By William Mackay: As of now, no one knows whether Ricky Hatton will decide to continue fighting or not. However, it’s looking like Hatton will decide to continue fighting because he was hinting about making a decision in three weeks in a recent interview he made after meeting with Muhammad Ali.
There really isn’t many exciting options for Hatton should he decide to make a comeback and continue fighting as a light welterweight. Aside from a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, a fight that few boxing fans would probably like to see, there’s few palatable options available for Hatton at light welterweight.
There’s no question that champions Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley would be serious trouble for Hatton at this point in his career, but facing either of them seems hardly worth the trouble. Neither of them have a big enough name to make it worth Hatton’s while to fight them right now. And by the time that Alexander and Bradley do become hugely popular fighters, if they ever do, Hatton will be long gone from the boxing world.
Besides them, there’s really not that much available for Hatton unless he wants to fight Juan Diaz or Amir Khan. Diaz is poor option right now considering that his last fight, a 12-round decision over Paulie Malignaggi, has caused a tremendous amount of controversy with many boxing fans feeling that Malignaggi should have won the fight.
I seriously doubt that Hatton would want to fight an opponent like Diaz under those circumstances. It would be like rewarding the judges for their screwed up decision. Besides, Hatton would get zero credit for beating up Diaz, because he got a boxing lesson from Malignaggi the entire second half their fight. Amir Khan is also a fight that wouldn’t exactly be the most appealing fight for the boxing public.
Outside of England, Khan isn’t considered to be all that great in the minds of many boxing experts. To be sure, a fight against Khan would be exciting to the UK fans, because he’s well liked their because of his Olympic experience. But the rest of the world could probably care less to see Hatton fight someone like Khan who was stretched in the 1st round by Breidis Prescott last year.
Maybe fans would feel differently if Khan had tried to avenge his defeat to Prescott, but as of yet, Khan hasn’t come close to fighting Prescott in a rematch. For a Hatton-Khan fight to be interesting, Khan would have to beat someone like Bradley or Alexander, and I can’t see that happening, because for one, Khan probably won’t those guys. As such, Khan seems like a bad choice for Hatton to fight next.
That leaves the welterweight division for Hatton. As it turns out, this may be even better for Hatton, because judging from his recent photos of his looking like a Pillsbury dough-boy model, Hatton might have a hard time getting back down to light welterweight without leaving himself drained and weak. I think he can get down to the weight, don’t get me wrong, but I think Hatton would be weak at that weight now.
Hatton has spent too much time at 160 and above while not in training and having to melt that kind of weight down would likely leave Hatton looking like a human skeleton against whoever he fights. I, for one, don’t want to see Hatton get knocked flat in the 1st round due to him being weight drained. Therefore, I think Hatton needs to focus on coming back at welterweight against the following opponents:
Oscar De La Hoya
Miguel Cotto
Floyd Mayweather
Shane Mosley
Juan Manuel Marquez
De La Hoya would be the best options, because if they can work out De La Hoya’s excuse properly, this can be a huge fight. De La Hoya would have to try and explain away his loss to Pacquiao and correctly point out that he was weight drained for the fight. I think the public would buy it, because they want De La Hoya back no matter what has happened in the past. This would give De La Hoya and Hatton to go through with a fight that they were considering last year before Hatton opted to take on Malignaggi. I don’t know if De La Hoya could make it down to 147, so possibly Hatton might have to be agreeable to make it at 154. He probably would know the kind of money and publicity that this fight would generate. At 154, I think De La Hoya wins it as long as long as he doesn’t go on a crash diet of buffalo meat.
Cotto and Marquez are a lot less appealing, because both of them will likely lose to their next opponents. However, if they do win, then a fight against either of them would be an appealing option for Hatton.
Shane Mosley is probably not a good idea for Hatton, because Mosley is just too good and I can see Hatton getting embarrassed by him in a one-sided loss similar to Hatton defeat against Pacquiao.
Floyd Mayweather is a good option, but it would mean waiting around for Mayweather to get past Pacquiao. That’s not a sure thing, and I doubt Hatton would want to fight Mayweather immediately after he gets beaten by Pacquiao.
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