Juan Lazcano's trainer, Ronnie Shields, says his man will make Ricky Hatton pay for his excessive drinking when they meet on Saturday.
Trainer says boozing will be Ricky's downfall on Saturday
Juan Lazcano's trainer says Ricky Hatton will pay the price for his lifestyle out of the ring come Saturday night.
Ronnie Shields, the man in the Hispanic Causing Panic's corner, believes that a lack of discipline between fights will cost the Hitman dearly when he defends his IBO Light-Welterweight title, live on
Sky Box Office.
Hatton is known to put on at least two stones in between fights and although he was just short of the 140lbs limit eight days ahead of the fight, is still known in some quarters as Ricky Fatton.
And Shields, who has worked with the likes of Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Jesus Chavez among others, believes the Hitman's love of a pint and a fry-up will backfire this weekend.
Bad lifestyle
"He lives a very bad lifestyle for a fighter," he said. "Anyone who goes out and drinks the way he does, it has to take an effect.
"Personally, I think it started taking an effect in the Floyd Mayweather fight. Floyd Mayweather isn't a big puncher, yet Floyd knocked Ricky out. As could be seen, round and round after round, Hatton got more and more tired and that's for the simple reason that his lifestyle is starting to take an effect on him.
"Just watching the fight, I could see this happening round after round, and after about the sixth round, I thought that Floyd had the chance to knock Ricky out because Floyd hurt him with a couple of those check hooks.
"Gaining all that weight, losing all that weight and then gaining it all back again, that takes a hell of a toll on your body, I don't care who you are."
Hatton insists his training camp could not have gone better, although he was forced to "ease off the gas" by a chest infection two weeks ago.
He put on a gruelling work-out for the assembled media at a press day last Thursday and has completed 15 rounds on the bodybag with Billy Graham.
Shields, who arrived with Lazcano in England on Saturday, has warned the Hitman he had better be ready for a long night.
"Juan Lazcano is going to push Ricky all the way through those 12 rounds," he said. "We're going to make him fight for 12 rounds, so there's no excuses, no nothing.
"I've been hearing something about how he's been sick, but if you're sick, don't get in the ring because then you've got an excuse. But if you do jump in that ring, then you have no excuses.
"When Juan beats Ricky, we don't want to hear anything except for his team to say that Juan Lazcano was the best fighter that night."
