Showtime Championship Boxing

Hatton vs. Pedersen  \  Mitchell vs. Stewart

April 3, 2004

MEN Arena

Manchester, England

11PM ET/PT

Showtime championship boxing presents two title fights on Saturday night.  The main event will feature

undefeated WBU Jr. welterweight champion Ricky "Hitman" Hatton (34-0, 25 KO's) defending his title

against the former IBC lightweight champion Dennis Holbaek Pedersen (44-2, 23 KO's). And the

co-feature will see interim IBF Jr. welterweight champion Sharmba "Little Big Man'' Mitchell (53-3, 29

KO's) go up against the third ranked IBF Jr. welterweight Mike "No Joke'' Stewart (35-1-2, 19 KO's).

Hatton will be making his twelfth title defense on Saturday against Pedersen. Hatton won the vacant WBU 

title over Tony Pep (43-10-1, 23 KO's) in March of 2001 with a fourth round TKO. Since wining the title, 

Hatton has won seven of his defenses by KO or TKO and three of them by unanimous decision (and one by

disqualification). His last bout was in December of 2003 where he defeated Ben Tackie (25-5, 16 KO's) by

12 round unanimous decision.

Pedersen, nicknamed "The Menace," started out as a super featherweight back in 1994. He won his first 37

bouts in a row including the European super featherweight title and the IBC super featherweight title before

tasting defeat for the first time against Boris Sinitsin (44-7-1, 24 KO's) in January of 2000 (third round KO loss). Pedersen redeemed himself eight months later and won a 12 round decision over Sinitsin to regain his

titles. Pedersen then rolled off three wins including capturing the IBC lightweight title before losing to IBF

lightweight champion Paul Spadafora (36-0-1, 14 KO's) via 12 round unanimous decision in November of

2002. Pedersen then took almost 16 months off before his last fight against Sunday King Aderoju (1-6)

in March on this year where he won by fifth round TKO.

Mitchell, the former WBA Jr. welterweight champion, won the IBF interim Jr. welterweight title in his last

bout with a 12 round unanimous decision win over Lovemore N'Dou (37-6-1, 23 KO's) on February 7th of

this year. The current reigning IBF champion Kostya Tszyu (30-1, 24 KO's) has been out of action due to an

injury. Mitchell is currently on a six fight win streak dating back to March of 2002 (winning five of the six by

decision) since losing his WBA title to Tszyu in February of 2001.

Stewart comes into this fight as the IBF-USBA Jr. welterweight champion. Stewart has won his last seven

bouts since losing his only bout, a split decision, to Dorin Spivey (30-3, 23 KO's) in February of 2002

(winning his last four bouts by TKO).

Line-up:

WBU Jr. Welterweight Title Bout (12 Rds)

Ricky "Hitman'' Hatton vs. Dennis Holbaek Pedersen

IBF Jr. Welterweight Interim Title Bout (12 Rds)

Sharmba "Little Big Man'' Mitchell vs. Mike "No Joke'' Stewart

Card subject to change

(4/1/04)