When Is Hatton going to have the Fire in his Belly?
September 22nd, 2009
By Scott Gilfoid: I don’t know about you guys but I’m seriously sick hearing about Ricky Hatton talking about needing to recharge his batters and other such excuses Hatton’s been making for why he’s not ready to come back. I just want him to get back in the ring and take his medicine.
If he gets his head loped off again, so be it. At least he wouldn’t waste time wondering about it and flapping his gums to reporters about possibly making a comeback some day. Why prolong the situation? It’s kind of like having a toothache. You can wait it out, but its only going to get worse. It’s better just to deal with it.
Hatton needs to get back in the ring and fight someone good so he can find out if he has what it takes. Frankly, I think he’s going to get destroyed by pretty much anyone he fights, but Hatton would still be better off knowing sooner rather than later.
It can’t be good for him to be stuck wondering whether he still has it or not. By the time Hatton does decide to make a comeback, he’s only making it much more likely that he’ll fail. This is boxing and it’s a young man’s sport. You can’t sit and twiddle your thumbs for a year or two, thinking that you can pick it up later when you finally get the inspiration. If Hatton can’t get it now, then he needs to hang the gloves. But at least if Hatton makes a decision, he won’t have to worry about it anymore.
What Hatton needs to do is fight Juan Manuel Marquez. Both of them more or less are in the same boat right now. Hatton got destroyed by Pacquiao in a one-sided mismatch and Marquez got outclassed by Mayweather last weekend.
I don’t see any real reason for Hatton to continue fighting unless he wants to fight Marquez or Amir Khan for a big payday or pull a Floyd Mayweather Jr. and start fighting super featherweights and lightweight fighters. I really hope that Hatton doesn’t stoop to that level because that would be bad boxing. I could see a ton of other fighters following their lead and selecting smaller champions from the lower divisions to kick around and prove themselves to the mostly ignorant casual boxing fans.
Other than those options, I think Hatton should retire. There’s too many talented fighters in the light welterweight division right now, and Hatton wouldn’t be able to meander his way through the division without taking abuse for playing it safe. He can fight a tune-up bout against anyone without getting called on it by boxing writers like myself, but once that fight is over, it’s fair game to comment on Hatton’s choice of opponents in the future.
Besides Pacquiao and Mayweather, I think Hatton has take it easy through most of his career, taking on a lot of weak fighters. I often wonder how many losses Hatton would have had if he had fought Timothy Bradley, Ricardo Torres, Junior Witter, Devon Alexander, a younger Kostya Tszyu, Victor Ortiz, Kendall Holt, Marcos Maidana, Khan and Nate Campbell.
I guess Hatton would likely have another nine losses or so on his resume. He’d still be a good fighter, but it wouldn’t likely be the star he is today. For some reason, Hatton, with the exception of Tszyu, never fought those fighters. It’s too bad he didn’t because I would have liked to see those fight. I don’t know why he didn’t fight them. That’s the real question. Hatton chose to fight Paulie Malignaggi rather than Ortiz, Holt, Maidana, Alexander, Witter and Bradley. Strange.
Tags: 26 Responses to “When Is Hatton going to have the Fire in his Belly?”
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STEVE IS THE MAN.
He fought ….Urango ,Mallinagi, Castillo,Tackie,
Tszyu,Collazo and a bunch of other top ten rated guys. Give the guy a break .He lost to the two best p4p guys in the world
FACT = ricky hatton can beat world champions, but he cannot beat living a future legends such as mayweather or pacman.
PERIOD
gilif@ck if you hat ricky stop wrighting about him it only crap you come out with anyway!!!!!
Scott whats the rush, Ricky doesn’t tell you when to go to your “job” so why tell him mate?
Steven
Jesus he only lost twice. Are you saying Foreman, Benn, Fraizer, Gatti, Duran, Hearns etc… were not great fighters because they had losses. The guy has made enough money to rest and enjoy and is still young enough to come back win a title and entertain us. If he was mid thirties and getting knocked out on a regular basis by journeymen then it is time to go. Scott, what do you think of Mayweather taking time out for a couple of years then, when he blatently was not going to retire like that plus the fact that the fool can’t keep control of his money which is ironic due to his nickname. I have nothing against Mayweather at all but all I see is another Tyson who will come back time after time due to an inability to keep his finances in check. Maybe you will think differently in 5 – 8 years time when the guy is getting beat and not able to choose his matches like he has done. Hatton has a future planned and it won’t be that long before we see this talent gone so lets just enjoy it whilst we can bacause I can tell you this now, Kahn is not the saviour of british boxing and neither was Fury after the other week. Froch want’s to be Galzaghe and old Audley was a let down. Why can’t we saviour the moment before its gone because it wont be before long when I’m not standing in my front room singing “there,s only ooooone Ricky Hatton”.
and scott, you find it strange that he fought malignaggi? lol. before the fight ricky wasn’t given a cat in hells chance to win, just like calzaghe against lacy but then after the two give those yanks a boxing lesson those yanks were then called overrated by their fellow countrymen. the brit boxers can’t win with you lot no matter what they do!. i still don’t think you lot respect lennox lewis even though he ruled the heavys for a decade. its just pathetic jealously on your part. your a big country with a small mind
gabriel, are you scott gilfraud in disguise? ricky deserves credit, he beat lots of top fighters, ok he lost to the best two fighters in the world but does that mean hes no good!. he won world titles at two weights so how can he not be good enough, and agreed khan may well beat ricky at this stage of his career now hes suffered two bad kos and is probably past his best but ricky deserves a lot of respect, at least he had the bottle to chase and face the best away from home, unlike most yanks that live in the comfort zone of don kings paid judges, rickys only problem was he didn’t look after himself between fights and didn’t follow the game plan in the mayweather and paquiao fights, but he never forgot his roots and is as humble as they come. ricky is a legend
gabriel u clearly no nothing
ARE YOU ON CRACK?!?! i fort the article was good, the idea of him fighting marquez or khan would be the best two options and a win in either of those would put him bk to where he should be, but the 9 fighters u listed that u fink would beat him is ridiculous, i fink he would have beat all of those, and i still fink hed beat at least 6 of them now. for gods sake, hes lost to the best 2 fighters of our generation and destroyed the rest, give him his credit
we get the message, you hate brits, but why dont you just outright say it instead of writing bullsh1t articles
SCOTT YOU BORING C@NT
Ricky vs.Zab Whats up boxing fans.
This fight would be big. Zab said Ricky Fatton is a Paper Champion. Whats up Ricky.
scott presscott is a beaten fighter now hatton needs to retire you seen the state of the guy has no fire in his belly because he as to many pies in there tyszu hadnot fought for two years nearly b4 he fought hatton would hatton fight tyszu after being out 4 2 years nope it would be i need a warm up fight first ffs ricky the excuse fatton
your not a boxing writer ur a boxing critic cos all u really do is criticise.
leave hatton alone he’ll come back when and if he’s ready, myself i don’t think he has anything to prove he’s had a good career and only lost to the 2 best p4p welterweights in the world.
God, we agree on mayweather :-0
But Mayweather is American….Whats going on, am I in the twilight zone!
I’m a big Ricky fan but when a boxer starts talking like this he is on the slide. One thing a boxer needs as much as his skills is 100% mental state, he needs to confident and hungry and willing to die in the ring. Hatton used to have that (his fight with Tszyu springs to mind) but now I believe he would just come back as a pale imitation of his former self.
Please can you stop writing total crap Gilfoid. Your articles are always the same. Just bashing british fighters over and over then moaning when they come out on top. Maybe read some of the other atricles on this site and get some new ideas. I am very bored of your rubbish and feel like ive just wasted a minute of my life reading it!
My mistake…….. he has just been beaten!
Your clutching at straws Scott, what a waste of a column. Hatton has had nothing to prove, until his last two fights. Why doesn’t someone give Briedis Prescott a title fight after he knocked out Khan in one round and is still unbeaten!!!!!!!! Boxing needs to brush up its act if it wants to stay on top
Why would anyone want to see Mayweather’s and Pacquiao’s leftovers!? people talked about not wanting to see Mayweather and JMM fight. Who would want to see Ricky Hatton and JMM square off? Hatton should never fight AGAIN! The man has no heart, Mayweather took it from him!
get a life scott, maybe try dating a woman?
honestly hatton was one of my favorite boxers of all time
he got in the ring to fight with the exception of the manny fight
that’s why i despise mayweather, that elbow he throws in his defensive style is garbage. his opponents get frustrated of his running that’s what happened to hatton.
hatton was tough, and a great fighter but his loss caught up to him that’s all.
i want hatton to get in the ring and win that one last fight to raise his name, and i will be happy with his career.
scott, why do you want him in the ring if you hate him so much? . your anger at americas failure in boxing has made you stupidly biased and racist, face it, america lost its boxing power a long long time ago now get over it and move on. im surprised you haven’t taken to adopting foreign boxers as your own like most americans have! lol
The writer is plain wrong. Hatton is an elite fighter with considerable accomplishments. He has what it takes to beat the best in the world, but he has turned in to something other than a fighter now.
Hatton is overrated but the guys you mentioned would be destroyed by Hatton.
Bradley is ok, can go 12 rounds but has absolutely no power.
Witter is a bum.
Hatton made KT quit, what would he do to Ortiz? Ortiz would get pummeled and start talking crap about how he doesnt deserve to get beaten up.
Maidana has done nothing apart from beat a weak willed Ortiz, he even lost to Kotelnik ffs.
Khan would be floored after a clean hit from Hatton.
Campbell has only fought at light welter once – he would be knocked out.
Stop talking rubbish and give the man his dues – he was more popular than he was good but that doesnt mean he was a bad fighter.
He fought ….Urango ,Mallinagi, Castillo,Tackie,
Tszyu,Collazo and a bunch of other top ten rated guys. Give the guy a break .He lost to the two best p4p guys in the world…..Does he need to retire ? Thats hid decision.