Haye: He [Hatton] Has a Lot to Be Proud Of”

By William Mackay: Not everyone has abandoned former light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton in his hour need. Heavyweight David Haye feels that Hatton has done a good job with his boxing career and that Hatton “has a lot to be proud of,” according to Thislondon.co. While many boxing fans and writers are calling for Hatton to retire following his 2nd round knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao two weeks ago on May 2nd, Haye feels that Hatton “has got a lot left.”

It’s unknown whether Haye means it or not, because he could just be paying lip service to say good things about Hatton so that Ricky will feel better about himself.

However, Haye is usually pretty much a straight shooter when making comments, so he may honestly believe that Hatton does have something left in the tank after a 12 year professional boxing career.

Whatever decision that Hatton does make about his career in the ring, Haye is backing him no matter what Hatton decides on doing. Haye may feel that Hatton have more left in the tank because it wasn’t a real beat down in terms of Hatton being dominated through 12 rounds.

According to Hatton, he was hurt seconds into the fight by one of Pacquiao’s powerful right hands and that he never seemed to recover from the shot. The two knockdowns would follow later in the 1st round, and in the 2nd, Pacquiao finished matters by hitting Hatton with a big left hand. Sometimes it goes like that after a fighter is hurt early in a bout like Hatton did.

Haye points out that Hatton was beaten by “two freaks,” referring to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, and not just anyone. Indeed, Hatton fought two of the best fighters in the sport, and it’s not as if the fighters in the sport are near the talent level of those two fighters.

Hatton has no reason to be down after a fight against one of them, because they’re a level or two above most of the other fighters in boxing. If Hatton can continue to beat other good fighters, it matters little that he couldn’t beat Pacquiao or Mayweather.

Hatton can still prove that he’s one of the best in the sport by beating the other talent in the light welterweight division or whichever division that Hatton fights in from here on out.

Haye doesn’t have any advice to give Hatton about whether Ricky should retire or not, as Haye doesn’t exactly know what he’d do if he were knocked out like that, he said. Haye has been knocked out previously in the 5th round by Carl Thompson in a bout that Haye was dominating for about three rounds.

Haye began to run out of gas in the 4th and take big hits near the end of the round by the powerful Thompson. In the 5th, Haye’s legs were completely gone from both fatigue and the huge shots he was getting hit with by Thompson.

Haye was dropped by a light shot from Thompson. Haye got up and continued to take a lot of abuse until near the end of the round when Thompson repeatedly rocked Haye in the corner with right hands, causing Haye’s corner to throw in the towel. Haye took the defeat well, and went back to the drawing board and working on his stamina. Maybe Hatton needs to do the same thing?

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