By Nate Anderson: In looking at how badly out of shape that Ricky Hatton has become in the past eight months out of the ring since being starched in two rounds by Manny Pacquiao last May, I have serious doubts about whether Hatton, 31, will find any kind of success in his comeback no matter how brief it might turn out to be. Hatton was seriously knocked out in the Pacquiao fight for over three minutes.
I mean he wasn’t just knocked out in the normal way of saying it. He was actually knocked cold by Pacquiao in that fight and looked really bad. If this was the case of Hatton being hurt in a fight I could excuse it a little. However, Hatton was stopped in his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in December 2007, and then following that fight Hatton was again hurt, this time in a fight with Juan Lazcano.
Hatton didn’t get stopped in that fight thankfully, but he was staggered a couple of times by the light hitting Lazcano. Hatton did pick up a win over Paulie Malignaggi in November 2008, but Hatton was facing a weak puncher in that fight and had nothing to fear about.
Hatton has said recently that he plans on coming back for a fight or two, but hasn’t mentioned whom he will be fighting as of yet. I think it doesn’t really matter who it is at this point. I see Hatton being knocked out pretty much by anyone he faces. If I was Hatton and I really wanted to go out with a bang, I would try to get the very best possible fight I could just in case things ended badly.
I don’t know if Hatton is thinking along the same lines, but he should. It would be sad if Hatton took on one of the paper champions hoping to pick up an easy title like Amir Khan did with the weak punching Andriy Kotelnik and then end up getting knocked out by that fighter. I think Hatton should go for the biggest money fight he can get, because I think things are going to end badly for him regardless if he chooses a lesser top fighter.
Ideally, Hatton should go after Pacquiao, Mayweather or Shane Mosley in the next year, but given how badly he was knocked out and because of his subsequent inactivity and ballooning up in weight, it just doesn’t seem all that likely that any of those fighters would be interested in fighting Hatton.
In that case, Hatton should take the next best thing which is a fight against Amir Khan. I think Hatton will end up getting slaughtered by Khan almost as badly as he did against Pacquiao, but the fight would still be a huge one in the UK, and Hatton could go with a big payday. That seems like the better alternative than taking on a fight that he feels is winnable but one that doesn’t pay as well, and still end up getting knocked out.
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