By Jim Dower: Light welterweight Ricky Hatton (44-1, 31 KOs) will be fighting with his career on the line when he takes on Paulie Malignaggi on November 22nd at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hatton, 30, has hinted at retirement if he’s defeated by Malignaggi, and we may end up seeing just that occurring unless Hatton shows some vast improvement upon his last two performances in his career. Malignaggi is a young, active fighter who specializes in making his opponents miss and look bad. He probably is the wrong kind of fighter for Hatton at this point of his struggling career, especially with all of yo-yo binge weight gains that he’s put on between fights.
The effects started showing up in his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December 2007, a bout in which Hatton didn’t look nearly as good as he had in earlier in his career when he was beating the likes of Vince Phillips and Kostya Tszyu. I don’t see it as a case of Mayweather having too much skill for him, although he is very skilled, but more rather a case of Hatton not having the same kind of animal-like energy that he had previously in his career, before he stared having issues with weight gain in between fights.
By Jim Dower: With only a month left before Ricky Hatton’s (44-1, 31 KOs) light welterweight showdown with Paulie Malignaggi (25-1, 5 KOs), there has been very little fan interest for this bout. Although I frankly can’t says I’m surprised that no one really cares to see it, because Malignaggi was a poor choice as an opponent to begin with. And when Malignaggi gave up his IBF light welterweight title, the little interest I had in the fight completely died out. Instead of the IBF title being on the line, there’s only Hatton’s little known IBO trinket. 
By Dan Ambrose: Thirty years old is considered old age for most smaller fighters in the sport of boxing. In the case of Ricky Hatton (44-1, 31 KOs), it may signal a fighter that is long ago ready for his rocking chair. He hasn’t helped his case with his binge eating and drinking in between fights, a practice that has caused him frequently to put on an enormous amount of fat that he’s subsequently been forced to take off while training for fights. 
By Aaron Klein: In news that will surely sadden most of his fans, Ricky Hatton (44-1, 31 KOs) announced yesterday on his Birthday that he will be fighting only one more years and three fights and then he’ll be retiring from boxing. The three fighters he mentioned, Paulie Malignaggi (his next opponent on November 22nd), either Oscar De La Hoya or Manny Pacquiao, whoever comes out the winner of the battle, or possibly Juan Manuel Marquez. Also, a fighter that looms out there for Hatton is Floyd Mayweather Jr., who Hatton is very interested in fighting a rematch with in order to avenge his 10th round stoppage defeat to him from December 2007. 
By Nate Anderson: Next year we may be seeing the best fight in quite some time, perhaps the best in years, when Ricky Hatton faces Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya in a fight that will almost definitely break box office records for PPV. Although nothing is set in stone at this time, both fighters have expressed interest in making the potential fight happen. The only problem with the fight taking place is whether or not Hatton and De La Hoya will be successful in their upcoming bouts. Hatton faces Paulie Malignaggi, whereas De La Hoya takes on Manny Pacquiao, neither of which is an easy opponent. However, both Hatton and De La Hoya are expected to win by most betting experts in the sport. 
By Matt Rohr: There’s a saying that suggests that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, which perhaps more often than not is true. However, in the case of Ricky Hatton, his new trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. is sure hoping he’s one of the few dogs that can learn a few new tricks with the time that he has left in boxing. In a recent interview with Newsoftheworld, Mayweather Sr. expressed that things would have been far different if he had been the trainer for Hatton instead of Billy Graham for Ricky’s fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December 2007, a fight which sadly resulted in a 10th round TKO loss for Hatton. 
By David Lar: Though Ricky Hatton would be the last to admit it, he may be dramatically shortening his boxing career by his tendency to overeat in between fights and balloon up in weight. I think rather than his defensive problems and his all out style of fighting, it’s his constant fluctuating weight that has led to his struggles in the ring in the past two years. Hatton likes to live well in between fights, perhaps a little too well, eating all the wrong foods and quite a bit of it judging from the huge amount of weight he puts on. He makes it worse by drinking beer which compounds the problem. 
By Adam Laiolo: It was December 8th 2007, after years of watching one of my countries most respected and genuine sportsmen in years come to the top against the sports best, I was now witnessing him stumbling face first into a turnbuckle with an beautifully executed ‘check hook’. He rose only monumentality, for the result was beyond doubt. Grievances about Joe Cortez actions (still give me sleepless nights) are useless. He was out fought, out worked and ultimately out boxed. The feeling of anticlimax was inescapable. Then less than six months later, a home coming of epic proportion, the likes rarely seen generated by one fighter and a smart choice of fight, even with one or two problems along the way. 
By Nate Anderson: Ricky Hatton has come out saying that he wants to face Oscar De La Hoya or Manny Pacquiao in 2009 – whoever the winner if of their December 6th bout. Hatton, 29, has a fight with Paulie Malignaggi on November 22nd, but once that fight is complete, Hatton wants to go after the big money fights. He previously had a chance to fight De La Hoya but Hatton declined because he wanted to get a shot at winning the IBF light welterweight. Many people thought Hatton had slipped his lid when he chose to decline what would have been a huge paying bout with De La Hoya for a fight with the much less popular Malignaggi, who is mainly popular on the East coast of the United States. 
By Dave Lar: In a bit of bad news for Ricky Hatton, IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi reportedly vacated the title rather than agreeing to face his number one mandatory challenger Herman Ngoudjo. Apparently, Ngoudjo was willing to wait until Malignaggi fought Hatton in November, but wanted to be guaranteed a fight against the winner. However, it appears that no guarantees were given to him, which forced Malignaggi to give up the belt. The belt will now be fought over between Juan Urango (20-1-1, 16 KOs) and Ngoudjo.