When Is Hatton going to have the Fire in his Belly?

By Boxing News - 09/22/2009 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: I don’t know about you guys but I’m seriously sick hearing about Ricky Hatton talking about needing to recharge his batters and other such excuses Hatton’s been making for why he’s not ready to come back. I just want him to get back in the ring and take his medicine.

If he gets his head loped off again, so be it. At least he wouldn’t waste time wondering about it and flapping his gums to reporters about possibly making a comeback some day. Why prolong the situation? It’s kind of like having a toothache. You can wait it out, but its only going to get worse. It’s better just to deal with it.

Hatton needs to get back in the ring and fight someone good so he can find out if he has what it takes. Frankly, I think he’s going to get destroyed by pretty much anyone he fights, but Hatton would still be better off knowing sooner rather than later.

It can’t be good for him to be stuck wondering whether he still has it or not. By the time Hatton does decide to make a comeback, he’s only making it much more likely that he’ll fail. This is boxing and it’s a young man’s sport. You can’t sit and twiddle your thumbs for a year or two, thinking that you can pick it up later when you finally get the inspiration. If Hatton can’t get it now, then he needs to hang the gloves. But at least if Hatton makes a decision, he won’t have to worry about it anymore.

What Hatton needs to do is fight Juan Manuel Marquez. Both of them more or less are in the same boat right now. Hatton got destroyed by Pacquiao in a one-sided mismatch and Marquez got outclassed by Mayweather last weekend.

I don’t see any real reason for Hatton to continue fighting unless he wants to fight Marquez or Amir Khan for a big payday or pull a Floyd Mayweather Jr. and start fighting super featherweights and lightweight fighters. I really hope that Hatton doesn’t stoop to that level because that would be bad boxing. I could see a ton of other fighters following their lead and selecting smaller champions from the lower divisions to kick around and prove themselves to the mostly ignorant casual boxing fans.

Other than those options, I think Hatton should retire. There’s too many talented fighters in the light welterweight division right now, and Hatton wouldn’t be able to meander his way through the division without taking abuse for playing it safe. He can fight a tune-up bout against anyone without getting called on it by boxing writers like myself, but once that fight is over, it’s fair game to comment on Hatton’s choice of opponents in the future.

Besides Pacquiao and Mayweather, I think Hatton has take it easy through most of his career, taking on a lot of weak fighters. I often wonder how many losses Hatton would have had if he had fought Timothy Bradley, Ricardo Torres, Junior Witter, Devon Alexander, a younger Kostya Tszyu, Victor Ortiz, Kendall Holt, Marcos Maidana, Khan and Nate Campbell.

I guess Hatton would likely have another nine losses or so on his resume. He’d still be a good fighter, but it wouldn’t likely be the star he is today. For some reason, Hatton, with the exception of Tszyu, never fought those fighters. It’s too bad he didn’t because I would have liked to see those fight. I don’t know why he didn’t fight them. That’s the real question. Hatton chose to fight Paulie Malignaggi rather than Ortiz, Holt, Maidana, Alexander, Witter and Bradley. Strange.



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