By Dave Lahr: Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KOs) proved one thing last Saturday night in his 2nd round loss to Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand, namely that Hatton can no longer take a big punch like he used to. Perhaps it was Hatton’s 10th round knockout loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December 2007 that may have permanently affected Hatton’s ability to take a shot. The warning signs were already there in Hatton’s 12-round decision victory over Juan Lazcano last year in May, a bout in which Hatton was staggered in the 8th round by Lazcano after running into a left hook.
The bout is notable for the shoelace incident in which Hatton, taking a lot of punishment in the same round and possibly in danger of being knocked out, suddenly alerted to the referee that his shoelaces needed to be tied. The English referee then stopped the action and allowed Hatton to tie his shoelaces despite the fact that it was in the middle of Hatton taking a beating from Lazcano in the round.
Hatton was able to survive the round and win the fight, but it showed that Hatton’s chin wasn’t as sturdy as it once was. In Hatton’s next fight, a weak puncher Paulie Malignaggi was selected, allowed Hatton to dodge having his chin tested against some of the bigger punchers that he would have had to have faced if he had opted for another top light welterweight opponent.
Now, obviously, Pacquiao’s victory over Hatton seems to show that Ricky doesn’t have the whiskers to take a big time shot anymore. At 30, it’s doubtful that Hatton will be sticking around much longer, and even if he does my guess is that Hatton will suffer more and more knockout losses like the one he suffered last Saturday night against Pacquiao.
This is why I feel that Hatton should focus on fighting one or two more times against Amir Khan or Oscar De La Hoya, both if possible. Khan would be the ideal next opponent because numbers #1, he’s British and right about now Hatton has pretty much worn out his welcome in the United States.
Sure, he could continue to fight here but the audiences and interest would be much less than it was before. It would be better for Hatton to retreat back to Britain and fight Khan over there. What makes Khan such a good opponent is because he has a chin even worse than Hatton’s and it would be a fight that Hatton would have a good chance of winning without getting knocked out again.
However, Khan is now trained by Roach and unless Hatton fixes his nonexistent defense, I can see Roach teaching Khan how to take advantage of Hatton’s crude caveman attacks and knock him out much in the same way that Pacquiao did.
One good thing that could come out of this fight is that Hatton could effectively retire Khan if he knocks him out early. Khan wouldn’t retire, of course, but the loss to Hatton would probably finish Khan as a fighter as for as the boxing public goes. With a victory over Khan, Hatton then could retire with some of his dignity intact.
Another option for Hatton would be to lure De La Hoya out from retirement. This fight could be billed as the victims of Pacquiao or something to that effect. I think there would be some interest in the fight, even though both are tainted due to their knockout losses to Pacquiao. I suspect that De La Hoya would have too good of a chin and too much power for Hatton and would take him out at some point in the fight.
De La Hoya and Hatton could get another good payday, and De La Hoya could then retire with his head held high. As for Hatton, this obviously would mean that he would have to hang around a little longer to try and lure Khan or some other shaky-chinned fighter into a bout with him.
If I was Hatton, I wouldn’t go after a top level fighter that wasn’t flawed in some major way because other than Malignaggi, I can’t see Hatton beating any of the top fighters in the light welterweight division. He could cherry pick a lightweight to fight, but that probably wouldn’t be worth the negative feedback Hatton would receive for doing so.
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