Speaks on Hatton, Woods and much more

Boxingtalk recently had an exclusive opportunity to catch up with Fight Academy Supremo, Dennis Hobson.  Hobson, who now plays an extremely prominent role in guiding the careers of WBA Welterweight Champion  Ricky Hatton and IBF Light Heavyweight Champion Clinton Woods, had a lot to say about their future plans and much more. Check it out!

Spud Woollatt:   You and Fight Academy have been criticised for not winning the purse bids for Woods/Johnson 3.  This criticism has been particularly bad due to Clinton being one of your top fighters.  How do you react to this criticism?

Dennis Hobson:  The problem we had with bidding for this particular fight was we went into that purse bid without any guarantees for a TV date and so when bidding for the fight we were fronting up all of our own money.  It is all very well people saying that we do not care about Clinton … I cared enough to put up my own money with the prospect of not receiving any form of TV revenue from that fight. 

In addition if it were true that I did not really care about Clinton Woods you only have to look at his record to see the fights I have managed to secure for him during his career.  When we talked about fighting Roy Jones  Jr we secured that fight when Roy was in his prime not like other promoters who have talked about securing fights for their champions who have failed to come up with the goods.

Spud Woollatt:   How do you react when you read in the media and in addition comments coming from prominent personalities within boxing that a fight in principle has been agreed between Joe Calzaghe and Glencoffe Johnson??

Dennis Hobson:  For me that says it all.  It shows a complete and utter disregard and  disrespect concerning Clinton Woods improvements and his abilities as a boxer.  Clinton earned his right to be The IBF Light Heavyweight Champion Of The World and to treat him with such disregard really does surprise me.  Clinton has improved in so many areas since those first 2 fights with Glencoffe.  This fight will be a very close one but Clinton knows this is massive and the knock on effect with him winning will be huge.
 
Spud Woollatt:  So what happens if Clinton wins his fight against Johnson, so many people are taking it for granted that his next fight will be against Joe Calzaghe.  Is this true??

Dennis Hobson:  Of course that fight would be a very good one for British Boxing, but if it happens Fight Academy will promote it.  I have made a very good and very serious offer to Joe Calzaghe if Clinton wins against Johnson.  You tell me why that fight cannot happen on a Fight Academy show especially with the money on offer, and if Calzaghe is that confident he will see it as an easy nights work won't he.  BUT I WANT TO STRESS CLINTON HAS TO BEAT GLENCOFFE FIRST.          

Spud Woollatt:   Do you have any news to regards to who Ricky is fighting on 9th December??

Dennis Hobson:  Not just yet although we are very close to making an announcement.

Spud Woollatt:  There has been mention of a possbile fight in the future for Ricky to fight against Arturo Gatti.  Do you think this is still a possibility in spite of Arturo's loss against Carlos Baldomir??
 
Dennis Hobson:  Styles make fights, I still believe there is mileage in Ricky fighting Arturo.  The fight would be fantastic for as long as it lasts!!

Spud Woollatt:   How do you react when you read criticisms of Ricky leaving Sportsnetwork and your handling of his career??

Dennis Hobson:  In the year or so Ricky has been with Fight Academy he has fought for 2 more reputable World Title belts, in addition he has also earned an awful lot of money .  He has confirmed his position as one of the best P4P fighters in the world and confirmed his position in the British Boxing history, there are not many British fighters who have achieved what he has and there is still more to come.

Anyone is very welcome to ask Ricky for his thoughts, we have both a very good professional and personal relationship which I know will continue for a long time.  So instead of asking me, ask Ricky Hatton if he thinks it was a mistake leaving Sportsnetwork and coming to Fight Academy.  

With regards to what is said about me, Ricky, Clinton or any other people from Fight Academy on these boxing forums those people are entitled to their opinions, life would be boring on those sites if everyone agreed with each other.  But, with that said whilst the fans are entitled to their opinions they are not always in the possession of the FACTS to say they are correct are they??       
 
Spud Woollatt:   Will Fight Academy being showcasing their fighters on TV  in the near future?

Dennis Hobson:   Unfortunately I cannot give you a definite date just yet, as with the details of Ricky's next fight, I will be shortly in a position to announce our next British TV date.

I want to take this opportunity of saying with Ricky and Clinton we have 2 World Champions and to accompany them we have exciting talents like Femi Fehintola, Nicky Smedley, Roman Greenburg amongst others and I am happy concerning our future.

Spud Woollatt:  Thank you very much for talking to me.

Dennis Hobson:  I look forward to reading your work on Boxing Talk.