Maybe it was the brisk Manchester weather, but the two favorites did just enough to win their bouts Saturday in what was dubbed as the “Hatton Homecoming”. In the undercard fight, New York's Paullie Malignaggi edged Lovemore N'Dou one more time to seal his shot at “Hitman” Hatton most likely sometime this fall. The venue was amazing and the crowd was packed into the City of Manchester Stadium to watch their beloved fighter in his comeback from his devastating loss to Floyd “Prettyboy” Mayweather in December.
The event began with Malignaggi, the flashy young American fighter, entering the ring wearing a mask, and sporting what became troubling hair extensions. The normally mouthy Paullie Malignaggi already defeated N'Dou easily in 2007 and looked to defend his IBF Junior Welterweight Title in statement making fashion. He entered the ring to boos from the British crowd and mimicked them by pretending to wipe tears from his mask. The crowd did not take well to that as the boos poured on, but this very informed pro-Hatton crowd had more than a feeling this would be their beloved Hatton's next opponent, should both of them prove victorious as they did.
Malignaggi, the Sicilian native living and fighting out of New York City, entered the fight wearing hair extensions to the middle of his back, with these extensions proving to be more than just a distraction. It was easy to tell after about 30 seconds that the hair extensions were bothersome and the flashy young fighter was not used to them. N'Dou continued to tie up with Paullie Malignaggi brushing his forearm against the knotted hair extensions eventually loosening them several times causing the vision of “Magic Man” Malignaggi to be impaired as he continually was shaking his head to move them beyond the front of his face. It was believed that Malignaggi broke his right hand in the sixth round of the bout which explained why he was not using more of his speedy combinations to pepper away at the obviously slower N'Dou. On top of this injury the gutsy “Magic Man” fought on , with the pesky hair extensions proving to annoy the fighter. Finally Malignaggi got a haircut in the ninth round from his corner and the instant comfort was obvious. While the official scorecard was 115-114 N'Dou and 116-112,116-113, the fighter earned respect from fans by continuing to fight on with a broken hand. Malignaggi followers are certainly worried by this now chronic hand problem, which could end up shortening this
promising fighter's career. With rumors said for a bout set for the fall between he and Hatton, one must wonder if that is enough time for his hand to truly heal. I am sure that his staff will make a career decision and not an emotional one when scheduling this bout with Hitman Hatton.
With hair and injury being the big story in the first bout, Hatton did not put too many onlookers in awe during this bout with the durable and tough Juan Lazcano. While the scorecards and fight were clearly in favor of Ricky Hatton, it was very obvious that he did not look the same, and the question remains, can this fighter continue to take brutal punishment in every single bout. Many are saying it is near the end for Hatton, who publicly discussed his retirement plans recently to the media. Hitman Hatton, entered the ring sporting a puffed up “fatman suit” sporting the word “Fatton” on the side to answer the questions about his lifestyle and training habits in between bouts. While there were flashes of the old Hatton early on, he took some hard hits from Lazcano, but Hatton fans are sued to seeing that. Hatton's face was swollen but not cut in his victory and the official scorecards were all in favor of Hatton with the three judges scoring the fight 120-110, 118-110, 120-108.
Fight fans have a nice bout to look forward to this fall if Hatton and Malignaggi make it official to square off. There are questions that both fighters have to answer, but questions aside it will be fun to watch the speed of Malignaggi versus the slugger approach of Ricky “Hitman” Hatton. Hatton who's career may be nearing the end will undoubtedly go down as one of the most entertaining fighters in history and Malignaggi who has some years ahead of him if he can control his hand injury issues can prove he can handle the increase in difficulty with his toughest opponent since his bout with Cotto in 2006.
