By Dave Lahr: I know this may sound a little brain sick but I think Ricky Hatton needs to make every effort he can to get back with his trainer Floyd Mayweather Jr. to try and make the best of a situation gone wrong in Pacquiao fight.
I’m well aware of the problems that Hatton had with Mayweather Sr. during his training for the Pacquiao fight, but the things that Hatton was upset with, Mayweather Sr. being late for some training session may in part be due to unhappiness with Hatton having an assistant trainer that appeared to be competing for time with Mayweather.
I don’t whether Hatton realized how him spending time with an assistant created distance between Mayweather Sr., but he certainly understands that now. Besides this, Mayweather Sr. is an excellent trainer and one that could have helped Hatton if he was open to learning new tools.
Hatton had said that he had picked up a lot of new things from Mayweather Sr. that he used in his fight with Paulie Malignaggi that helped Hatton not get that much. Why Hatton didn’t decide to continue using these tools in the Pacquiao bout is the big question that most boxing fans would like to know.
However, maybe it is as some people say that Hatton just got caught up in the excitement and forgot all about strategy in his single-minded focus in trying to knock Pacquiao out. Whatever problems that Hatton and Mayweather Sr. had from their training camp, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be fixed if Ricky is interested in doing so.
But it will take an effort on his part, because Mayweather Sr. isn’t going to grovel and come back looking for a job when he feels that he wasn’t really being listened to in the first place. I think Mayweather Sr. can really help Hatton get a little more mileage out of his body if he’s totally dedicated to learning this time.
I think for it to happen, Hatton would have to lose his assistant trainer and let Mayweather Sr. be the one that is doing all the training. If Hatton needs a dummy holder, then let Mayweather Sr. personally pick out someone that he has faith in that won’t get in the way of him trying to drum things into Hatton’s head.
It’s sometimes not easy for older fighters to learn new things, especially when they get past 30. This is why I feel that it will take longer for Hatton to actually learn and be able to adopt the measures that Mayweather Sr. is trying to teach him. It may be too late to fix the relationship, but Hatton owes it to himself to at least try.
Hatton won’t be able to find a better trainer regardless of who he’s thinking about signing up. There’s been rumors of Freddie Roach possibly training Hatton, but that would be an awful choice as far as I’m concerned, because Roach is an offensive trainer and not one that excels at teaching the defensive side of the game.
Although Hatton could use some teaching about how to improve his primitive style of attacking his opponents, I think his bigger problem is his lack of defense. That’s something that Mayweather Sr., could fix if Hatton was really open to learning new things.
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