Don King was hoping to put the best two lightweight boxers in the world together in the same ring. Joel Casamayor will indeed be at the MGM Grand on Sept. 13, but he will not be fighting Nate Campbell; instead, Juan Manuel Maquez will move up from the super featherweight division to take a crack at Casamayor’s WBO interim title.

Marquez is coming off a disputed split decision loss in March to Manny Pacquiao, Ring Magazine’s No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound boxer. That high-profile fight ensures a healthy HBO pay-per-view buyrate for Sept. 13; the fight itself might not be so pretty. Marquez is the –325 favorite with Casamayor fighting from behind at +250. It’s expected Casamayor will force the pace in this matchup, which is saying something at age 36. Expect a slow dance that will go the full 10 rounds.

Campbell has a mandatory fight with Joan Guzman (–205) that should be more entertaining, and will be made available on Showtime.

Gary Shaw is going after Oscar De La Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions. Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez will fight in a rubber match for the WBC super Bantamweight title on Saturday. Since Shaw promotes Marquez and De La Hoya co-promotes Vazquez, it would make sense for these two to work closely to promote this fight, which will be televised live on Showtime.

The Golden Boy however, is not actively working the Vazquez-Marquez fight; he held a news conference on Tuesday but not to promote his fighter. The conference was to promote him and announce his May 3 bout with Steve Forbes.

Doing this infuriated Shaw, who was concerned about the impact this announcement would have on ticket sales for his fight.

“What happened (Tuesday) was also totally wrong,” Shaw said. “This week should belong to two Hall of Fame fighters, Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez, who have literally left their blood on the canvas in two prior fights, and are about to complete their amazingly exciting trilogy Saturday.”

“That is what this week is all about and should have been all about. Nothing personal against Golden Boy; we are going to sell out anyway. But for the life of me, I will never understand why they did what they did, especially when they co-promote one of the fighters. Why would a promoter try to take the limelight away from one of their own fighters? This should have been Israel’s time, not Oscar’s.”

Shaw went on to mock De La Hoya’s often stated intention to change boxing. He said actions such as what De La Hoya pulled shows he is only interested in promoting himself.

Many boxing fans would agree, Ricky Hatton aka “The Hitman” is one of, if not the greatest British fighters of all time and is ranked among the best pound for pound boxers in the world.

Hatton’s debut fight was on September 11, 1997 against Colin McAuley where he won by a KO in 1.

Considered on of best victories by a British boxer in the last 20 years, was Hatton’s fight against Kostya Tszyu. Hatton was the heavy underdog for this fight and won by technical knockout after the Australian failed to answer the bell in the 12th round. This win announced his entry to the upper echelons of the world boxing scene.

In December 2007 Hatton’s welterweight fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. was considered to be the biggest welterweight fight since the 1999 clash between Oscar de le Hoya and legend Felix ‘Tito’ Trinidad. Unfortunately the fight went to Mayweather when Hatton wobbled and fell straight on his back in round 10.

Currently Hatton is making plans for his 2008 return. He is currently in South Africa recovering from his defeat against Mayweather and has plans to get back into the ring at the end of May or early June. His opponent is yet to be announced.

“I think one of my best attributes is that I’m pretty fearless, so I’ll fight anyone that is put in front of me” said Hatton.