite his credentials in the ring.

Witter needs to stop whining and do his business in the ring and I'm sure Hatton will look up and take him more seriously. It only takes one big win to propel you on to the world stage. Look what the win against Kosta Tszyu did for Ricky.