GL: It's been a minute since we've had you on Boxingtalk. What have you been up to and what did you think about Ricky Hatton's performance over Jose Luis Castillo? "I've been doing fine. I've just been spending time with my family waiting for something to pop up. Hatton's performance, what can I say? It was a good fight and he showed everybody that he is a great fighter. He likes to make it a rough fight and mug people and I'm a great boxer. I would love to fight him. He's the ring champion at 140 pounds, I'm the ring champion at lightweight so it would be the fight between the best at 135 going up against the best at 140. I want to see if Hatton can solve the El Cepillo Puzzle.


GL: Do you think Hatton looked so good against Castillo because Castillo is shot?

Joel Casamayor: "Castillo is not the same. I'm not going to say he's a shot fighter, but Castillo has been in a lot of wars and he didn't look like himself. But that's no excuse because Ricky Hatton did his thing. Castillo in his last fight showed that he was slowing but you can't say he's not the same Castillo just because Hatton didn't beat him. Hatton came up big against Kostya Tszyu and now he came up big against Castillo. Maybe those guys were shot, maybe they just couldn't handle the pressure. He beat Castillo at his own game and I have to take my hat off to the kid. He's one of the best fighters in the world, I feel like I'm the best fighter in the world so it only makes sense for us to get it on."

GL: You're talking about fighting at 140, does that mean you're no longer interested in fighting at 135 pounds?

JC: "I told you I'll fight anybody at 135 pounds. I guess everyone here is playing games and they don't want to do nothing. Juan Diaz is out there and he's playing games, he doesn't want to do nothing. But you know what? Ricky Hatton is much better than Juan Diaz, he's a superstar and in my eyes I've never been beaten. Nobody has been able to solve my puzzle. I would love to see Hatton try to and I think it would be a great match of styles. I'm a great boxer and he's a great puncher.

GL: Paul Malignaggi recently won the IBF title. How do you feel about that fight?

JC: "It doesn't matter to me. If they want me to fight him first, I'll take his title and then fight Hatton. I'm the ring magazine champ at 135, he's the 140 pound champ and those are the only two belts that matter at this point. I'm  willing to move up and fight him in my first fight at 140 and to be honest with you, I'm the only fighter in the world who can beat Ricky Hatton."

GL: Based on the fact that you're calling me up to call Hatton out, I imagine you don't have your next move lined up yet. When can we expect you back in the ring if it isn't Hatton?

JC: "We've been trying to get together with Don King to make something happen with Diaz. But we can't wait forever, we're here to make the biggest fights possible and I've been telling you for the last six months that I'll fight anybody from 130-140 pounds. It shouldn't be a surprise that I want Hatton because I've been telling everybody that I want the winner. Hatton blasted him out and now I want to see if he can do that to the best southpaw in the world."

GL: Has there been any interest shown by the networks since the last time we spoke?

JC: "I've been asking that and I've been hearing that they want me to wait till the fall for a big fight. If I'm going to wait this long I want to make the biggest fight possible and that's Ricky Hatton. He's undefeated and that 0 must go. He's a great fighter with a great style and I'd like to show the world that he can't solve my puzzle."

GL: What message do you want to send to Ricky Hatton?

JC: "I want to salute him on his victory, I was very impressed with him and I hope we can make history together"

M

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