By Jim Dower: Former light welterweight/Welterweight champion Ricky Hatton says that he was over-trained for his fight with Manny Pacquiao and that he peeked too soon, according to his comments in the Sportinglife. Hatton, 30, feels that he “left too much in the gym” while training for his fight with Pacquiao by over doing it at too early in the training camp.
This is a common mistake that fighters make when training for a really big fight, but usually veterans like Hatton are in tune enough with their body to know when to back off a little. However, Hatton didn’t seem to get that signal or if he did, he chose to ignore it and keep pushing harder.
Hatton was destroyed by Pacquiao in a 2nd round knockout on May 2nd, and knocked completely out cold for over three minutes. All total, Hatton was knocked down three times in the fight, twice in the 1st round and a final time in the 2nd.
In another direction, Hatton squashed the rumors about him possibly coming back to fight World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan, saying It’s not even a starting point if Frank Warren is going to promote it. I don’t want to go down that line, although I’m not saying it’s never going to happen.” Hatton was previously promoted by Warren in the past.
However, Hatton at least leaves a glimmer of hope in a possible fight with Khan. Hatton obviously is aware of the big money he can get in a fight with Khan and is tempted. There are few other fighters in boxing that can bring in the kind of money that a fight with Khan for Hatton.
Of course, Hatton always has the alternative to go after a rematch with Pacquiao or Mayweather, two of the biggest stars in boxing, but with Hatton not making much of an effort to get his career back on track by getting back in the ring and beating some fighters, he’s making it all but impossible for him to rebuild his career.
Without Hatton fighting, the chances are slim that boxing fans or the cable companies would be interested in seeing Hatton jump straight into a fight with Mayweather or Pacquiao. Hatton isn’t mentioning those fighters, but those are the limited choices for Hatton if he wants to continue to make big money in his career.
He needs a high profile opponent and can’t fight just anyone and expect to get a huge payday. Juan Manuel Marquez was recently mentioned as a possible opponent that Hatton might be interested in fighting, but only if Marquez can get by Mayweather in September. That doesn’t look as if it’s going to happen, because is predicted to win that fight.
Recently, Hatton was in the hospital to have his stomach checked out after contracting a stomach virus. While in the hospital, it was discovered that Hatton had a heart murmur. He was promptly advised by the doctors to curtail his binge eating and drinking or else risk serious health problems.
In recent photos of Hatton, he looked to have put on 25 to 30 pounds since his May 2nd fight with Pacquiao. It was shocking to see how heavy that Hatton had gotten in such a short period of time and a good indication that he’s been overindulging with either food or drink, likely both since that time.
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