Ricky Hatton and Paulie Malignaggi from Vegas on Nov. 22

By April MacIntyre Nov 19, 2008, 21:55 GMT

Ricky Hatton - Vegas will be ground zero for the 140 pounder junior welterweight fight taking place this Saturday night on November 22 between Ricky Hatton and Brooklyn\'s Paulie Malignaggi, which is being held at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. © Terry Thompson / Photorazzi

Crowd pleaser Ricky Hatton will be in America again!  This time though, half of Britain will not be in tow to watch him fight in Sin City.

Las Vegas will be ground zero for the 140 pounder junior welterweight fight taking place this Saturday night on November 22 between Ricky Hatton and Brooklyn's Paulie Malignaggi, which is being held at MGM Grand.

Malignaggi and Hatton, a couple of former junior welterweight boxing champions, will meet in a 12-round match televised on HBO Saturday night, November 22.

Ticket sales are reportedly slow.  This time, unlike when the Manchester mauler met up with Mayweather a year ago (Dec 9, 2007) the British pound is not sitting as pretty in the exchange rate.  So perhaps this time we won't be hearing boos when the U.S. National anthem is played.  Hopefully Tom Jones will come back and sing the British anthem.

Elite XC, UFC and MMA seems to be really heating up here and in the UK for ticket sales and interest, and younger viewers seem more interested in the likes of Randy Couture, Kimbo Slice, Bas Rutten, Frank Shamrock, Mac Danzig, Ian Freeman, Kimo Leopoldo and Roman Webber to name just a few.

Boxing still tops the blood sports for me, though a good cage match is always a fine time. 

Ricky Hatton is tipped by oddsmakers as a favorite to beat Paulie Malignaggi this Saturday night. Both fighters come into the fight with only one loss, each to really good fighters, so their bout will be an interesting match up.

Training with his ex nemesis Floyd Mayweather's dad, Mayweather Sr., Hatton is down to 140 pounds.

What Paulie brings is a real talent for speed, fast hands, stamina and being able to take a hit. Ricky Hatton is a undoubtedly good fighter, but Paulie may upset the apple cart and take this fight after learning some hard lessons from the Cotto beating and N'dou fight (which he should have won) prior.  

I wonder if Malignaggi will ever get another chance at Cotto, but if he can continue improving and working with trainer Buddy Mcgirt in his corner, I’d put money down that we will see much more of Malignaggi.
Either way, it will be a good fight on Saturday.

At the risk of hate-filled talkback from my UK friends, I predict Paulie will surprise Hatton and win by decision.