Hatton: “With Better Preperation I Could Have Done Better”

By Boxing News - 08/03/2009 - Comments

By Liam Santiago: My recent claims that Hatton lost to Manny Pacquiao on 2nd May in Vegas as a result of bad preparation on his trainers part have been backed up by no other than the Hitman himself. It seems that if no one else, Ricky agrees with me and so does anyone else who went anywhere near his training camp. Floyd Mayweather Snr let Hatton sail past his peak and left him mentally unprepared and unfocused. Hatton said, “That is the only things that niggles me about the fight and calling it a day. I know with better preparation I could have done better.”

Well, I completely agree with him. As anyone knows, at the top level the slightest thing can have a huge affect on the result. It certainly did. Poet and trainer, Floyd Mayweather Snr would turn up for the big punching Manchester warrior’s sparring in the 7th round. On fight night, he was no where to be seen. Apparently, Ricky was waiting in the corridor to go out and he still had not turned up.

hatton4623678Did you notice the fight was very late starting? That’s why. Yes, Mayweather messed up. He was plain useless. But, Hatton made the fatal mistake of teaming up with him. Hatton went on to say, “To be honest when I walked to the ring on the night of the fight I knew I had left my best preparation in the gym three weeks previous. Before I went to the US to finish my training my weight was spot on and I felt great but when I arrived I think I had left everything in the gym in the UK.”

You have to ask yourself? What does the result of that bout prove for Manny Pacquiao? Not a thing. What have any of his recent results proved? Beating fighters being drained in weight does not prove a thing. If Ricky had the sort of camp he had against Malignaggi, I very much doubt Manny Pacquiao would be number 3 on boxingnews24’s pound for pound ranking? On fight night, Ricky’s mindset was the only thing that was shot.

He wasn’t ready. He said “All I needed was one big shot and I could take out Manny and that was my hope. By the time the first knockdown came it was Pacquiao that had landed fifty eight punches on me and I just couldn’t get into the rhythm I wanted to. I had my hands held low and everything was all wrong. It was a devastating loss and I still haven’t watched the fight and not sure when I will be ready to see the fight. It went from my best training camp in the UK to my worst ever camp when I overdid it in the last three weeks.”

You can see why Hatton lost.

So, as we now understand, Pacquiao did not beat the Manchester warrior as a result of superior skill. He caught Ricky on his worst day and took advantage.

When asked about his future Hatton said, “I will have to say watch this space and wait and see.”

I personally would like to see him return and earn his way back to the top of the light welterweight division. I am even considering re-entering him into our pound for pound rankings, simply due to the reasons he lost that fight. Maybe Pacquiao and Hatton should switch places.



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