~Photo Credit: McCormick/MMG~
The
position of trainer in the sport of boxing is perhaps the most
crucial piece of the puzzle when it comes to putting together a
successful fighter. The best trainers command a great deal of
respect for their unique abilities to raise the performance
levels of their boxers and as a result, are in high demand the
world over.
Ronnie Shields, a former two-time world light welterweight
title challenger himself, is one of these rare birds, training
or having trained such current or recent champions as Juan
Diaz, Vernon Forrest, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Kassim
Ouma, Jesse James Leija and Jesus Chavez among others.
This week, the Houston, Texas native is in Manchester, England,
bringing light welterweight contender Juan Lazcano, 37-4-1
(27), in tow for a challenge against IBO/Ring Champion Ricky
Hatton, 43-1 (31), in front of 55,000 fans at City of
Manchester Stadium this Saturday.
"I'm here in England to train Juan Lazcano for his fight with
Ricky Hatton and make no mistake, we have come here to win,"
said Shields flatly.
Hatton is returning to fight in the UK for the first time since
2005 after a four bout American tour came to a close when "The
Hitman" was leveled by pound for pound king of the sport, Floyd
Mayweather, last December.
While Mayweather mastered the defensive approach to dealing
with Hatton's attacking style, Shields doesn't envision his
fighter trying to take a page from the same playbook.
"Juan is a completely different fighter than Floyd Mayweather,
so we can't really follow Mayweather's fight plan against
Ricky," said Shields. "But Juan is a top class fighter, one of
the best junior welters in the world and we're going to
surprise Ricky Hatton and beat him."
Hatton is as well known for his grueling regimen while
preparing for fights as he is for his lack of that discipline
between contests and Lazcano's trainer thinks that the toll of
such will be Hatton's downfall.
"He lives a very bad lifestyle for a fighter," said Shields.
"Anyone who goes out and drinks the way he does, it has to take
an effect. Personally, I think it started taking an effect in
the Floyd Mayweather fight. Floyd Mayweather isn't a big
puncher, yet Floyd knocked Ricky out. As could be seen, round
and round after round, Hatton got more and more tired and
that's for the simple reason that his lifestyle is starting to
take an effect on him.
"Just watching the fight, I could see this happening round
after round, and after about the sixth round, I thought that
Floyd had the chance to knock Ricky out because Floyd hurt him
with a couple of those check hooks. Gaining all that weight,
losing all that weight and then gaining it all back again, that
takes a hell of a toll on your body, I don't care who you are."
Despite the long odds his fighter must overcome to defeat
Hatton in front of a British record-breaking amount of highly
partisan hometown fans, Ronnie Shields remains unshaken in his
Saturday night prediction.
"Juan Lazcano is going to push Ricky all the way through those
twelve rounds," he said. "We're going to make him fight for 12
rounds, so there's no excuses, no nothing; I've been hearing
something about how he's been sick, but if you're sick, don't
get in the ring because then you've got an excuse. But if you
do jump in that ring, then you have no excuses.
"When Juan beats Ricky, we don't want to hear anything except
for his team to say that Juan Lazcano was the best fighter that
night."
Saturday, May 24, 2008 will feature the biggest selling fight
in the history of British boxing, IBO/Ring light welterweight
champion Ricky Hatton vs. Juan Lazcano, in front of 55,000 fans
at City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England on a
shared production between Frank Maloney Promotions, Punch
Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions.
Chief support features IBF light welter champion Paulie
Malignaggi, 24-1 (5), vs. former titlist Lovemore N'dou, 46-9-1
(31), and Commonwealth welterweight champion Craig Watson, 12-2
(4), defending against Matthew Hatton, 33-3-1 (13).
Two other championship fights will be featured with English
light middleweight title bout between the champion Andrew Facey,
19-5-1 (6), going against Manchester's Thomas McDonagh, 31-1-2
(6), and Liverpool's Mark Moran, 9-0-1 (2), squaring off with
Danny Wallace, 12-4-1 (6), for the vacant English super
bantamweight title.
Two-time British light middleweight champion Jamie Moore, 28-3
(19), also sees action on the card, facing Esau Herrera,14-3-1
(6), of Mexico City in an eight rounder.
Any remaining tickets to Hatton vs. Lazcano can be purchased on
http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/ ,
http://www.seetickets.com/ ,
http://www.gigsandtours.com/ and
http://www.rickyhitmanhatton.co.uk/ .
Doors open at 5:00PM with the first fight at 5:30PM. Sky Box
Office will televise live commencing at 7:30PM.
5-20-2008
