Hatton focused on title defence
Ricky
Hatton insists he is fully focused on his first world title defence
against WBA light welterweight king Carlos Maussa on Saturday.
And the IBF light welterweight champion,
who recently split with promoter Frank Warren, says he will be in the
shape of his life in Sheffield.
"Obviously there were one or two
upsets outside the ring, which I could have done without," Hatton
told BBC Sport.
"But I've had 11 weeks training and
I've never performed so well."
Warren claims he still has Hatton tied
to a three-fight contract and threatened an injunction to stop Saturday's
fight taking place.
He dropped the action last month, although
he still plans to sue for breach of contract.
"When [Warren] pulled out of the
injunction, it was a weight off my shoulders," said the 27-year-old
Hatton.
"But I've never prepared so well
- even before the Kostya Tszyu fight [when he won the IBF belt in June].
"Maussa's very unconventional and
difficult to read. He's a little bit like a puppet on a string, you're
not sure which way he's going to move.
"He's also heavy-handed, he's got
a good chin and throws a lot of punches. But I've shown in the past
I'm a versatile fighter.
"If I want to fight up close, I can
do. If I want to fight at a distance, I can do. And you need all those
things in your armoury when you're fighting someone like Maussa."
Maussa, 34, won the WBA belt with
a shock win over Vivian Harris in June, just three weeks after Hatton
wrested the IBF belt from Tszyu.
Courtesy BBC
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