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Back in action

Gavin Browne
3/ 1/2007

RICKY Hatton stepped up his preparations for his IBF light-welterweight fight against Juan Urango by beginning to spar this week.

The Hitman had been due to start his sparring work last week, but a pulled muscle in his right arm meant a slight delay in his timetable before flying out to Las Vegas this weekend.

He will be joined by brother Matthew who fights on the undercard at the Paris Hotel on January 20 as the Hatton team gets ready for a two-week training camp which they believe will have Hatton in better shape than he was when fighting Luis Collazo in May.

Dad Ray said: "The good thing was that he was well in front with his fitness as he only weighs 10st 8lbs three weeks before the fight.

"It's not ideal that he's missed out on two sessions of sparring but that's boxing.

"The nice thing is that being as far in front as he is, it means there aren't that many alarm bells ringing if you do have a setback."

As for Ricky himself, he believes he will be in the best shape possible come fight night.

Victory, combined with success for Jose Luis Castillo in his bout, will see the pair face off in the summer with lucrative fights on the horizon for the winner of that contest.

With the fight following on from news of his MBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours List, Hatton is hoping to continue his excellent opening to 2007.

He said: "My preparation has been going spot on. My arm's straightening out now and all my injuries seem to be well behind me. All in all, I'm very happy with the way everything's going.

"I always knew I could do quite well at boxing but to go from Manchester to Las Vegas, challenging for world titles and then to receive an MBE is a million miles away from my wildest dreams - the MBE is up there with anything I've done."