Ben Tackie To Fight "Hitman" Hatton December 6

Out of the frying pan, into the fire: jr. welterweight contender Ben “Wonder” Tackie is set to face hard-hitting WBU champ Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton in Manchester, England on December 6.

It is the first fight back for Tackie, 24-3, 15 KOs, since losing a shut-out decision to the division’s undisputed champ Kostya Tszyu in May.

Tackie, who took the last few months off to spend with his wife and two children in his hometown of Accra, Ghana, returned to Los Angeles this week and is training with formerly Detroit-based Eric Brown (husband and trainer of fem fighter Cynthia Prouder) at the Wild Card gym.

Training problems were part of the reason Tackie cites for his performance against Tszyu. He split with long-time trainer Joe Goossen prior to the Tszyu fight and hired Jesse Arrevalo, who had worked in Goossen’s gym and helped prepare him for his fight with Teddy Reid.

“It turned out to be a disaster when I was getting ready for the Tszyu fight,” said Tackie, who looked in his usual tremendous shape. “Jesse was the laziest trainer I ever had. He would go out all night and then couldn’t get up to train me properly.

“He wasn’t on top of things, like my weight while I was training. In the mornings, I would be waiting for him to come running with me and he’d be in bed snoring.”

Three weeks before the Tszyu fight, he dropped Arrevalo and kept the rest of his corner: co-trainer and fight cutman Charles Tackie-Kommey and manager Michael Tetteh.

Tetteh, who drives Tackie to the gym each day, is confident of a victory over Hatton.

After such a brutal loss to Tszyu, an easier fight first would seem kinder to Tackie who has the reputation for being able to take a punch, but they don’t call Hatton “The Hitman” for nothing.

Tackie is not concerned about fighting Hatton on The Hitman’s home turf. “This is a good fight for me,” he said. “I’m ready. I’m back in the gym here and I’m looking forward to this fight.”