Reid can pension off Ottke to eclipse Hatton

14 April 2012

Ricky Hatton has happily accommodated the hype aimed at selling his world light-welterweight championship fight against Ben Tackie in Manchester tomorrow.

There have been open workouts, television specials on Sky Sports, a succession of radio interviews and a head-to-head confrontation with his Ghanaian challenger in front of a posse of reporters and photographers.

As a result the MEN Arena is a 16,000 sellout and there will be a guaranteed audience for the broadcast of Hatton's 11th defence of the belt belonging to the World Boxing Union (WBU).

Yet even if the 25-year-old remains unbeaten come Sunday morning he may find the headlines stolen by a glamour model who once fought under the rather inapposite moniker for a boxer of The Grim Reaper.

Robin Reid won bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and four years later went to Italy and beat Vincenzo Nardiello for the World Boxing Council's super middleweight title.

Reid made three successful defences but then suffered successive points defeats to Thulani Malinga, Joe Calzaghe and Silvio Branco.

He has since had 10 successive wins, but still supplemented his earnings by letting top-shelf magazines exploit his dark, brooding looks.

Such work may be left behind, however, should he inflict a first career defeat on Germany's Sven Ottke, who holds the super-middleweight titles of the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation, in Nuremberg tomorrow.

Hatton is rightly acclaimed as forming with Lennox Lewis and Calzaghe Britain's top three boxing talents. But the WBU sanctioning body is lightly regarded within the sport, so Reid's achievement in bringing home two titles would certainly eclipse a Hatton victory over Tackie.

A Reid win is possible. Ottke is 36, four years older than Reid, and was unimpressive in his last three bouts. Jess Harding, Reid's promoter, said: "This is a chance for Robin to fight Ottke at just the right time. If Ottke is ever going to get beaten, it's now."

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Reid can pension off Ottke to eclipse Hatton

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