By Dave Lahr: Maybe Ricky Hatton shouldn’t have fought Manny Pacquiao at all on May 2nd, and instead should have cancelled the bout. According to Setanta Sports, Hatton’s father Ray feels that Ricky should have pulled out of the fight against Pacquiao because things weren’t going right in training camp leading up to the fight with Pacquiao. “It could have been a lot, lot better, massively better. I’m very disappointed with some of the things that I heard, Ray said to Setanta Sports.
Apparently, Ray Hatton had misgivings about the fight well before the fight due to the training camp issues. Ray says that Ricky Hatton went through with the bout for the boxing fans of his that had travelled to Las Vegas from England just to watch Hatton fight. “Personally, that wasn’t my son in that ring,” Ray said.
Perhaps what Ray says is true, because Ricky Hatton had problems with his lead trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr., who had reportedly been late to one of his training sessions. Beyond that, it’s hard to tell what the main friction was between Mayweather Sr. and Hatton that may have prevented him from soaking up enough information to be prepared for Pacquiao.
Although Ray is correct about the training camp issues that Ricky was experiencing going into the fight, Hatton should have had it together enough to perform better than he did against Pacquiao. It seemed as if Hatton had his own separate strategy that he was following on the night of the fight and wasn’t using any of the teachings from Mayweather Sr.
That could have been just a case of nerves on Hatton’s part, because after all, he was stepping it up against Pacquiao in a major way in contrast to Ricky’s recent opponents Paulie Malignaggi and Juan Lazcano. Hatton had failed miserably in his one shot against ‘A’ level opposition, losing by a 10th round TKO to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December 2007.
Although Hatton had a win earlier in his career over the once great Kostya Tszyu, an 11th round stoppage, but the win came at the end of Tszyu’s career and under less than desirable circumstances for the Russian star. As such, Hatton was for all practical purposes coming into the Pacquiao fight with a 0-1 record against top level opposition, and it seemed to hurt Hatton in a big way.
Ideally, Hatton should have fought someone slightly easier than Pacquiao to prove that Hatton belonged in the ring against a quality fighter like him. Hatton could have helped himself if he had fought someone like Juan Manuel Marquez or Timothy Bradley.
If Hatton could have gotten by one or both of them, then it would have been a good sign that Hatton was good enough to compete with the likes of Pacquiao. Instead, Hatton chose Malignaggi, a weak puncher, and Lazcano, a journeyman, and neither of them gave Hatton any preparation for the Pacquiao bout.
I think Ray Hatton is correct in saying that Ricky should have cancelled the bout with Pacquiao, but I think it should have been a long enough cancellation for Hatton to prove to himself and to others that he belonged in the same ring with Pacquiao.
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