• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

My Football Writer

My Football Writer Norwich City news… comment… analysis

Norwich City – news, comment and analysis

Find the best betting sites
  • Home
  • About us
  • The Team
  • Archives Index
  • Patreon
  • ADVERTISE
  • Contact us

The Hitman and Me… City star Croft backs his pal Ricky to do the business in Vegas

6th December 2007 By Latest News Leave a Comment

Please share

Question: Where will City winger Lee Croft be in the early hours of this Sunday morning?

And for those of you who figured the answer was simple, 'Mercy VIP…', you'd be wrong. He'll be round the Huckerbys' house, sat on the sofa in front of the wide-screen TV watching his big pal from Manchester go to work.

The friend in question? Ricky 'The Hitman' Hatton who on Saturday night steps into the ring at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas for the fight of his professional sporting life against, arguably, the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world right now, Floyd Mayweather Jnr.

A die-hard Manchester City fan – and no mean footballer himself in his younger days – Hatton was always a regular face at the City training ground and come this summer, there was Croft ringside for the Hitman's fourth round stoppage of Jose Luis Castillo.

It was that victory that propelled Denton's finest into this weekend's world welterweight showdown. Both men are unbeaten – Hatton in 43 fights over 10 years; Mayweather in 38 over 11 years. Something is going to have to give and, not surprisingly, Croft is firmly backing his man to triumph.

“Ricky used to come down to training quite a lot when I was at Manchester City, so I know him,” said Croft. “And then I went out there in the summer with a few mates to watch him in Vegas.

“I wish I could go out there this time, but obviously it's in the season so I'll just have to watch it on the box.”

It's not hard to see why Hatton and Croft might knock about together – Hatton is already making a big name for himself on the after-dinner speech circuit and is a genuinely funny lad who has had the boxing Press in stitches in Vegas this week.

Whether he's left in stitches by the blurring speed and unerring accuracy of Mayweather's fists is the big question – as Norwich's own boxing hero Jon Thaxton will witness, the chink in Hatton's armour is that he cuts.

“I'm a boxing fan, but mainly I'm interested in Ricky Hatton,” said the City winger. “I watch all his fights and stuff.

“And I think it's nice that he takes a great interest in football and the other way round – it's a mutual respect there. All the other lads are taking note of him and there was a lot of footballers out there in the summer when he was in Vegas. So it's a nice blend.”

Hatton's renowned love of a good time in-between fights also may have something to do with the bond that exists between the fighter and a generation of City footballers. Such is his popularity that he even crosses that city's footballing divide – Wayne Rooney carried his belt into the ring ahead of the Castillo contest.

“A lot of people reckon the renowned Mancunian boozer-geezer is the best balanced boxer in the business: with a pint of Guinness in one hand and a bacon butty in the other…” wrote Kevin Mitchell in The Observer this autumn, a line that might ring a chord with 22-year-old Croft.

Hatton himself was talking a great fight at yesterday's 'pre-match' gathering. he even got serious for a minute. “A lot's been said in the build-up and a lot of it's been rubbish but I think we both know we can fight. There's so many titles about these days and so many boxers trying to avoid each other that I think it says something when two fighters who are unbeaten are looking to put the fight together like we've done.

“Floyd's No 1 in the division so it would have been easy for me to stay in my backyard in England, to stay in my comfort zone. I didn't need to come to America but I chose to do it for the challenge.”

The real boxing fan in the Canary camp, however, is Croft's own verbal sparring partner Darren Huckerby who will be hosting Saturday's fight night with Mrs H laying on the nibbles.

Huckerby has his on thoughts on the outcome. Cue a bit more banter. “He wants Mayweather, but he ain't going to win I don't think,” said Croft.

Why Hatton will win is a harder question to answer. “I don't know.

“Everyone says that Mayweather's really defensive; Ricky's a real terrier and he doesn't give up. He's just at him, at him, at him… And I'm sure he'll be too much for him to handle. Well, hopefully anyway.”

The view from the Huckerby 'camp', however is different. Both, needless to say, are ready to put their money where their mouth is.

“Hucks says Mayweather is too classy,” said Croft. “Apparently.

“And he reckons he's got too much for Hatton. We'll see – we'll see on Saturday, won't we? But then he thinks he knows everything – you can never win an argument with Hucks! But we've got a little bit of money in it – but we won't disclose figures.”

It won't just be the pair sat on the sofa. And if you're looking for a bit of team spirit floating about the place as Norwich look to prise themselves out of the bottom three, it'll be there in the early hours of Sunday morning.

“Hucks has invited all the lads round, so it should be a good night,” said Croft. It will, he said, be an even better night if the Canaries can repeat Tuesday night's trick and pick up another huge home win in front of a likely Carrow Road full house.

“Hopefully, we'll get a good result again against Sheffield United and then we can enjoy ourselves and watch the fight.”

It wasn't the be all and end all – that comes at three o'clock in the afternoon, not three o'clock in the morning.

“Obviouslly there's more important things than the boxing for us at the moment. We need to get another three points here on Saturday because it does affect your weekend when you're not winning.

“So we'll be doing our all come Saturday afternoon to get the three points and then we'll look beyond that at Saturday night.”


Please share

Filed Under: Latest news

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FIND MY FOOTBALL WRITER ON

As featured on NewsNow: Norwich City news” style=

Norwich City News 24/7

#NCFC LATEST

ryanpearce5 Ryan Pearce @ryanpearce5 ·
3 Apr

If usual tricks = being kicked in the penalty area and not getting a penalty then yeah 😂 #ncfc

Reply on Twitter 1642899144267243522 Retweet on Twitter 1642899144267243522 Like on Twitter 1642899144267243522 1 Twitter 1642899144267243522
norwichcityes Norwich City FC en español @norwichcityes ·
3 Apr

Partidazo el que nos espera este viernes 🔥🔥🔥.

Vamos con todo por esos tres puntos #NCFC 💛💚

Reply on Twitter 1642897241835798529 Retweet on Twitter 1642897241835798529 Like on Twitter 1642897241835798529 2 Twitter 1642897241835798529
fan_banter Fan Banter @fan_banter ·
3 Apr

Boreham Wood mocked over bizarre announcement parting with stadium caterers - https://fanbanter.co.uk/boreham-wood-mocked-over-bizarre-announcement-parting-with-stadium-caterers/

#watfordfc #ncfc #twitterclarets #safc #rufc #wafc #bcfc #rovers #utmp #bristolcity #ccfc #pusb #htafc #hcafc #coyh #boro #millwall #qpr #readingfc #twitterblades #scfc #sufc

Reply on Twitter 1642893716791894019 Retweet on Twitter 1642893716791894019 Like on Twitter 1642893716791894019 Twitter 1642893716791894019
norwichcityfc Norwich City FC @norwichcityfc ·
3 Apr

🤝 Connection with the club
📈 Growth of women's team
🏟 Carrow Road fixture

@NorwichCityWFC general manager Flo Allen answers your questions in the latest episode of 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 ⬇️

#NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1642889121868783616 Retweet on Twitter 1642889121868783616 2 Like on Twitter 1642889121868783616 18 Twitter 1642889121868783616
norwichcityacad Norwich City Academy @norwichcityacad ·
3 Apr

🏟️ The Under-21s make their return to Carrow Road later this month in a #PL2 clash against Southampton 👊

Secure your FREE ticket for our final game of the 2022/23 campaign ⬇️

#NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1642886378743537666 Retweet on Twitter 1642886378743537666 Like on Twitter 1642886378743537666 1 Twitter 1642886378743537666
Load More...

Copyright © 2023 21VC Ltd | All rights reserved | Not to be reproduced without prior permission.

Disclaimer: The information on this website consists of personal opinions. Whilst we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained on these Web pages is accurate and correct at the time of writing we do not accept any liability whatsover for any loss or damage caused by reliance on this information.

We do not accept any responsibility for information contained in other websites to which this site links. We strongly advise users to check any information before acting or relying on it.

Developed and Hosted by