Ricky Hatton: I always knew Zhanat Zhakiyanov would be world champion
Hatton is confident that after Zhakiyanov's victory more champions from their team will follow.
"I'm very proud of Zhanat. He's been with me a number of years and I always knew he'd be a world champion. It was similar to the Kostya Tszyu fight in that we knew he wasn't going to out box Warren due to his natural talent and speed. I knew he would lose some of the early rounds, but if he kept on at him and kept him working, I knew our time would come down the stretch. Having said that, nothing could have prepared me for what happened in the first round. Zhanat got through it and ultimately the tactics worked as he did start to get to him down the back stretch. He dug deep like champions have to do and that's why he has that world title belt around his waist," Hatton told Boxingscene.com.
"On a personal note another box was ticked for me after becoming a four-time champion myself, I have now trained a world champion, promoted a world champion and promoted a world heavyweight champion, which makes me unbelievably proud. We have a good training team behind us in myself Mike Jackson and Blain Younis and I believe more champions will follow," he added.
