By Sean McDaniel: Based on news report around the boxing world, it looks now that Manny Pacquiao won’t be backing down and accepting the 50-50 purse split that Ricky Hatton is asking for. According to reports, Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, is trying to convince Manny to accept the 50-50 split but it’s unclear whether Pacquiao can be talked into taking less than what he’s asking for.
With that in mind, it might be a good idea for Hatton to start thinking about another opponent to fight other than Pacquiao. That’s the tricky part. Hatton has become very selective in the past couple of years, only interested in fighters that can bring him a big pay rather than the less well known, but perhaps more dangerous fighters, like Junior Witter, Timothy Bradley, Ricardo Torres and Kendall Holt.
It would seem unlikely that Hatton would want to take on any of them, because it would be too much risk for the little money that he would get in fighting them. Besides, it’s now less certain that Hatton can beat any of them at this stage in Hatton’s career.
Even with a new trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. backing him, Ricky still doesn’t seem close to being the same fighter he was back in 2005 when he racked up his best win of his career, an 11th round TKO over 36-year-old Kostya Tszyu. Hatton has slowed some then and his chin is a little less sturdy.
Miguel Cotto – has expressed interest in fighting Hatton, so that’s a good option for Hatton. However, Cotto is very dangerous despite being stopped by Antonio Margarito last year, and I can’t see Hatton wanting the kinds of problems that Cotto would bring to the table.
Cotto is not only a harder puncher but has better feet, better jab and the superior skills from both the inside and outside. Though his chin may be questionable after his loss to Margarito, I doubt that Hatton would want to fight out first hand.
Floyd Mayweather Jr – Floyd still wants a rematch with Hatton for some reason. Aside from a big payday without much trouble, I can’t see the reason why Mayweather would still want to fight Hatton. Worse, I can’t see how the boxing public could stomach a rematch between these two fighters given the one-sided nature of Mayweather’s previous win over Hatton. Ricky probably doesn’t want another loss right now, so I expect him to decline an offer for this fight.
Oscar De La Hoya – This is an easy choice for Hatton. If Oscar is interested in fighting Ricky, then Hatton will likely jump at the chance to fight him in a second. De La Hoya was beaten badly in his last fight, an 8th round stoppage at the hands of Pacquiao.
That probably makes Oscar even more appealing to Hatton, who sees an easy fight guaranteed to make him a lot of money. De La Hoya would probably want this fight as well, knowing that it would give him yet again another big payday. If Oscar comes in shape, who knows? He might be able to beat Hatton as badly as he beat Steve Forbes.
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