In the latest boxing news, former junior welterweight Ricky Hatton (43-1, 31 KOs) will reportedly be making his ring return on May 24th, according to the British Daily Express online news site. Apparently, Hatton, 29, is choosing between three opponents – Demetrius Hopkins, Ricardo Torres and Kendal Holt – with the bout to take place in Manchester, where Hatton could potentially be fighting in front of 100,000 fans inside of a stadium. Naturally, Hatton’s most dangerous opponent, Junior Witter, the World Boxing Council junior welterweight champion, isn’t among the opponents on Hatton’s short list of potential bouts. That’s not particularly surprising, as many people feel that Witter is a better fighter, that Hatton has been ducking already for years.
Also interesting is that Hatton, according to the Daily Express, is using his next bout as a tuneup for a fight with Paulie Malignaggi, the International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion, who most recently looked like utter garbage against Herman Ngoudjo last Saturday night. Hatton’s confidence must be way down for him to need a tuneup bout for a fight with the likes of Malignaggi, because this should be a fight that Hatton wins in his sleep. Malignaggi, a decent fighter skill wise, doesn’t have the power or the inside fighting ability to keep Hatton from beating him up on the inside.
One would think that Hatton would have enough confidence , and self knowledge of his abilities, to know that he can beat a fighter of Malignaggi’s caliber without having to resort to tune-up fights. All I can say is, the Mayweather fight must have done some real damage to Hatton’s head.
I don’t expect for Hatton to face either Hopkins or Holt, because both of them are the type of fighters that would give Hatton fits, using the boxing ring to keep distance from him, shooting a jab in his face all night long. Unless the referee allowed Hatton to get away with his usual mugging tactics – read: holding hitting, elbows, rabbit punches – I could see Hopkins and Holt beating Hatton fairly easy without much trouble. More likely, Hatton will face Torres, the World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion, a limited fighter with poor stamina. Though Torres hits like an ox, and is capable of planting Hatton’s head in the third row if he should land, I don’t see it happening, because Hatton will stay in close proximity to him, giving no room to punch.
Torres usually fades by the 8th round, so if Hatton can wrestle him for that long, he can perhaps land something big and take out the Colombian fighter. However, if Hatton makes the mistake of giving Torres any kind of punching room, Hatton will get mowed down by him. Torres hits much harder than Mayweather, or any of the fighters that Hatton has faced in his career, and is quite capable of destroying him if he lands with a big shot.