Tszyu set to face Hatton

Manchester:

Kostya Tszyu will put his IBF and WBC world light welterweight titles on the line when he faces WBU champion Ricky Hatton in Manchester on June 5. The 35-year-old is nearing the end of his professional boxing career. But the Russian-born Australian will have to roll back the years when he faces Hatton. "I will look forward to this fight. I have got hunger now. When you lose the hunger you can lose the fight because you can start making shot cuts," Tszyu said. Intimidating record Ricky 'The Hitman' Hatton holds an intimidating record of 38 wins from 38 fights, including 14 title defences, and Tszyu realises that their meeting at the men arena could be his most testing battle to date. "He's number one contender, young and ambitious, and he wants to get something that belongs to me for many years. He is hungry, very, very hungry," Tszyu said. Tszyu has yet to study his forthcoming opponent's style, notably his punishing body punches, but a spell of serious analysis lies just over the horizon. Preparing ground "I haven't done any homework yet. I've got a few tapes of him, I'm just watching the fights like a movie right now. I've got two weeks before I start heavy training. In this two weeks I will analyse everything," he said. Tszyu has suffered only one defeat in his 32 professional bouts and he is hoping to add to his tally of 25 knockouts when he goes face-to-face with Hatton. The fight will offer a familiar scenario of old master versus up and coming contender and if both men are at their best it could be one of the most bone crunching encounters in recent boxing history. (AP)