Beating Senchenko won’t change anything for Ricky Hatton

By Boxing News - 10/01/2012 - Comments

Image: Beating Senchenko won't change anything for Ricky HattonBy Scott Gilfoid: Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) will be taking on the former WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-1, 21 KO’s) on November 24th in Hatton’s comeback fight.

This news has been welcomed with great joy from Hatton’s fans who see it as a gutsy move on his part for taking on a guy that just recently held down a major world title. I don’t see it that way. I never really considered Senchenko, 35, a world champion because of who he beat to get the title and the guys he faced while he had the title.

There’s a big difference from winning a welterweight title beating someone like Andre Berto than beating a guy named Yuriy Nuzhnenko. You follow me? We’re talking Nuzhnenko here, the same guy that Matthew Hatton beat. Hatton didn’t just beat Nuzhnenko, he dominated him. Okay, so I really didn’t see Senchenko as any kind of world title holder even though technically he was the WBA belt holder because he beat Nuzhnenko.

Senchenko could have made up for the easy way he won the WBA title by at least taking on and beating some top contenders like Victor Ortiz or Thomas Dulorme. But who did Senchenko face during his time as the WBA champ? Motoki Sasaki, Carlie Jose Navarro, Marco Antonio Avendano and Paulie Malignaggi. Senchenko beat the three of those little known fighters and then lost BADLY to Malignaggi in his last fight in April.

That just tells you that Senchenko really was never all that great to begin with, and therefor it’s not a big deal that Hatton is fighting him. Senchenko struggled to beat Nuzhneko, who in turn was dominated by Matthew Hatton. So what we’re talking about here is weak opponent for Ricky Hatton to fight on his comeback on November 24th. The fact that Senchenko used to be a world title holder is meaningless because he never fought anyone good to earn and hold onto the WBA belt.

Unless Hatton is completely and utterly shot to pieces, which is a distinct possibility, he should beat Senchenko with no problems on November 24th. However, the win won’t mean anything, it’ll be like Hatton beating an easy 2nd tier fighter. Hatton will still take a major beating if and when he fights someone good. I don’t consider Malignaggi as a top fighter. To me, he’s just the paper champion that took over another paper champion in Senchenko. But once Hatton faces a decent welterweight like Thomas Dulorme, he’s going to get knocked out. It won’t take top guys like Mayweather and Pacquiao to do it. Dulorme is plenty good to end Hatton’s comeback by knocking him cold. Hatton’s destiny is to be left on the canvas with this comeback. That’s how I see it ending.



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