By Michael Lieberman: Former welterweight/light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton (44-1, 31 KOs) has said he’ll be only fighting two more times, against Paulie Malignaggi in November, and then against probably Manny Pacquiao after that, and then get out of boxing for good. What kind of message is that for the younger generation? I don’t about you, but that reminds of somewhat of the mentality of a quitter if you ask me. It’s the timing of Hatton’s announcement that gets me, since he’s now finding himself having to struggle for the first time in his boxing career because he’s no longer being spoon fed one easy opponent after another in Manchester, and, of course, he’s going to have some problems against better fighters.
As far as I can tell, Hatton seems to be running from the better fighters that he would now, whether he beats Malignaggi or not in November, be expected to face. In a way, I suppose this is Hatton’s way of getting out of boxing before he gets planted over and over against the top of the light welterweight, fighters like Timothy Bradley, Junior Witter, Lamont Peterson, Kendall Holt, Devon Alexander and even Gavin Rees.
I think Hatton is frankly afraid to fight any of them, knowing that he’d be in for the fight of his life and would likely suffer another knockout loss like the one he did against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December 2007. For that matter, he couldn’t depend on being saved by referees who stop the fight to allow him to have his shoelaces tied, giving him a break from a battering that’s taking place in the ring.
Anyway you want to look at it, what Hatton appears to be doing is running, folding up the tent and quitting, so he can avoid having his bubble burst by getting beaten by fighters that most people have heard little about, if anything. It’s one thing Hatton getting beaten by the likes of Mayweather, a fighter that is considered to be the best in boxing by most fans and experts alike, but in the case of Bradley, Witter, Rees, Peterson, Holt and Alexander, they’re not ranked nearly as high in people’s minds. Yet, I would give anyone of them more than an excellent chance at beating Hatton, and stopping him inside the distance.
Is Hatton a quitter? Why else would he choose this time to retire after facing Malignaggi and possibly Pacquiao? Malignaggi isn’t considered to be the best in the light welterweight division, not even close to that, in fact. He’s somewhat that’s popular, as far as I can tell, because of the way he looks and talks more than how he fights. So far, he’s been given what by all accounts appear to be gift decisions over Herman Ngoudjo and Lovemore N’dou, and then taken a viscous beating at the hands of Miguel Cotto.
On the flip side, we have Bradley, an unbeaten fighter at 22-0, who recently defeated Witter to win the WBC light welterweight title. Witter was thought by many people to be the best fighter in the light welterweight division, not Hatton, who avoided him for years like he had the plague, giving excuses constantly for not fighting him. Now, once Witter was beaten, Hatton took a shot at him, remarking that he can’t fight him now because he’s been beaten.
It was funny, and quite disingenuous of him. Bradley instantly called Hatton out for a fight, and as you’d expect, Hatton ignored him, turning his sights to Malignaggi, the much easier opponent. I don’t imagine anyone that knows boxing would ever consider Malignaggi as being the equal to either Bradley or Witter, which makes Hatton’s decision to fight Malignaggi seem less than a brave thing to do. I frankly think what Hatton is doing is a face-saving move, to avoid having to deal with getting beaten once he finally faces the better fighters in the light welterweight division. He’s not washed up in any way. In fact, he’s the same fighter he always was. The only thing that’s changed is that he now is looking at having to face fighters that he can no longer safely avoid, without being stripped and branded a coward by many in the boxing community.
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