By Jim Dower: With Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs) facing a deadline of Wednesday to change his mind and take the original 50-50 purse split which had been previously verbally agreed upon by both fighters, Ricky Hatton (45-1. 32 KOs) may be facing the unhappy situation of having to choose another fighter for his scheduled May 2nd fight date. According to news reports around the boxing world, Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, will be pulling the plug on the fight and not letting it go forward unless Pacquiao takes the original 50-50 purse split deal.
As a result, Hatton, 30, might have to do some scrambling to fight another opponent for that date. Given his tendency to want to fight mostly older or more established stars in the sport, it would seem reason to believe that he won’t be facing the current light welterweight champions Timothy Bradley, Kendall Holt or Andreas Kotelnik.
The same goes for the welterweight division, with champions Andre Berto, Antonio Margarito and Joshua Clottey. There’s always a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. as an option for Hatton, a fight guaranteed to make a lot of money, while at the same time probably producing another loss for Hatton.
I doubt that he’d want to face Mayweather at this early point, not when there’s fighters like Oscar De La Hoya still out there for the taking. Obviously, a fight with De La Hoya should be the fight that Hatton goes after immediately, because Oscar is aging fast and if Hatton doesn’t get to him, someone else will and probably beat him as bad as Pacquiao did.
However, the ideal opponents that would make for a quick substitute for the Pacquiao fight would be old established fighters like Juan Manuel Marquez (49-4-1, 36 KOs) and Zab Judah (37-6, 25 KOs) , both of which are former champions, have a big name, are popular and would give Hatton a big payday with slightly danger that a fight with Pacquiao.
Marquez, 35, recently defeated Joel Casamayor in an 11th round stoppage in September. He looked good at times in the fight, but struggled as well against the counter punching Casamayor. Fortunately for Marquez, his power won out in the end as he was able to drop Casamayor in the 11th and stop him.
Marquez fought Pacquiao to a standstill, losing a 12-round split decision in March 2008. Many people, this writer included, feel that Marquez should have been given the victory on that night. Win or lose, it shows that Marquez is still a dangerous fighter, the equal of Pacquiao or possibly slightly better.
Hatton, a natural light welterweight, would have the size advantage in this fight, having fought his entire career in the higher weight class. Marquez has fought most of his career as a featherweight, only recently moving up to the super featherweight and lightweight divisions.
For Marquez to then have to move up another five pounds to make the 140 pound light welterweight division, would be asking a lot of him. This would give Hatton a great size and power advantage over him, enough perhaps to score a knockout victory. Minus a knockout, I think Hatton would end up losing.
He’s not nearly as fast or as skilled as Marquez and if he gets into a battle of skills on the outside, he loses every time.
Judah, 31, is another appealing fight for Hatton. Judah is not only a former light welterweight champion, but he’s also held titles in the welterweight division as well. At one time before he moved up to the welterweight division in 2003, Judah was considered to be the best light welterweight in the division by many.
Now that Judah (37-6, 25 KOs) is no longer as effective as he was a few years ago as a welterweight, a fight against Hatton would seem like an appealing option for Zab. It would be a fight where Judah wouldn’t have to worry about getting hit by a bigger, taller welterweight for a change.
Unlike the Marquez fight, Hatton wouldn’t have a size advantage over Judah. In fact, Judah would probably be the slighter bigger fighter, with skills along the same lines of a Floyd Mayweather Jr. Judah doesn’t have the stamina to fight hard for more than eight or so rounds, but against Hatton, that’s all it may take.
Judah would likely take advantage of Hatton if he tries running in with his typical bum rushes and drop him. Once Judah has Hatton in trouble, you can be sure that he’ll finish him off. However, the fight remains an intriguing substitute for the Pacquiao bout.
Comments are closed.