By Liam Santiago: In history, very few of the greatest fighters retire undefeated. Roberto Duran, Muhammed Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson are just a few of the all time greats to taste defeat. Ricky Hatton tasted defeat for the second time against Manny Pacquiao in May and has to make the biggest decision of his career, weather to retire or fight on. He has, however, recently dropped the strongest hint yet that he will fight again.
Hatton stated that he might follow in the footsteps of friend and fellow boxer, Tony Oakey. Oakey was stopped by Den Francis and lost a decision to Nathan Cleverly. Oakey has bounced back well and won the light-heavyweight prizefighter tournament. Speaking to the Portsmouth newspaper, the news, Hatton said,
“After the Nathan Cleverly loss, Tony found himself in the same position I find myself in now. I had a bad defeat and was thinking ‘Have I had too many fights? Have I had enough?’ But Tony looked better than ever in winning the Prizefighter tournament and was supremely confident in his interviews. In the end he absolutely walked it.”
He went on to give a clear hint that he is likely to return to the ring once more.
“I’ve not made a decision on my future yet,” he said. “But if there is any inspiration I can take, it’s from what Tony did. Everyone thought it was over for him, but he’s come back. Maybe I should look at that and think ‘My career is not over yet’.”
However brutal that defeat against Manny Pacquiao was, Hatton will realise that great fighters do lose. It is a common fact of boxing. As Muhammed Ali once said, Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even. Before the Pacquiao fight, Pauli Malignaggi was ranked second below Hatton in the light-welterweight rankings. Hatton gave Malignaggi a boxing lesson and stopped him in the 11th round, which Miguel Cotto failed to do when he defeated him. Who can say Ricky is ‘shot’ when only two fights ago he put on the performance of his life.
As Ricky has previously said, after his defeat to Mayweather, what kind of a fighter retires because they lost. Surely fighting on and showing ultimate courage, win or lose, is the best way of gaining respect. Hatton has always gone after the best fighters, calling out Mayweather and Pacquiao are the obvious examples. This desire and courage that he shows in fighting the best, sadly reflects in his record. He didn’t have to call Mayweather out and go up to welterweight to fight him, he chose to because he would rather lose than skirt round the edges, as some undefeated fighters do.
Hatton has already been strongly linked to a mega fight with Amir Khan, providing Khan beats Kotelnik next month. Other options are long time rival, Junior Witter who Hatton has refused to fight for years. What I, personally, do not want to see is a comeback, confidence booster fight against a very average opponent on sky box-office. Hatton is a major ticket seller and will have the fan base to carry on being a box-office star until the day he retires. However, this comeback is much different to the Mayweather defeat. He is now considered by a good portion of boxing fans and writers as ‘shot’. He might be, only he can prove he’s not, but to come back and fight a very average opponent would be disappointing for his fans. This is not likely however, as rumours are circling that promoters are in talks over fighting Khan next. If Ricky can beat Khan, which I believe he can, it will open a new door for him, he will no longer be that shot fighter that lost to an ex featherweight, he may go on to fight Witter, and then on to fight Bradley.
The only person that can prove if Hatton has anything left is him and I am sure he will try, if nothing else. As has been said, he may have lost but he has always gone after the best and fought the best which not all champions can say. There are many major bouts that could’ve happened that have not. Mayweather vs Cotto, Mayweather vs Mosley, Calzaghe vs Froch. Hatton may not be undefeated anymore, but whatever he decides to do he can hold his head high knowing he pushed himself to fight the best. And, who knows, Hatton might pull off the best comeback of all time.
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