RICKY HATTON TO WIN: £7500 FROM A MIDLANDS PUNTER

With Ricky Hatton's slugfest with Italian-American stereotype Paul Malignaggi growing closer by the day, an anonymous punter from the Midlands is so confident of a Hatton victory, he's dropped a whopping £7500 on the Hitman to come up trumps in Vegas on Saturday. Final Fight?Interestingly enough, some bookmakers seem less confident than many boxing enthusiasts over Hatton's ability to win the fight. William Hill has actually just opened up a book on whether Hatton will retire or not after the fight. In a recent interview Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe declared "a second defeat in this fight, against a younger opponent could well persuade Ricky that he could not recapture former glories and send him into retirement."The odds are listed at 5/2 that this will be Hatton's last fight. Knockdown PricesThis one could definitely be a close call and many will be backing the Italian-American to really give Hatton a run for his money. William Hill believes the fight will last the full twelve rounds with any finish before the full 12 paying out at 9/4. Malignaggi to score a knockdown is an enticing bet, especially if Hatton starts slow early on. A Malignaggi knockdown on Hatton pays 6/1 while Hatton to get knocked down and then win the fight will pay 12/1. That would make for an incredible (and lucrative) story. A Hatton KO is paying 7/2 with Hills while a Malignaggi KO is paying out a much longer 9/1. I'm unsure about the knockout betting, but Hatton could go down once and go on to win it and that 12/1 looks awfully enticing.