After battling hard to get past Urango, Ricky Hatton may be forced to give up his light welterweight title – if he fights Castillo next.
After just winning the belt back this month in Las Vegas, the IBF has ruled that Hatton must face the winner of Naoufel Ben Rabah and Lovemore N’dou, who fight next Sunday.
Hatton has been given until Friday to makes his decision.
IBF president Marian Muhammad said: “If Hatton says he will fight Castillo next, I will have to vacate the title”
Dennis Hobson, Hatton’s promoter, said: “We have got the Castillo fight on the table but there is also the option for Ricky of coming back to Manchester to fight Ben Rabah or N’Dou, then taking on Castillo after that. It all comes down to whether Ricky wants to hold onto his title but the IBF have got to give him time to make his mind up.”
Personally I share the view of Ricky Hatton’s promoter, at this point in Hatton’s boxing career, the names are much bigger than the titles. The American TV network, HBO, will not be bothered if his fight with Castillo is a title fight or not, this is about the boxers, not the titles.
So I think Hatton should take a fight with one of these if he wants to, but should go out of his way to keep this title. He certainly should not jeopardise his preparation for the Castillo fight by taking on one of these bums.
What do you think about the possibility of Hatton losing his IBF title?
