Boxing: Hatton takes up Castillo challenge

Ricky Hatton has confirmed, after four weeks of speculation, that he will defend his International Boxing Organisation light- welterweight title for $5m [£2.56m] against the Mexican Jose Luis Castillo on 23 June at the Thomas & Mack Centre in Las Vegas.

Hatton was forced to relinquish the International Boxing Federation's version of the title, which he won in the casino city last month, because of a ridiculous ruling by the troubled New Jersey-based sanctioning body that he fulfil a mandatory defence against an unknown and unimpressive South African - the third time in a year that Hatton and a world title belt have been separated by dumb mandates from the sanctioning bodies which have done so much harm in the last 20 years to the sport.

"I don't need a belt and this fight certainly doesn't need a belt,'' Hatton insisted. But the IBO's bauble will be on offer and, despite Hatton's claim, it is clear that television networks in Britain and the United States, which provide the bulk of the cash, prefer a world title as the prize.

"We are going with the IBO because they have a realistic approach,'' said Bob Arum, a veteran of 40 years in the business. "They don't insist on mandatory defences and they let the champions fight the best in the best available fights.''

Castillo has been a professional since he was 16 and even at 33, having lost seven of his 62 fights, he is still one of the best boxers in the world. He was in Manchester yesterday to pose with Hatton at a casino, wearing a Mexican sombrero, and looks a lot fresher than his years and fights suggest. "This is a proper fight - it will be the fight of 2007 and I know about that sort of thing because I've won that title a few times in the past,'' Castillo joked.

Hatton will travel to Las Vegas three weeks before the fight. First, however, he will take a cruise with 22 members of his family to the Panama Canal before going into the gym next month for the first of 14 weeks' preparation.