Lazcano next in line

Lazcano: next for Hatton?

Ricky Hatton's homecoming will be screened live on Sky Box Office.

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Juan Lazcano will be the opponent for Ricky Hatton's homecoming.

The Hispanic Causing Panic will the lion's den at the City of Manchester Stadium on May 24 as the Hitman fights in Britain for the first time since 2005, live on Sky Box Office.

"With the contracts for the chief support - and Juan Lazcano has been bandied about - we're well down the line with that," Ray Hatton told Sky Sports News.

"But as people who have been in boxing for years know, until you get a signature alongside your signature, it's never done.

"At this moment in time, all the contracts are in place. We're hoping the people concerned are going to sign them and this is why we're having another press conference in another seven days to confirm it."

Lazcano, a Mexican fighting out of Sacramento, California, boasts an impressive 42-37-4-1 record and has only lost twice in 10 years, to Vivian Harris and Hatton victim Jose Luis Castillo, the latter in a WBC world title fight.

His last fight, a WBC light-welterweight eliminator in February, ended in a points loss at the hands of Harris, but he does have some impressive scalps on his CV.

He has beaten the likes of Wilfredo Vazquez, Stevie Johnston and Ben Tackie and is a former lightweight world champion.

This will be Lazcano's first fight outside America but he is no stranger to the big time, having headlined at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and shared the same MGM Grand bill as Oscar de la Hoya and Bernard Hopkins.

Hatton's homecoming is expected to attract around 55,000 fight fans to Manchester, a record for a fight in England, which could even surpass the British best set by Joe Calzaghe versus Mikkel Kessler.