Boxing heads to Ricky Hatton's homeland Saturday May
24th when he faces off with Juan Lazcano at the City of
Manchester Stadium in Manchester, Lancashire, United
Kingdom. BodogLife
sportsbook has made Mr. Hatton the overwhelming
-1100 favorite for this fight. Jimmy Boyd breaks down
all of the biggest bouts for you boxing bettors out
their so you can know which side the value lies on. In
this article, Jimmy gives his take on the Hatton -
Lazcano odds and offers his prediction on the match
winner and rounds total.
It's tough to doubt Hatton here in front of his country
men as he is largely considered the most popular English
fighter of all time. Ring Magazine has reported Hatton
as one of the best pound for pound fighters on the
planet. Hatton is about as decorated as a boxer can be.
He is a two-time IBF and IBO Light Welterweight
Champion, the WBA Welterweight title holder, a WBU and
WBA Light Welterweight Champ, and WBC, WBA, and WBO
Inter-Continental Light Welterweight Champion. Hatton
started his professional boxing career 43-0 before
finally losing last December to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in
the tenth round by way of TKO. So he takes a 43-1
record, with 32 wins by way of knockout, into this
fight.
Juan Lazcano calls Sacramento, California home so he
will be a long ways away from the West Coast when he
fights Hatton at the end of May. Lazcano has compiled a
nice resume of his own as the former WBF, NABF, and IBA
Lightweight title holder. He'll be trying to pull off
the upset here to add the title of IBO Light
Welterweight champ to his list. Lazcano has a solid
professional record of 37 wins, 4 losses, and 1 draw. He
has also shown some nice power throughout his career as
27 of his victories have come by KO. His last fight was
a loss in Las Vegas to Vivian Harris in a 12-round
unanimous decision back in February of 2007.
Honestly, I think Lazcano is just fishing for some money
here and will be Hatton's guinea pig in what is being
branded a "thank you" fight to all the British fans.
Hatton is setting himself up for a spring 2009 bout with
the winner of the Mayweather Jr. vs. De La Hoya rematch
and Hatton hopes it will be Mayweather Jr. so he can get
another crack at him. With Lazcano having not boxed a
professional match in over a year, it's going to be very
tough for him to step right in against someone of the
caliber of Hatton. There's no way that Hatton will go
down here in front of his faithful. So, although the
price is steep, Hatton is really the only bet that can
be made.
As far as the rounds go, I like the Under 10.5 rounds
bet. While I don't anticipate Hatton trying to drop
Lazcano early to send his fans home a little
disappointed, I do think he will knockout Lazcano before
the 11th to give his fans there money's worth. Don't be
surprised to see a 9th or 10th round knockout from
Hatton.
