Hatton puts fans first

Hatton: putting fans first

It's hard for me to look people in the face who have had tickets off me all through my career, and tell them they can't have any.

Ricky Hatton
Quotes of the week

Also see

• Hatton-Lazcano report
• Round-by-round report
• Hatton reaction


• Malignaggi-N'dou report
• Malignaggi reaction

Ricky Hatton will put his fans first when he heads back to America to fight.

The Hitman's next three bouts are likely to be on the other side of the Atlantic as part of his deal with pay-per-view giants HBO.

Paulie Malignaggi is next up in the autumn but Hatton says he will not box anywhere, in Las Vegas or New York, that can't cater for his fanatical following.

"If we go to fight in Las Vegas again and they want to give me 4,000 tickets I won't put up with it," he said.

"There's nothing to say I have to fight at this place or that place. My intention is to go back there and win world titles but it's hard for me to look people in the face who have had tickets off me all through my career, and tell them they can't have any."

Something like 35,000 fans travelled to Las Vegas for his December defeat by Floyd Mayweather and a post-war open-air record of 57,000 turned out to see Hatton's homecoming win over Juan Lazcano on Saturday.

It confirmed his status as the biggest box office in boxing right now and will make finding a suitable venue even harder.

But Golden Boy Promotions, who has a Stateside deal with, are likely to pull out all the stops after Oscar de la Hoya was ringside in Manchester to experience Hatton's popularity first hand.

"There is no other fighter like him," he said. "He's the biggest box office in the game right now."