By Jim Dower: Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) could be returning to the ring as early as November to possibly face unbeaten World Boxing Association welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko (29-0, 20 KO’s), according to The Sun. The choice of opponent and the weight class would seem less than desirable for Hatton, because Senchenko isn’t well known and is much bigger than Hatton at 5’10” compared to Hatton’s 5’7.” Besides the height problems, Hatton would also be giving up five inches in reach to Senchenko, who has a reach of 70” compared to Hatton’s 65.”
Given that Hatton is coming off of a 2nd round knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao in May, a fighter like Senchenko, 31, would be all wrong for Hatton. Amir Khan has also been mentioned as a potential opponent for Hatton. However, Khan has to get by WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik this Saturday night if he’s to remain in the running for a big money bout with Hatton. With Khan’s history of having a weak chin, that’s a big question mark. But if he’s available, then Khan will likely get the nod as the next opponent for Ricky.
The choice of Senchenko – a weak puncher with excellent boxing skills – would be a huge risk for Hatton at this point in his career. Having seen Senchenko’s 12-round decision win over former WBA welterweight champion Yuriy Nuzhnenko in April, Senchenko showed a lot of movement and used his jab constantly in grinding out a one-sided decision over Nuzhnenko.
I could see how Hatton might want to fight the weak-punching Senchenko because the Ukrainian fighter is very beatable, kind of in the same way that Khan is going for the weak-punching Kotelnik rather than taking on tougher light welterweights like WBO champion Timothy Bradley. However, it’s a fight that Hatton would be taking a lot of risks without getting a lot of rewards.
If his goal is to beat a paper champion just to get the belt and add it to his collection, then I can see how fighting Senchenko might be a good thing. However, the title wouldn’t give Hatton much respect in the boxing world because Senchenko isn’t well thought of by many boxing experts.
It would be a case of Hatton selecting an easy mark and going after that title rather than risking his hide by facing someone like WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto or WBA champion Shane Mosley, both of whom would be favored over Hatton by a wide margin. Senchenko looked very good in beating Nuzhnenko and I would have to favor him to beat Hatton if they did fight.
Senchenko is the type of fighter that doesn’t let his opponent get close to him because he stays on the move and uses his jab constantly. He’s like a more mobile version of Luis Collazo, who Hatton struggled badly against in winning a controversial 12 round decision over three years ago in 2006. That was when Hatton was more or less in his prime.
Now three years later with Hatton dealing with constant weight problems in between fights, this would be the wrong time to move up in weight to take on a pure boxer like Senchenko. The Ukrainian doesn’t have mileage on him like Hatton does, because he’s faced much lesser opposition. The undefeated record that Senchenko sports is filled with only a few faintly recognizable names with the rest being unknown Eastern European opponents.
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