Corrales challenges Hitman Hatton to Cardiff super-fight

AMERICAN warrior Diego Corrales has challenged Ricky Hatton to put his IBF light-welterweight title on the line on an amazing double-bill in front of 60,000 British fans.

Lightweight champion Corrales is pressing for a fight with Hatton on the same card as Joe Calzaghe’s projected super-middleweight unification clash against IBF king Jeff Lacy in November.

And Gary Shaw, promoter of both Corrales and Lacy, has revealed he has already opened talks aimed at securing the biggest bill in British boxing history for Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

Shaw, who was ringside with his fighters to see Hatton’s sensational win over Kostya Tszyu on Sunday morning, said: “Diego would love to come to Britain and make a super-fight with Ricky.

“I have been talking with American pay-per-view network Showtime today about making the fight on the same card as Calzaghe-Lacy in one of your biggest arenas.

“It is something that could really happen and it is the biggest fight out there at the moment. Diego never takes a backward step and neither does Ricky. It would be an incredible fight.”

Corrales holds the WBC and WBO lightweight titles, having stopped Jose Luis Castillo last month in a war most ringsiders described as one of the greatest in boxing history.

He was on the verge of being stopped after going down twice in the 10th round before responding immediately to leave Castillo sagging helplessly in the ropes.

Now Corrales is eager to step up in weight and fight the man he regards as the true leader of the best division in world boxing.

Shaw said Corrales was full of praise for Hatton and the 22,000-capacity Manchester crowd which gave him a rousing reception when he was introduced prior to the main event.

Shaw added: “Diego loved the crowd and said he would thrive on that kind of atmosphere if he gets the fight with Ricky.

“Diego knows Ricky is the number one light-welterweight in the world because he beat Kostya Tszyu.

“He is the man Diego wants and he is willing to come to Britain to get him.”

Tszyu has sacked his trainer Johnny Lewis after losing the IBF light welterweight title to Hatton at the weekend.

Tszyu’s manager Matt Watt said that the 35-year-old had made a decision to fire Lewis for stopping the fight.

And his promoter, Vlad Warton, said: “Kostya wanted to continue but Lewis felt that he was losing the fight.

“It wasn’t Kostya’s decision to end the fight.

“He would’ve never stopped it.”

The Russian-born fighter suffered a shock defeat to Hatton after failing to answer the bell for the 12th round of their bout in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Tszyu and Lewis have been together since 1992 after the boxer moved from Russia to Australia.