How Hatton should come back
November 10th, 2009
By Liam Fitzgerald: Ricky Hatton has recently been giving the strongest hints yet that he will make a return to the ring. He still maintains that he will make a final decision after the New Year but in his own words his “feet are starting to itch”, meaning a comeback is almost inevitable.
For me at this moment, the answer is an emphatic no. Hatton has proved that he is a force at light-welterweight with credible wins over Kostya Tszyu and Jose Luis Castillo amongst others but when stepping up in class, Hatton has been badly exposed by Mayweather and Pacquiao. For this reason he doesn’t deserve a crack at the big boys. However, that’s not to say he shouldn’t attempt a comeback and possibly grace the ring with the p4p number 1 again.
I think Hatton needs to prove himself again. And I believe the best way of him doing that is with a fight with Juan Manuel Marquez. The Mexican legend is coming off a 12 round schooling from Mayweather in a welterweight class. However, this wasn’t the same Marquez who has arguably been the best fighter of the planet in the last couple of years as the extra weight significantly affected his performance. He looked very slow and hardly landed any clean punches. He clearly shouldn’t be campaigning at welterweight so a drop down is necessary and a fight with Hatton would be beneficial for both.
Marquez has already said that he would welcome this bout. And why wouldn’t he because a victory for him would surely put him in the mix for rematches with Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. But it’s a fight that could be equally significant for Hatton. Marquez is aging and we can’t yet be sure if it was this, rather than weight issues, which was the main factor in his defeat to “Money”. Plus, Marquez has always been a slow starter and Hatton, though not a devastating one punch KO artist, could exploit this with his excellent body punches. They could be crucial in putting money in the bank and slowing Marquez down even more. It is definitely a winnable fight for Hatton as long as he sticks to what he knows instead of trying to adopt a new approach, something which proved disastrous against Pacquiao. In Hatton’s case, you definitely can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Let’s assume that Hatton beats Marquez, which is not something I think is definite, but certainly possible. He will have shown that he is not yet finished and can compete with the best fighters out there. However, I still feel he would need to overcome another obstacle in order to earn the right to take on Pacquiao or Mayweather. Timothy Bradley is without doubt the best current light-welterweight out there and I would love to see Hatton take him on. Firstly, Bradley will have to get past the also exciting Lamont Peterson but hypothetically let’s say he wins and is in a position to fight Hatton next summer for example. The contrasting styles would make for an intriguing battle in which either man could come out on top. I would favour the slick skills of Bradley, as well as his underrated inside fighting, to come out on top but I don’t think Hatton can easily be discounted. His punch resistance is worrying yes, but Bradley is not a big puncher and he has not yet fought someone who pressures him as much as Hatton. This fight would be very interesting and close and a victory for Hatton surely would give him the justification to target the likes of Mayweather again.
So there is my two step plan for Ricky Hatton to return to boxing and turn himself into a legitimate contender once again. Of course all of this could prove to be wishful thinking and that depends on a couple of things. Firstly, could Hatton physically get himself into shape to slug it out with the best once again? The age old issue of him ballooning up in weight between his fights is still hanging around and unless he really commits to training hard and having a healthier lifestyle outside of the ring, none of what I have written could become reality. Secondly, what is Hatton’s motivation now? He is already adored by his many British fans but doesn’t get too much positive recognition in the rest of the boxing world. If Hatton truly wanted to prove he was one of the best in this era, he would target the likes of Marquez and Bradley. However, if he is satisfied to just remain a legend in his own country then he should just retire or set up a fairly insignificant bout with the overrated Amir Khan, the current WBA light-welterweight champion. It all depends on the man himself. I have given my opinion on how I think he should come back but Hatton may feel he already deserves to get back in the ring with Mayweather. If this is how he feels, unfortunately I feel he would succumb to an even heavier defeat this time around.
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HE(FATTON) IS AND ALWAYS CWAS AN OVERATED,DRUNKING BUM.WITTER AND KHAN ARE´NT MUCH,BUT THEY WOULD KNOCK OUT THIS EXCUSE-FINDING BUM.
he needs to fight Bradley. – period,
but he is a heavyweight now, i think he need to fight david haye, with the extra weight.
if your only back to try and chase elite P4P fighters who you have no bussiness being in the ring with then seriously dont bother.
Prove you are a force at 140 or retire
Marquez or Bradley would beat Hatton. As people have pointed out Hatton was wobbled by the light punching Lascano so i think Marquez would stop him and Bradley would outbox him. Hatton has always been too easy to hit and doubt he’d beat any top fighter these days. I think Hatton was a bit over-rated yet entertaining and a fight with Khan would be worth watching.
Ricky should fight Diaz, Marquez and then Mayweather. He can definately win the first two and if he loses the third then retire for good!! Best of luck Ricky…
Im a big Hatton fan…….But Im afraid his days are over. The warning signs were there to see when he made his comeback against Lazcano. Lazcano not a renowned puncher, wobbled Hatton and needed some help from the referee to stay on his feet.
Ok so he did well in the Malinaggi fight, but Malinaggi is a powder puff.
Hatton can no longer take a punch like he used to, its time for him to hang them up for good.
Lets not forget the comeback fight for Hatton after Mayweather.. He was terrible in this fight aswell!!
However, fighters like Hatton make me proud to be British.. He has been a great champion but unfortunately his lifestyle has caught up with him
I still think he’d take Khan apart though.. Sorry Amir, but you can’t train up dodgy whiskers!! And your chin is very weak
I think we should be more worried about Khan than Hatton.. A repeat of the Prescott fight is just a matter of time.. Imagine Khan against someone like Cotto, Mayweather or Pacquaio.. He’d get destroyed!!!! I though Hatton did quite well against Mayweather. And had it been the Hatton who fought Tszyu he maybe could have won??
thats a great article. and i would have to agree.
There are 3 fights that Hatton should think about…Marquez, Baby Bull Diaz, or Katsidis…he can’t come off being totally annhilated into another big money fight.
Mayweather would fight him…no doubt. He doesn’t want Mosley or the winner of Pac-Cotto, and Hatton represents easy $.
Yes, he should come back! He’s a very good fighter and can stil do a lot in the boxing world!!!
Im talkin about the Pacquio fight if you hadnt guessed.
Also regardirng his coming back, i dont know what hed want to do, would he want to try to put himself back on top of the LW division or would he look for more fights against the superstars?
Either way a tune up would be vital.
I dont want him comin back if hes shot, im not sayin he definatly is, im just still strugglin to get my head round how somebody with a talent for taking punishment like Hatton could be taken out so early and so easy.
Were they just amazing shots that would of KO,d anybody or would a younger Hatton took them like he has in so many other fights/?
First Hatton should fight Witter for a tune-up match and then Zab Judah because he’s been callin Ricky a Brits Chump and paper Champion and then a match against JMM would be good to see. This will prove Hatton as a warrior in the ring with these come back fights.
Ricky Hatton still has a lot to contribute in boxing and I welcome a Hatton – Marquez fight. I’m sure he’s still a power to reckon with in the light-welterweight division.
i think many people are writing hatton off to early. yes he has suffered a devastating defeat to manny and the way in which he got beat was emphatic, but wasnt the way Lennox Lewis got KO’d by Rahman in thier first encounter just as emphatic?
i have no idea if Hatton is washed up, no-one does except from the man himself. It could be that he walked into the Pacquiao fight cold and got caught without having a chance to get into the match.
I have an inkling that Hatton is not quite yet finished however evidence remains to be seen, i think we need to see how Hatton appears in his next fight ( if there is a next fight!) before we come to a conclusion.
How many times has a fighter looked finished but then pulled something remarkable out of the bag in thier next fight?
If Hatton still has the fire in his belly to come back and chooses the right trainer then Marquez would be a good fight for him.
Close to home there are some interesting domestic fights against Khan or Witter, but Marquez would be a better option.
LOL. This is Liam Santiago’s article alias “Fitzgerald”. Liam is a hardcore Hatton fanatic. Although the guy himself, Ricky Hatton wants to rest his boxing career, this writer wants to revive.
Well, Ricky will come back for a rematch with Mayweather, Jr. Floyd is a proven cherry picker so Ricky is another easy prey to add his perfect record to 41 wins.
There are still many idiotic guys who doesnt care about if the fight is boring and one-sided. They just want to see their idolized boxer and this writer is one of them.
Liam Fitzgerald = Liam Santiago?
^_^ i think ricky hatton sucks….why he should come back….he could not even last more round to a smaller manny pacquaio….i think he should go to bed and slept more……
Hatton ko Mayweather Jr. if he went back to what got him the first fight. He just has to learn to keep his freaking hands up! He’s got no chance of pointing Mayweather jr. So he has to fight dirty.
Hatton should comeback, and he should get Freddie Roach to train him. That’s right, Freddie Roach.
Here is why. Freddie knows Hattons weaknesses, and can develop a gameplan that will reduce those weaknesses while improving his strengths. Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan are good examples of that. He kept Pac’s aggressiveness and added a right hand, footwork, angles, and head movement. With Khan, he kept the speed and worked on the movement and keeping his chin tucked and kept him boxing, not standing and trading. Both have obviously worked well for them.
The problem with Mayweather being Hatton’s trainer is that he tried to make him a Floyd Jr. And that works for no one except Floyd. You can’t just pick up that style and instinct in 8 weeks in training camp, that kind of fight style requires probably a good 25 fights to master. Hatton doesn’t have that kind of time.
Hatton should work with Roach.
MARCIANO, CALZAGHE, HATTON.
It seems that Rocky Marciano set the standard on how
far a champion can go without defeat at 49-0- with no draws. Joe Calzahge got real close and then retired. Rick Hatton was comming very close and then ran into some bad luck. What I am getting at is how many fights can a champion fight before he can expect a defeat? Marciano provided that answer. Hatton is a great fighter. He just got to close to the high standard set by the Rock. And it wasn’t another fighter that beat him. It was a referee. But the point is, that the closer you get to the Marciano standard, the more likely you will face defeat. Just ask Larry Holmes. When he fought Spinks it was unlikely that he could loose to a light heavy. But he did because it was the odds that were against him, the law of large numbers was against him. Thats what happened to Hatton. Its not that Hatton is not a fantastic fighter, because he certainly is.
hatton please come back. u would easily beat marquez and you know it. come on 1 last fight lad
What would he come back for? He won’t fight Pacquiao again, Mayweather probably won’t fight him (even though it would probably rake it a lot of dough). I guess he could fight Marquez, but for what? Where would he go from there? He won’t win another championship.
Hatton should just retire…and take care of himself…did anyone see him on WWE RAW last night? The guy really let himself go…
if he wants to get serious brain damage, he should definitely come back. that’s what’ll happen. the hit-man should look up the g-man.
he should stay retired!!!!! i saw him on tv looking like a super heav y weight!!!!!!
When he was destroyed and put on the floor by Pacaquio your saw his eyes they were in orbit, next time he could end up in INTENSIVE CARE.It doesnt matter who the opponent is hatton is finished as a fighter, marquez is a fat old man and both bradley and khan would beat them both. Hes made a lot of money but a comeback would be FOOLISH.
hattons finished end of
Good article. Khan would also be a legitimate step up to world level again. If he lands on Khan’s chin – although not a puncher per se – he will win early. Marquez is probably the biggest international draw, but if he wants Britain behind him again I suggest he KOs Khan first in a memorable domestic showdown.
ricky fatton sucks. has anyone seen him recently. he was on wwe raw last night and he looked to be walking around 210. fat looser