Ricky Hatton Needs to Get off His Duff and Help Boxing
August 9th, 2009
By Scott Gilfoid: Yesterday, Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) said “Boxing is dying” in an interview with The Manchester Evening News complaining about boxers “who talk the talk, but don’t back it up.” The last thing that Hatton needs to be doing is complaining about boxing dying if he’s not going to help the sport by getting back in the ring. Hatton should have been over his defeat to Manny Pacquiao by now.
Hatton is also upset about the roadblock that came up with his Brother Matthew Hatton’s fight with Zab Judah. The fight fell through when Judah decided he wanted to have the fight take place at 140 rather than 147. But if Ricky Hatton really wants to help boxing, he needs to get up off of his backside, stop eating and start training for a fight against Amir Khan. I can understand Hatton wanted to take three or so months off to recover from his humiliating 2nd round knockout against Manny Pacquiao in May, but it’s been three months now.
Hatton should have finished licking his wounds by now and started training for his next fight. He’s not the type of fighter that can afford to take off vast stretches of time because of his tendency to overeat and drink and balloon up in weight.
Unless Hatton gets back in the ring so, I fear he may eat himself to a point where he can’t take off the weight without resorting to something drastic like stomach stapling. I’m sure Hatton was traumatized by his loss to Pacquiao, but he needs to get over it already and get back in the ring.
He only has himself to blame for the loss. If Hatton had listened to his trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. and boxed Pacquiao instead of trying to slug it out with him, Hatton at least would have had a fighting chance to beat Pacquiao. Hatton didn’t do that. Instead, he tried to slug it out with the faster Pacquiao and got drilled almost immediately. Okay, so the loss hurt.
I can understand that, but Hatton needs to forget about it and go after Khan. I’d prefer Hatton to fight American Timothy Bradley first, but I can see how it would be better for Hatton to ease into that fight rather than going after him immediately due to Hatton’s terrifying knockout loss. Khan is a good choice because he’s like a tune-up fight.
He has no power to speak of and arguably one of the weakest chins in the light welterweight division. By fighting Khan, Hatton would be getting his confidence back because he’ll likely tear Khan apart. And the best part of all, Hatton will be getting another huge payday without the same kind of risks involved with fighting someone like Pacquiao or Bradley. The last thing that Hatton needs is someone to come along and destroy Khan before he gets a chance. Talk about missing your opportunities.
Tags: 19 Responses to “Ricky Hatton Needs to Get off His Duff and Help Boxing”
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I PREDICT FATTON WILL END UP IN A MENTAL HOME PUNCH DRUNK,THE ONLY TWO WORDS HE WOULD BE SAYING WILL BE “FLOYD AND MANNY”.
When you look at Hatton`s face you see a man who looks at least 10 years older than he is.He is also beginning to slur when he speak.This guy was never a great fighter.He was a great hype job,with his football style hooligans for fans ,booing other fighter`s national anthems.Hatton actually cherry-picked both Mayweathyer and Pac-man.He thought,both times,that they could`nt match his strengh.He said about Floyd”when i see floyd i noticed he is very small for a welter,he does`nt exactly make me feel like running down theroad”.
MR BUNCE U TALK RUBBISH HATTON WONT HAVE THAT,SHAME WOULD STILL SELL OUT ANYWHERE IN BRITAIN THO,YES IT DUS MAKE SENSE
I agree Hatton needs to make a decision and do something. Hes got a life of fighting waiting for him if he wants it and if not hes got his promotional company to get involved in.
Unless hes looking to start recapturing LWW world titles id prefer him to leave Khan alone, why try to derail a fellow country mans career.
I still think hes capable of fighing top notch boxers, he just has too many faults to face the elite P4P’ers.
But he is in a bit of a rough state and his post fight binges have aged him IMO so he cant leave it too long or hes guna struggle badly to regain the mental state and fitness you need in training
Hatton needs to retire and enjoy his millions of pounds!
Someone explain to me Ricky’s logic, though: boxing is dying because Zab Judah pulled out of an undercard fight with his brother (didn’t know the future of boxing hinged on this one fight) and now Judah will face Antonio Diaz, a former world title challenger who has fought names like Shane Mosley in the past, a pedigree far greater than Matthew Hatton’s. So, a better, more ocmpetitive fight has been arranged: this is bad for boxing how?
I wish people would stop going straight to the ‘boxing is dying’ thing any time something slightly annoying happens. It’s lazy and ignorant in the extreme.
hang on scott your previuos articles stated that hatton was shot and should never lace up the gloves again, why the sudden change of heart?
Liam Santiago is right! There’s only one Ricky Hatton, no body will be “knockout” cold like Ricky because his style is only one in a million.
Hatton shld not continue boxing. He has a very poor defense and he is old to improve his style. He must concentrate in promoting to discover young talents.
santiago you are a complete melt……
There’s only one Ricky Hatton!
hatton is still shaken by that devastating knockout.
please give ricky some slack……
spot on about hatton exept the point .hatton beats khan,no way my son also u re cheeky saying fight him before he gets destroyed by somebody else,stick to slagging off one brit at a time in your devoid from any knowlage articles
I didnt even bother reading this article after line 4. Ricky hatton has made his money helped boxing to ppv! let him do what he wants!!! LET HIM DECIDE WHAT TO DO! im a Yank and im supporting him no matter what we lost a legend in gatti lets not pick on Rick the brit!!!!
Mr.Hatton reminds me of a hitchicker who once he gets to his destination complains about how bad the drive was. Hatton boxing gave that lift so don’t say negative things about our sport. Boxing is not dead.
only ricky knows if hes still got it, if he does beating khan then bradley would the dream end to a career that would be no less than ricky deserved. but if he was to come back and lose to bradley or even worse stumble at the first hurdle and lose to khan (which i cant see happening) then it would be a sad ending
I think you have to take into consideration whether or not he should fight again. I’m not saying that he shouldn’t say one way or the other whether or not he will fight on or not.
The only thing Hatton will now think about is how much money will he make if he decided to carry on fighting.
I doubt he only make chicken feed (in comparison to his purses against FMJ and MP) if he carries on. So, is it really worth it??
I think that if he fights on it will be a big mistake. IMO he is a shot fighter. His out of training activities have finally caught up with him.
Good article Scott, but, please take it easy on Ricky. When I last interviewed him he was in no fit state to fight!
nice 2 see u being nice 2 the brit boxers again scott!!!!! what u mean if he would have listen 2 mayweather snr? it would av been nice if mayweather snr would have put more effort in2 training ricky! turning up up on time for the decent coin he was getting!! he didnt even turn up on time fight night! i could tell a fighter 2 JUST BOX and take easy cash! so dont dare slag our ricky! he takes a lot of fans over 2 states and puts cash in u yanks pockets!!!!!