News – Hatton Farewell Fight vs. Katsidis?

By Jason Kim: The word is that recently defeated Ricky Hatton is considering a farewell bout against lightweight contender Michael Katsidis (25-2, 21 KOs) some time later this year in front of Hatton’s home audience in Manchester, England. Hatton, 30, was knocked cold by Filipino Manny Pacquiao last Saturday night on May 2nd at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Many people had predicted that Hatton would lose but few thought that Ricky would get knocked out so quickly by Pacquiao.

Hatton was hurt almost immediately by Pacquiao in the 1st round and soon after knocked down by a right hand. Hatton would later get dropped once more in the 1st and a final time in the 2nd round that knocked Hatton cold.

With a knockout as bad as Hatton experienced, many of the top boxing experts have advised that Hatton retire from the sport rather than attempting to fight on. Hatton’s ability to take a punch seems to have diminished since being knocked out by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December 2007, which led to Hatton being hurt in his fight with Juan Lazcano in May 2008.

Hatton won the fight but was staggered a couple of times by Lazcano. Against Pacquiao, Hatton’s chin appeared to be completely gone as he was knocked down late in the round with a hard right hand. Although Pacquiao can hit hard, he doesn’t have one-punch knockout power and rarely knocks out his opponents before the 8th round.

In choosing Katsidis, 28, to fight, Hatton would be meeting up with a mirror image of his own fighting style, only a little bit smaller. Katsidis is currently ranked number #1 in the lightweight World Boxing Organization. However, Katsidis has lost two out of his last four fights and hasn’t looked good in his two wins.

Katsidis has good power, a decent work rate and is known for his high pressure offense. Katsidis has wins over Graham Earl, Czar Amonsot and most recently an 8th round stoppage over 36-year-old former International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Jesus Chavez in April 2009.

However, Katsidis looked less than impressive in that fight, as well as against Angel Hugo Ramirez in a 10-round decision in January. Katsidis was stopped by Joel Casamayor in the 10th round last year in March, in a fight that Katsidis had a slight lead in going into the 10th round. Six months later, Katsidis was defeated by Juan Diaz in a 12-round split decision in September. Katsidis fought passively in the fight and looked to be trying to survive without getting knocked out again.

If Hatton is looking for an opponent to look good again, he can’t go wrong by choosing Katsidis. The Australian lightweight has the same one-paced fighting style that Hatton has and would likely come right at Hatton to try and take him out.

Hatton would have the strength and size advantage in this fight, which would be perfect for Hatton. However, given Hatton’s decreased ability to take a punch, I have my doubts that Hatton could take the kind of heavy shots that Katsidis would be hammering him with.

Katsidis hits a lot harder than Lazcano, and is able to put the same kind of power in every shot. Unless Hatton was able to take Katsidis quickly, I can see Hatton getting knocked out once again. I don’t imagine that Hatton will be following any of the advice of Floyd Mayweather Sr., since I’m guessing that he might not be with Hatton for his next and possible final fight.

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