Boxing News/Light-welterweight: Ricky Hatton can set off on his luxury Caribbean cruise today secure in the knowledge that the biggest fight of his career is in the bag.
Hatton has landed the world title fight he craved against the IBF light-welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu.
Promoter Frank Warren announced the completion of the big-money deal yesterday for the showdown at Manchester's MEN Arena in the early hours of Sunday, June 5th.
Following his two-week break, Hatton will get down to the serious business of preparing to take on an opponent widely regarded as one of the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
Hatton has won all 38 of his professional contests, but badly needed a defining fight to enhance his status as one of the best in the world. The 36-year-old Tszyu has lost just once in 35 fights, against former Hatton foe Vince Phillips in May, 1997.
Featherweight: Naseem Hamed has confirmed he is planning to return to the ring this summer after a three-year absence. The former WBO featherweight champion, who will be 31 next month, has not fought since a points win over Spaniard Manuel Calvo in London in May, 2002.
Hamed has fought 37 times as a professional and suffered just one defeat, to Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas in 2001.
Intermediate: The heavier the weight, the larger the entry. This was the clear pattern as boxers from all four provinces posted entries for the national intermediate championships which begin at the National Stadium tonight, reports Pat Roche.
The draw will take place after the weigh-in this morning and boxing begins at 7.30 p.m. and continues tomorrow, with the semi-finals on February 4th-5th and finals on February 11th.
Featherweight: Scott Harrison meets Colombian Victor Polo at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow tonight (Sky Sports 1, 10 p.m.).
A disappointing crowd saw the WBO featherweight champion's last defence at the 5,000-capacity venue in October, when he knocked out Ethiopian Samuel Kebede in a farcical first round. And Harrison's promotor Frank Maloney is worried boxing fans will also stay away this evening.
"I don't know what the ticket sales are at this minute," said Maloney. "But Scotland is such a small country and he is a success in his sport and, other than the elephant team, he is the most successful sportsman they've got."
Heavyweight: Former world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes may be 55, but he still wants one more fight - against ex-champ and 56-year-old George Foreman.
Admitting to weighing 120kg (18st 13lb), Holmes said yesterday he was frustrated at never having fought Foreman when the two were younger.
