Hatton looking to go out in a blaze of glory
December 10th, 2009
By Sean McDaniel: Former International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton is looking to go out in style by fighting a brawl that boxing fans will remember him by. In an article with the Guardian, Hatton, 31, said “The manner in which I mended my defeat [referring to his 2nd round knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao on May 1st] is not really the way I would like to bow out. I’d like to bow out like Kostya [Tszyu] did [in his battle with Hatton in 2005] in an absolute war of a fight, a wonder fight with great sportsmanship.”
Hatton has been out of the ring for the past seven months, the longest period since starting his pro career in 1997. The time off from boxing hasn’t been good for Hatton’s physique. Hatton looks incredibly heavy with a noticeable pot belly. Hatton can probably take the weight off in five or six months with hard training but it’s unclear how well he’ll be able to perform after taking off that amount of blubber from his frame. The fat that Hatton is carrying around has made him look much older than a typical 31-year-old, almost like a person nearing 40 rather than someone who just turned 31.
For some reason, Hatton is saying he doesn’t want to fight WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan. It seems self defeating for Hatton not to be interested in that fight because Khan, with his glass jaw, would seem to be the perfect opponent for Hatton to come back against. All Hatton would have to do is guard against Khan’s occasional combinations and he’d have a great chance of catching up to Khan and landing something big on Khan’s weak chin.
Khan is a much more passive fighter compared to Pacquiao, who Hatton just lost to. Hatton made it easy for Pacquiao by going right after him and trying to slug with the Filipino star for some strange reason. What Hatton needs is a tune-up fight and then a bout against someone like Khan or Juan Manuel Marquez. If Hatton goes into either of those fights without a tune-up, he’ll be taking a big risk.
Hatton has been out of the sport for too long, put on too much weight through poor eating habits and may have problems taking hard shots. Both Khan and Marquez have good power, more than enough to knock Hatton out if they catch him with a big shot. Hatton should look at fighting a weak light welterweight like Paulie Malignaggi again to get his confidence back and improve his timing.
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there’s only one.. ricky hatton
SORRY WESLAD I FORGOT TO MENTION ,HE IS ALSO GOOD AT BUTTING THE POSTS AND FINDING EXCUSES AFTER HE HAS BEEN KNOCKED COLD.
didnt he say osacar de la hoya yesterday or so i read on that sky red button thing.
i thought de la hoya was retired , or maybe ive been hiding aware for the last year
he would stop zab judah for fun lets be honest
calazaghe1,
rickys soul looked pretty broken to me, dont no what you were watchin!
then hatton went on to pretty much retire, then change his mind hoping to go out on a high.
again soul looked pretty broken! no?
talks are about hatton vs de la hoya at wembley
and roots,,,,’hes good at that’ ,,he,s been beaten twice,,,,,,out of how many fights,,,,and by the 2 best pfp best ,,,,,,,,,he,s good at that ,dont know what ur talking about,!!!
hatton will only lose to the elite kahn/witter he will destroy them no problem kahn isnt ready 4 hatton just yet good performance against salita but i still believe hatton would be 2 much 4 him marquez would be a great battle and could go either way
i cannot understand all the hatton haters hes had a great carreer in boxing and theres always a buzz when hes fighting win or lose hes prepared to fight the best and wears his heart on his sleeve thats why hes got thousands of fans prepared to travel to vegas no other british fighter has the same fan base
ricky cotto would be a fight id stay up and pay to watch
rickys class,hes only lost to the 2 pfp best ,not many boxers can retire saying that,,,,well done ricky your a legend!!!
IF HE FIGHT EVEN A WASHED UP ZAB JUDAH, HE WOULD END UP ON HIS BACK ADMIRING THE RING LIGHTS HE IS CGOOD AT THAT.
I admire Hatton. He shows no fear, and has the heart of a warrior. All he needs is to change his style just a little, and have a good defense. I would never count him out. He was 40-0 before he met Mayweather.
yeah id like to see that too.
Me to, it one the British fans would love.
ricky hatton was a better world champion than a certain king will ever be !
One thing is for sure he’s been one of best and one of best loved of the British boxers ever.
Sounds like Hatton wants 1 last fight against somebody who is happy to go toe to toe with him, go out in a blaze of glory win or lose.
Nothing wrong with that at all. Hope he gets it.
RH hasn’t been able to take punch since his fight with KT. He won the battle that night but lost the war. He walked through some heavy shots that night and he paid a price for doing so. He fought the fight of his life that night and won the title for himself and England. You Brits should love Hatton because he gave you all he had. He’s been hurt on several occasions by a couple of fighters that aren’t known as big punchers. When you can’t take a shot any more it’s time to move on. It is hard to say goodbye to something that you love so don’t make it any harder for him than it already is.
And if Ricky really had any Heart left he’d fight Amir Khan (It would be HUGE for England)…..but deep deep deeeeeeeeep down Hatton knows Amir would spark him…as for Amir…he’ll get found out again when he faces the top top boys in America….Only Lennox n Joe (who are not really English Folk are they???) in recent times have come to America and beaten The Top Top boyz….(and one cud argue when they did it The Top boyz were well past their prime)
Mayweather took the p** with how he boxed Hatton, knocking him into the ring post like a “Tom n Jerry” cartoon….Pac-man sparked Hatton who for some bizzare reason came out believing he could bully/trade with The Pac-man (Hatton listened to English media writing/talking rubbish about him being THE BIGGER MAN) not knowing its about skills/technical ability….Hatton should just stay retired now…as he might lose again even to a second rate fighter…HIS SOUL is defeated now after his last two horrible defeats….dont get me started on his conditioning hahahaha
It unkind for people to discount Hatton because of his two losses. In boxing, a fighter finally meets the law on averages and lose. But that should not result to a loss of the luster of his great victories. Hatton was a good fighter but it just so happened that Pacquiao was better. Now, ponder on this, Pacquiao became better because he has Hatton’s name in his resume. Without Hatton, his impressive record would be one notch less.
ricky has been found wanting i thought he struggled with lazcano and callazo was lucky tyzu had not been active for 2 and a half years ducked witter that is because he didnt get it all his own way with thaxton witter is 3 times better than thaxton and witter is 36 still healthy just take a luck at the fatty go on carry on fighting if you want to seriously damage your health nxt time you might be out longer than 4 mins
firstly manny pacqauio did not brake hattons soul!! mayweather destroyed hatton 1st so if anything mayweather showed pacman the blueprints to a broken man!!
Ricky You can still do it!
guys lets be serious now, if khan was a yank he would have been discarded after the prescott bout. but because he was built up from you brits he continues to get chances!
that ko that he suffered is a career ender, fullstop! the guy cant take a punch.
i would admit that they were good punches but he was shaken for prescotts jabs, just watch it on you tube as i have just done, clearly his legs tweeked!
great amatuer boxer, flawed pro just face the facts
i think hatton can hold his head up high over his career.
yeah he lost to the 2 best fighters p4p in our era but at least he was willing to fight the best in his prime and theirs, no…?
yeah he wasnt good enough but he wont have the lingering questions like average joe will for the rest of his life will he.TRUTH
i would lik to see a hatton marquez fight i think it would be a great fight and im not to share who would win that. as long as ricky can get into shape of course, which i think he will.
as for the khan fight, man.. hatton by ko all the way, prob tko 8th 9th 10th something like that.
hatton vs the magic man. he wont knock him out… i dont think
If he wants to go out with a bang, he should fight Marquez. The result would be same as the picture for this article, but I think it would last until round 7.
Stop all the hatton hating.. Hatton lost to the 2 best boxers on the planet. He won 46 fights before a loss . People say oh he fought tomato cans or old fighters. Excuses, exuses, He beat Mallinagi, Urango who now holds a belt. Castillo a legond . Kosta Tzue another legond. Nndue, Ben Tackie, Mousa,Collazo yeah he had a bad 12 round but won 11 rounds and did not get ko’d he survived.The list goes on stop Haten!!!! I would like to see him go out with a fight with Juan Diaz JMM or a rematch with Urango for his belt….Ok let me have it
Hatton is a broken man. Pacquiao Broke his spirit. If a fighter takes a beating like Hatton did, at Hatton’s age, he rarely can summon the courage to come back with force.
First of all it was a second round KO not first, secondly, I would not consider him an aging fighter, but more of a fighter that lacks discipline to remain a top fighter. You cannot beat the top of your game when you blow up more than 50 pounds over your fighting weight in between fights.
it wud be for the best
ricky fatton will never enter the ring again, it wub be for the best