Has Hatton Been Ruined By His Loss To Mayweather?

By Manuel Perez: Ever since previously unbeaten junior welterweight Ricky Hatton (43-1, 31 KOs) was embarrassed in a 10th round TKO loss to pound-for-pound boxing king Floyd Mayweather (39-0, 25 KOs), last December 8th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada, the 29 year-old Hatton has shown little indication that he’s getting over the humiliation of his one-sided beating from Mayweather. In a recent interview, Hatton had this to say about the Mayweather bout:

“There’s one or two things I want to do and one of those is to prove people wrong. If you’re a man, that’s what you do. So I’d like to fight Floyd again. Last time I don’t think I was given a fair crack of the whip.”

Clearly, Hatton appears haunted by the loss, seemingly not able to let go of the loss and forget about it. In interviews, Hatton looks glum, as if he can’t forget about the loss, and still mentioning Mayweather, even now. I’m sure he feels that he could have done better, but it’s too late now for to correct the loss. And, believe me, if he thinks he’s going to get another shot at Floyd, he’s dreaming. Let’s get real, Mayweather will never waste his time again by giving Hatton a chance at revenge, for it would be like going over old ground again, and the general public, aside from Hatton’s adoring British fans, wouldn’t care to see - or pay - to watch Mayweather pound the day lights out of Hatton one more time again. As such, Hatton’s just going to have to learn to live with his defeat, accept it like a man, and move on to more beatable fighters. I know it hurts, but Hatton should have known what he was signing on for when he decided to take the fight with Mayweather.

This leads me to Hatton’s next bout, which is slated for May 24th, in the huge Manchester stadium in UK. As of now, no one has been picked by Hatton, but he’s looking at potentially fighting the light-hitting International Boxing Federation junior welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi or possibly WBO champion Ricardo Torres. A fighter whom Hatton isn’t mentioning, unfortunately, is WBC junior welterweight champion Junior Witter, a fighter that is likely the best fighter in the junior welterweight division.

If Hatton wants to get over his loss to Mayweather, which may prove impossible, then he’s going to have to take big risks, like a fight against Witter. So far, Hatton has said that he doesn’t want to fight Witter, because he doesn’t care for the way that he is constantly calling him out in the press. However, if Hatton was thinking clearly, he’d realize that he needs to fight Witter, if not for the money, then at least to erase some of his hurt from his one-sided loss to Mayweather.