By Dan Ambrose: Thirty years old is considered old age for most smaller fighters in the sport of boxing. In the case of Ricky Hatton (44-1, 31 KOs), it may signal a fighter that is long ago ready for his rocking chair. He hasn’t helped his case with his binge eating and drinking in between fights, a practice that has caused him frequently to put on an enormous amount of fat that he’s subsequently been forced to take off while training for fights.
Recently, Hatton stated that he plans on fighting three more times, once against Paulie Malignaggi in November, another against the winner of Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao, and a third possibly against Floyd Mayweather Jr., if Floyd decides to end his retirement and come back.
With that said, Hatton also mentioned that he would retire from boxing if he were to lose his next fight against Malignaggi, which would wipe out any hopes for huge mega fights against De La Hoya, Pacquiao or Mayweather Jr. It’s unclear why Hatton would be foolish enough to draw a line in the mud by saying he’d retire, because his fight against Malignaggi may turn to be just as difficult as his bout with Mayweather Jr. Hatton has looked essentially like crap for the past couple of years, with his only one good showing against Jose Luis Castillo, whom he beat by a 4th round TKO in June 2007. Other than that, Hatton has looked like utter garbage against Mayweather, Luis Collazao, Juan Urango and in particular against Juan Lazcano, in Hatton’s last fight.
Hatton was stunned in the Lazcano fight on a couple of occasions, and may very well have been knocked once again if not for a shoelace time out seconds after getting hurt again by Laxano in the 8th round. Malignaggi may not be a big puncher like some of the fighters that Hatton has faced, but he’s a level above all but Mayweather in terms of boxing skills. This is something that Hatton doesn’t seem to realize for some reason.
While I’m quite certain Hatton could knock Malignaggi out if the American star were just to stand in front of him and not move a muscle and let Hatton pound away on him like he does against most of his opponents. Malignaggi won’t do that. He likes to move and fights very much like Roy Jones Jr. and Mayweather, moving often and taking a great pleasure in making his opponents miss their shots.
So given that Malignaggi is probably a much better fighter than Hatton can ever hope to be, regardless of who’s training Hatton, be it Floyd Mayweather Sr. or Graham, will Hatton still retire if he gets a boxing lesson by Malignaggi and loses to him in November? I’d be wiling to bet that Hatton doesn’t retire and that he goes ahead with his next fights like nothing much happened, although his pride will be severely wounded of course. There’s simply too much money on the table for him to walk away should he be beaten by Malignaggi.
The public would probably be none the wiser if Hatton can make a sufficient excuse for losing to Malignaggi, something along the lines of ‘I broke my hand in the second round and couldn’t use it with any kind of power for the remainder of the fight.’ That one always works. It reminds me of the excuses that sprinters would give they’d get blown out in a 100 or 200 meter race. It would always be, “Man, I pulled a hamstring and couldn’t turn on my speed.”
October 10th, 2008 at 4:49 am
well i thought this had came to an end.the saga of the boring,clueless anti-hatton contributers on here.dan who? are you working directly out of paulie’s training camp and writing this drivel between hanging from his nuts? you are just another discredited and utter clueless clown who shouldn’t be let loose on these boards in any shape or form,it actually discredits esb.call the moderator someone please!!
October 10th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
in all fareness u slate ricky hatton but wat about malignaggi last perforance like absolute rubbish but u obveley accepted his exusess!a bad hair cut are u serious he was rubbish and shouldnt have had the descision !hattons performance aginst Juan Lazcano was alot better than malignaggi which i dint hear u say!but its cool u carry on hatting hatton cause 45-1 is a bad record is it i dont think so!if u dont like hatton thats cool but dont write trash like this!!hatton will knock him out!!
October 11th, 2008 at 3:06 am
Completley agree with the previous two comments , i really cant see Malinaggi beating Hatton , ive seen all of his last 3 fights and im 100% certain he has lost his last two and is lucky to even be in the ring with Hatton , he has fast hands yes but he does not move about like you say he does , he stands still and moves his head around he does not dance about side to side or forwards and backwards , Malinaggi does have heart though this is why i see this fight going the distance with Hatton winning !!!
And just for the record id love to know where your coming from on the Lazcano fight , as Hatton demolished him and like a true Mexican he took everything and come through it , i think Hattons display against Lazcano was awesome it was just minus a stoppage which was not for the want of trying unlike Malinaggi hanging on for dear life in his last two against B level fighter’s !!!
October 12th, 2008 at 7:14 am
Hatton is a wrestler not a boxer. When this mini John Ruiz retires, boxing will be better for it.
October 15th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
totallt agree with the last comment hatton is shit to watch. It is the atmoshere that is good at his fights. For those who disagree watch one of his fights with no sound
October 26th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
October 27th, 2008 at 8:05 am
does any of the people on this forum no anything thaing about boxing or the different styles that make boxing. Hatton will pull through he has got a new trainer and I beleive it will work. Paulie is shit