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Experts & Blogs Home | Experts' columns | Ricky's Diary | Adam Smith

No need to Panic!

What can we expect from Juan Lazcano?

Posted: 21st May 2008 10:51

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Lazcano: will come to fight

THE HOMECOMING
Ricky Hatton v Juan Lazcano
IBO Light-Welterweight title
Live on Sky Box Office
7.30pm, Saturday, May 24
Call 08442 410888 to book
Click here for more information

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Sky Sports' legendary boxing panel have followed Ricky Hatton throughout his rise to the very top.

They will be there on May 24th when he comes home to Manchester but in the run-up to the big night, will be sharing their expert insight with us here on skysports.com.

We will be putting a series of questions to Jim Watt, Johnny Nelson, Glenn McCrory and Nicky Piper as we countdown to The Homecoming, so let them mark your card ahead of a massive night in Manchester.

Question Four: Juan Lazcano has a great nickname, but is a far cry from Floyd Mayweather? What do you make of the match-up, and what can we expect fron the challenger?

GLENN McCRORY: You'd be a fool not to take up the chance to fight Ricky Hatton in Manchester, but I am sure Lazcano will have been carefully picked. He's lost fights, but he's still a tough guy as you'd expect from the Hispanic Causing Panic! Team Hatton will have done their homework though, and really tried to get the right style for Ricky in a marauding Mexican, simply because he's like that himself. But there are no bad Mexicans down at these weights are there?

JIM WATT: Lazcano is cute enough, he knows the game. There's no reason he should give Ricky any trouble and in picking him, they are pretty much doing what Oscar de la Hoya just did against Stevie Forbes. They've got a good opponent, with a good pedigree, but he will make Ricky work every round. Of course we all expect Lazacano to lose, but why wouldn't we? We have accepted that Ricky is the best 10-stone fighter on the planet, so whoever he goes in against is going to be the big underdog.

JOHNNY NELSON: It's an excellent choice. One, he's going to make Ricky work for it, make no mistake about that. Two, he's just below world class, not too dangerous, but dangerous enough. That makes Lazacano safe enough to come back against in front of his home crowd in Manchester. He was never going to throw himself straight back in against Paulie Malignaggi or Junior Witter, because both of those are awkward fighters who might make Ricky start to doubt himself if it didn't go right. But with Lazcano, they are pushing him back in slowly but surely. This won't be a pushover though, no fight at this level ever is.

NICKY PIPER: He'll come to fight, as the nickname suggests. I think this is a really exciting fight and I do think Hatton will come good. He could have gone for a big fight, but everyone deserves one step down to get back on track and this is one everyone expects him to win. Lazcano is a Mexican-American, he hails from Texas where they have produced some great fighters down the years and he hasn't been stopped for 10 years. He can hit as well as 27 KO's in 37 wins suggests. But I don't think he'll be causing too much 'panic' in the Hatton camp!