By Andrew Morrow: Ricky Hatton has always been my favourite fighter, hell he’s the reason why I became an avid fan instead of a casual fan. This article aims to assess whether or not Hatton is worthy of the prestigious international boxing hall of fame. In order to do this I have to analyze this idol of mine in an objective manner, a tough task but I’ll try.

Firstly let’s look at Ricky’s list of victims. Obviously a few things stand out. First thing is his stunning upset over hall of famer Kostya Tszyu. Tszyu at the time was widely regarded as being the top dog in the 140 lb division yet Hatton made this warrior quit on his stool before the final round to a period of unrelenting pressure. It was real heart in your mouth stuff and the fight was level at this point. Ricky then unified the IBF title with the WBA title of Carlos Maussa from Columbia who himself had upset Vivien Harris. Hatton knocked Maussa out with a stunning left hook. Hatton then moved up and captured the WBA welterweight title from Luis Collazo, all be it in a less convincing fashion. Ricky then moved down in weight again to recapture his old IBF title in convincing fashion from the tough Juan Urango. Following this came one of Ricky’s proudest moments-a stunning knockout of Jose Castillo, who let’s not forget had given Mayweather a problem or two. Castillo was caught with a crippling left hook to the body. Other great victories included a dominating stoppage win over Paulie Malignaggi, whose only previous loss was to the brilliant Miguel Cotto (who by the way did not stop Paulie). Hatton also beat Juan Lazcano in Manchester in front of a record British crowd. At this stage Ricky was recognised by the ring magazine as the true light welterweight champion. I think most boxing fans worth their salt agree this is a good list, though perhaps not the greatest.

However one has to acknowledge that Ricky fell well short in his fights with Mayweather and Pacquiao, suffering knockout losses in each. Hatton stated that he couldn’t hit Floyd with confetti while he had never experienced Manny’s power before. All in all he fell short against the pound for pound royalty.

Hatton also has other interests in boxing-he is a budding promoter in charge of the British talent like Matt Hatton, Ashley Theophane, Anthony Crolla, Martin Murray, and Ryan Rhodes among others. He has also a budding trainer. Ricky has had problems in his personal life with drugs, as I’m sure some fans will point out, but so did Tyson and he got in.

So boxing fans the decision is yours-is Hatton a hall of famer?? Before you decide remember this-it is called the international boxing hall of fame, not the hall of all time greats. Stallone got in there for making movies!! Hatton was one of the most loved British fighters of all time as is evident from his huge fan base and noisy fans. As they say there’s only one Ricky Hatton!!!