Hatton Needs to Man-Up and Get Back in the Ring
May 13th, 2009
By Scott Gilfoid: If I read another story about how Hatton is still crying over his loss to Manny Pacquiao, I’m going to physically ill. If a 2nd round knockout loss to Pacquiao is so earth shattering to Hatton, then maybe he doesn’t belong in the sport of boxing after all. There are tons of other fighters out there that get knocked out all the time and they don’t quit or start bawling their eyes out over the defeat.
Sitting there dwelling on a bad experience like a knockout is for losers, believe me. In all the years that I studied Karate and boxed, my instructors would have kicked my backside if I sat there feeling sorry for myself, complaining about being embarrassed and what not. Losing is part of the sport, and if it causes a fighter like Hatton to consider retirement or embarrassment then he needs to reexamine his thinking process.
Trying and failing is part of boxing, and it’s not something to be ashamed of. Even if Hatton got torn apart by Pacquiao, that doesn’t take away from his accomplishments or dissolve who he is as a fighter. Pacquiao isn’t a perfect.
Look at the guy, he’s been beaten three times (four if you count the second fight with Juan Manuel Marquez), yet Pacquiao keeps fighting even though he’s far from a perfect fighter.
Instead of sitting around feeling sorry for himself and wondering what people are thinking about him, Hatton needs to go through the fight, figure out what went wrong and why, and take what he can from the defeat. There’s a lot that Hatton didn’t do right in the bout, starting with his lack of defense.
Hatton needs to outline all the things that went wrong in this fight, listing them item by item and then prepare himself to make sure that they never happen again. I think Hatton could help himself out if he fixes his issues with his trainer. If he really likes this assistant trainer Lee Beard, then make him the head trainer.
I don’t know if it’s the smartest move given Beard’s lack of experience, but Hatton needs to sort out that mess and come up with one trainer that he’s comfortable with.
I’m not a Hatton fan, but it gets me when I see a fighter reduced to tears, giving up on themselves and contemplating retirement just because they lost a couple of times. I could understand it if Hatton was getting mauled by someone like Paulie Malignaggi or one of the other light welterweight contenders, but that’s not what happened here.
Hatton lost to a good fighter in Pacquiao, and that’s not the kind of loss that should make Hatton contemplate retirement. Face the facts: Hatton went out fighting like an ape, and got brained by Pacquiao a few times. Heck, it would have happened to anyone if they had fought in the same primitive style that Hatton did.
You got to learn. Hatton needed to go over the fight in his head before getting in the ring, and have his moves planned out, coming up with different strategies for different scenarios. Instead it seemed like Hatton just blindly bum rushed Pacquiao like an amateur and got walloped a few times.
Pacquiao was giving Hatton a lesson, and I don’t mean that in a negative sense. Pacquiao was teaching Hatton that he can’t fight like that against him, and it was up to Hatton to figure out the correct way to approach Manny.
Obviously, Hatton didn’t do that, and kept doing the same thing over and over again until he was blasted out by Pacquiao. But for me, if I had been the one that was knocked out, I sure as heck wouldn’t be thinking retirement. First of all, I wouldn’t care one bit about what the public’s perceptions were of me.
I’d be going over the loss and seeing what went wrong. After that, I’d get back in the gym and work on a different fight strategy for my next bout, and I’d make sure I sparred a lot against fighters to test out what I’ve learned.
Hatton needs to see the big picture, because he’s like focusing too much on how his image has been torn apart in the minds of boxing fans. It isn’t about them. It’s about learning and moving on.
Tags: 15 Responses to “Hatton Needs to Man-Up and Get Back in the Ring”
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I can’t believe this? I’m stunned,knock me over with a feather! A sensible post by Scott Gilfoid regarding Hatton!! I find myself agreeing with just about everything he’s said! Is there something wrong with me?!! Please!! Help me!!
* My word, this is the mkost sense that Scot has ever made on this site … and I agree that Hatton handed his arse to Pacman on aplate with his idiotic face-first/hands-down approach ! This was a huge shock to see Hatton reverting to such an approach against Pacman considering how smartly and smoothly he outboxed the supposedly much slicker and faster fighter in Malinaggis in his last fight. It was like wathcing the difference in Rocky III between the dumb arse Mr Balboa who Mr T ass-whupped painfully and then the silky smooth Rocky post Appollo Creed …. but only in reverse.
I would also agree that Hatton should aim for a rematch and fight correctly next time around ( he may still loose, but I am sure with his boxing head on and hands up, he would see out the distance and cause Pacman trouble at various points no doubt.
HenryL my mistake
Probably your best article…
Obviously, you could have left the “What’s up with these British fighters” remark…I can’t see how nationality fits into this. That just made you look ignorant. Oh, hang…This is Gilford! Of course you’re ignorant.
cus i’m sorry i meant to say the pacman got knocked out last when he was 17.
Cus, theres a difference between being knocked OUT and knocked DOWN, Hatton was knocked DOWN against Mayweather, he was knocked OUT (ie lost consciousness) against Pacqauio.
Why did ricky step up to mayweather & pacquiao the best 2 boxers in the world i just dont get it hatton shud have gone through marquez, diaz, then pacquiao he’s no where near as good as them 2
I agree partially about learning from it, but if you are in your prime, mid to late 20′s then yes, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back on the horse like Khan is attempting.
My favorite fighter at the moment Shane Mosley has done just that. After loses to Vernon Forest and Cotto he proved he still has it in spades with his sensational win against Margarito. However with Hatton not having the punch resistance he once had, being in his thirties and being beaten so badly for the second time in a major bout is another story.
He was out cold for 3 minutes, that has got to affect you. When Dela Hoya lost to Hopkins it was a killer body punch, however once he got his wind back he was fine. Hatton didn’t know what planet he was on, his eyes rolling in the back of his head and if you watch closely he had very disturbing breathing.
I think if Manny hit any of us that hard the last thing we’d be doing is getting back in the ring for more. I think Hatton on world level is over, Maywether and Manny showed his weaknesses. His style worked against Kosta at the tail end of his career but against a peak Manny and Maywether it’s just not enough.
Hatton is gutted, I think most of us would be if we failed on such a massive scale at a job we love. Manny was awesome and Hatton made huge mistakes. It is hard to look back again and again at what he (Hatton) did wrong.
vacated by tim bradley i mean lol (from above)
HenryL the last time hatton got knocked out was against mayweather you fiend. Iam generally against Gilfoid in most of his articles but this time I totally agree with him. Witter will be figting for the vacant WBC title vacated by junior witter soon, then hatton can comeback and become the WBC champion. I also agree that hatton should also stick to one trainer.. not have conflicting messages from two different ones.
Hatton VS Witter, best fight for Hatton, best fight for Witter and best fight for the British fans, should have been done ages ago.
If he doesn’t feel he’s up to it then he should retire. His long term health is more important that ur opinions.
why? hes done pretty much all he can with the skills hes got..when hes come up against the two best p4p fighters hes come up well short.. he has nothing left to prove to his fans has made a good living from the sport and also has a good future in promoting….its very easy for people to be key board warriors and say man up when you probably never laced up a pair of gloves in ya life…..go for retirement ricky and cheers for the entertainment over the years fella.
The last time he got knocked out was when he was 17 and was training himself at their neighbor’s backyard. I think Hatton is embarrassed because he believed he was a superior fighter and didn’t think much of Pac’s abilities. That’s why when he got KO’d in 2 he felt he is lesser than a boxer he didn’t think much of.