Ricky Hatton vs. Juan Lazcano, billed as ''Homecoming'', was a

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

fight between

Ricky Hatton Richard John Hatton (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world championships at li ...

and challenger

Juan Lazcano Juan Lazcano (born March 23, 1975) is a Mexican-born American professional boxer currently based in Sacramento, California. He fights at light welterweight and is a former World Boxing Foundation (WBF), NABF and IBA lightweight champion, as we ...

for the IBO and ''The Ring'' titles. It was held in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England at the

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

in front of a record 55,000 fans. This was a record for a boxing event post world war II, until 2014 when Carl Froch faced George Groves, fight which sold 80,000 seats. The fight went the full 12 rounds and Hatton won by

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

Build-up

Hatton was coming off his first career loss to

Floyd Mayweather Jr. Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (''né'' Sinclair; February 24, 1977) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer. He currently owns a team in the NASCAR Cup Series named The Money Team Racing. As a professional boxer he competed b ...

and was fighting for the first time back in Manchester. It was a thanks to all his fans who had travelled to the States to watch his previous four fights and was held in his home

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

ground of his beloved

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

.
Lazcano was a durable opponent who was in the top ten for light welterweights in the

Ring Magazine ''The Ring'' (often called ''The Ring'' magazine or ''Ring'' magazine) is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into questio ...

rankings. His only stoppage defeat was to

Golden Johnson Golden Demond Johnson (born October 23, 1974, in Wichita Falls, Texas, U.S.) is a professional boxer in the Welterweight division. He's the former three-time NABF champion at Lightweight, Light Welterweight, and Welterweight. Personal life Golde ...

ten years previously and he was also coming off a loss to

Vivian Harris Ivan Vivian Harris (born June 17, 1978) is a Guyanese former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2018. He held the WBA super lightweight title from 2002 to 2005. Amateur career After Harris arrived in the U.S., he began his amateur ...

Paulie Malignaggi Paul "Paulie" Malignaggi (; ; born November 23, 1980) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017 and has since worked as a boxing commentator and analyst. He held world championships in two weight classes, including ...

was on the undercard as he and Hatton were meant to fight each other later in the year.
The weigh-in took place at the Trafford Centre in Manchester and there was a lot of anticipation about Hatton's Ring Entrance. A lot of people were criticizing his diet between fights and were saying he was past his best, He wanted to prove them wrong and also take a dig at them at the same time. Hatton said it could be his last in Britain.
The fight was on Sky Box Office in the UK and

Versus (TV channel) NBCSN was an American sports television channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated to programming prima ...

in the United States. Juan Lazcano saw an upset on the cards and trainer Ronnie Shields was saying that Hatton was washed up and ready for the taking.

The fight

The ring entrance involved a version of Hi Ho Silver Lining with the words replaced to mention Hatton, followed by Blue Moon. Hatton appeared in a fat suit and walked to the ring in it, Michael Buffer announced the fighters.
The referee was Howard Foster and the judges were Marcus McDonell, Pat Russell and Phil Austin. Hatton who was rocked badly in the eighth and tenth round, and in the tenth critics claim, only survived, when the fight was stopped, so he could tie his shoes, while badly hurt. Despite being a bad performance, and a very close fight, the judges scores of 120-110, 118-110 and 120-108 . Hatton also rocked Lazcano several times and had him against the ropes using the full repertoire of shots, with Lazcano's back bruised from being constantly pushed against the ropes. Malignaggi also won a split decision against Lovemore N'dou to set up their fight.

Aftermath

Hatton decided to hire

Floyd Mayweather Sr. Floyd Joy Mayweather (born October 19, 1952) is an American boxing trainer and former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 1990. Fighting at welterweight during the 1970s and 1980s, Mayweather Sr. was known for his defensive abilities ...

for his next fight with

and would go on to win that as well. Lazcano has not fought since but still retained a place in the top ten light welterweight rankings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatton, Lazcano Boxing matches 2008 in boxing Boxing in England Sports competitions in Manchester 2008 in English sport 2000s in Manchester May 2008 sports events in the United Kingdom