By William Mackay: It’s been a year since Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) was blasted apart by Manny Pacquiao in a humiliating 2nd round knockout at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Instead of getting back on the horse, getting some tune-up fights and beating some quality fighters, Hatton has stayed away from the boxing ring and ballooned up in weight. Opponents like Juan Manuel Marquez, Amir Khan and Michael Katsidis has been dangled in front of Hatton’s eyes for big money fights, yet he’s shown no interest in stepping back in the ring to put his loss behind him, that is, until now.
In an article at the Manchester Evening News –( menmedia.co.uk, Hatton says “It would have to be a good fight to come back. I’ve always been a scrapper, a fighter. If there was one fight to come back for it would be [Floyd] Mayweather. He’s the one. Even after he beat me, I thought he still showed me no respect. I’d like another pop at him if I had my choice.” The problem for Hatton is that he hasn’t made it easy for Mayweather to want to fight him. Even if Hatton were just fighting 3rd tier opponents nowadays and blowing them out, that would give Mayweather an excuse to fight Hatton.
But with Ricky not fighting, looking really big and overweight, Mayweather would look bad if he chose to fight Hatton now. The chances of Hatton being selected for a fight with Mayweather would be pretty slim unless Mayweather runs out of options. Who knows? Mayweather might go calling on Hatton again if he can’t put together a fight with Pacquiao of once he gets Pacquiao out of the way. However, if Hatton keeps getting bigger, it will be a problem getting him down to a reasonable fighting weight. I doubt Hatton could make 140 again unless he trains for a long time and even then he could end up weaker than he was before.
Hatton was stopped in the 10th round by Mayweather in December 2007, a fight that took place in the United States. The referee that worked their fight, Joe Cortez, didn’t allow Hatton to do all the grabbing, holding and infighting that he was accustomed to doing while fighting in the UK against the likes of Kostya Tszyu. Hatton found himself fighting an almost different sport altogether where his inside game was badly crippled by the constant breaks that Cortez used when Hatton was on the inside. Still, Hatton did a decent job against Mayweather in the first six rounds. However, Hatton was kept on the outside in the 2nd half of the fight and took a pounding until the fight was stopped in the 10th after he was dropped.
Hatton still has no real desire to resume his career as of now, saying “I’m enjoying what I’m doing and I don’t have a desire to come back at the minute. That doesn’t mean I won’t in a few months time. I won’t make a comeback until I’ve got the bit between by teeth and I’m 100 percent again.” Hopefully, Hatton doesn’t wait too long to get his desire for the sport back, because the longer he waits and the bigger he gets, he decreases his chances of success.
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