By William Mackay: It’s looking more and more like former International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) will be staging a comeback against the tough Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO’s)sometime next year, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. Hatton, 31, was flattened badly in his last fight against Manny Pacquiao in May. In fact, Hatton was knocked down three times and ultimately knocked unconscious for over three minutes in the 2nd round by the hard hitting Pacquiao.

A great many boxing fans who care about Hatton called for him to retire from the sport, noting that Hatton had been stopped two years earlier by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December 2007, and had also been hurt in a 12 round decision win over Juan Lazcano in May 2008. The knockout losses to Mayweather and Pacquiao, and the fight in which Hatton was hurt against Lazcano seem to suggest that Hatton’s ability to take punishment has diminished to the point where he’s extremely vulnerable to getting stopped. Lazcano isn’t a top tier fighter, yet he had Hatton in a lot of trouble in his fight with him.

If the fight can be made, Hatton would be a great fight for Marquez. However, Marquez, naturally, prefers to fight a third rubber match against Pacquiao, whom he has unfinished business with after losing a controversial 12 round split decision against him last year. Pacquiao isn’t interested in fighting Marquez right now unless his proposed fight against Mayweather doesn’t pan out.

The CEO of Golden Boy Promotions says “Marquez is ready, willing and able to pack the bags and travel to Manchester.” This fight would do quite well in the UK, and it would likely do well in the U.S. as well. HBO is reportedly interested in showing the fight, which would obviously be a pay-per-view bout despite no world titles being on the line.

Marquez, 36, was defeated in a lopsided 12 round decision defeat at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. on September 19th. The fight was never even close to being competitive as Marquez, who moved up from the lightweight division to take the bout, was knocked down in the 2nd round and looked generally bloated and slow against the bigger, faster Mayweather.

It was a mismatch going into the fight, because Marquez had recently moved up to the lightweight division and although eh captured the vacant World boxing Organization lightweight title over Juan Diaz, Marquez looked far from dominating in the fight. Marquez took a lot more punishment in that fight, as well as his lightweight bout against Joel Casamayor than Marquez had taken in a lot time while fighting as a super featherweight.

Hatton clearly would like nothing better than to avenge his defeats at the hands of Pacquiao and Mayweather, but even he much realize that he would appear to have little chance of doing so. He’s mentioned wanting to fight Mayweather.

However, the chances of that happening are slim and none, because the boxing public wouldn’t likely be interested in a mismatch like this right now, and Mayweather has a long list of potential opponents to fill his dance card for the next year or two. Going over old ground in taking on Hatton is a waste of time for Mayweather at this point in his career.

As much as I’d like to see Hatton come back, I think Marquez is a step too far for Ricky at this point. Given how badly Hatton was knocked out by Pacquiao, I think a smarter choice for Hatton would be another weak puncher like Paulie Malignaggi. Hatton still has the power in his punches, but he needs to face a fighter with minimal speed and power so that he doesn’t risk getting knocked out again. Marquez isn’t a huge puncher, but he punches hard enough to be a huge risk for Hatton right now.