Ricky Hatton entered the LSUBF Jr. Welterweight tournament as the #3 seed, yet was assumed to be the favorite entering the four-man title quest. The top fighter in the class was probably Marcos Maidana, who was 9-0 with 8 knockouts, but was a fight short of eligibility.

Hatton drew Carlos Maussa in the semifinal, while Amir Khan would do battle with Lovemore N’Dou.

Khan would win a seesaw battle with N’Dou that saw lots of heavy leather. N’Dou drops Khan in the 8th, but getting there seemed to exhaust N’Dou. Khan rises, and in the ninth rocks N’Dou into a corner and fires away with a series of unanswered blows before the fight is stopped sending Khan to the championship bout via a 9th round TKO.

 

Tough Colombian Carlos Maussa brought an unorthodox style in against the gritty Hatton, who made prognosticators look brilliant with a second round knockout of Maussa in devastating fashion.

Their title fight was a war of Khan’s slickness and accuracy against Hatton’s grinding style. Khan lands more often but Hatton lands the heavier blows. The purist would favor Khan after 15 rounds...but purists weren’t at the judge’s table, as Hatton would win the title via unanimous decision 143-140 (x2), 144-141.

 

The decision was debated, and even moreso when Hatton was taken out in his first defense, knocked out in the 6th round by Junior Witter.

 

Witter didn’t defend the title until giving Hatton his mandatory rematch 11 months later, and when he did Hatton made the most of the chance, stopping WItter by TKO in the 9th to regain the belt.

Hatton stopped Witter in the 11th in their rubbermatch, and in a move that angered many potential challengers, fought Witter AGAIN four months later, ending in a 10th round Hatton win - with a 7th round TKO over Diosbelys Hurtado sandwiched in between.

The next year, Hatton knocked out Zab Judah in the 7th, stopped Juan Urango in the 6th and Souleymane Mbaye in the 9th.

Last year, Hatton slowed his pace, defending only once, in April - a 3rd round knockout of DeMarcus Corley.

Hatton, however, has not defended since April and is past the time by which he needed to defend against the #1 contender. It is sounding increasingly likely that the LSUBF is going to strip Hatton of his title, with contenders for the belt including  Argentina’s Niccolino Locche, Jack “Kid” Berg and Timothy Bradley -  8-0-2 over the last 3 ½ years - who has long beat the drum that Hatton is ducking him.