Tackie Beaten Yet Again

Undefeated WBU Junior Welterweight Champion and current WBC and WBA No. 3 contender Ricky “Hitman” Hatton successfully defended his title an 11th time with a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision over IBF No. 14 contender Ben Tackie Saturday on SHOWTIME.

Hatton (34-0, 25 KOs), of Manchester, England, could not knock down the iron-chinned Tackie, but mostly dominated en route to winning by the scores of 120-109 twice and 118-110. The impressive youngster tired a tad in the late stages but did nothing to dispel the notion that he deserves a shot at one of the junior welterweight world champions. Hatton, who turned 25 on Oct. 6, captured the WBU 140-pound title on March 26, 2001, with a fourth-round knockout over Tony Pep in Wembley, England. Hatton successfully defended the WBU title four times in 2001 and 2002. In his first fight of 2003, Hatton registered an impressive 12-round unanimous decision over former world champion “Cool” Vince Phillips April 5 on SHOWTIME from Manchester.

Tackie (24-5, 15 KOs), of Accra, Ghana, lost a 12-round decision in a fight for the third consecutive time. As usual, the durable contender performed gamely and made for a good scrap, but he lacked the offensive firepower to keep Hatton off him. In his last appearance, Tackie dropped a 12-round decision to Sharmba Mitchell in an IBF 140-pound elimination bout May 17, 2003, on SHOWTIME. On May 18, 2002, also on SHOWTIME, Tackie lost a 12-round decision to world 140-pound champion Kostya Tszyu. Tackie’s best performance came when he rallied to register a 10th-round TKO over former IBF 130-pound titleholder Roberto Garcia June 3, 2000, on SHOWTIME.