By Scott Gilfoid: Well, it didn’t take Ricky Hatton (45-3, 32 KO’s) very long to think about retirement after being stopped in the 9th round tonight by a beautiful picturesque left hook to the midsection by Vyacheslav Senchenko (33-1, 22 KO’s) in Manchester.

Hatton had said after the fight that he was going to think about whether to retire or not because he didn’t want to make any “Hasty decisions.” It looks like Hatton didn’t have to think too hard because Sky Sports News is reporting that Hatton just announced his retirement from boxing.

I think Hatton should have at least waited to see how he looked in watching the replay of the fight before he went an announced his retirement. That’s what I would have done.

Hatton didn’t have it tonight. He won some rounds but they were all close rounds with him missing like crazy with his shots. But once Senchenko took over the fight in the 6th, the rounds weren’t close because we was really tagging Hatton in the head left and right.

I figured that Senchenko would shoot for a knockout going into the 9th round just to be safe. After all, he was in Hatton’s home city and I doubt he was willing to take a chance of getting jobbed. In the 9th, Senchenko hit Hatton with a sneaky left hand to the midsection that Hatton didn’t look ready for. Senchenko had started going to the body in the 8th with fast shots, but this shot was different. It had a lot more on it and Hatton wasn’t ready for it.

I guess it’s for the best Hatton retiring. I mean, if Hatton can’t even beat Senchenko then he really needs to retire because there’s a heck of a lot better fighters in the welterweight division than Senchenko.

What a pity, but talk about setting yourself up for failure. I can’t think of a worse way to make comeback after 3 1/2 years out of the sport than what Hatton did. Instead of taking a series of easy tune-up fights to sharpen up his skills and to see where he’s at skills-wise, Hatton impetuously rushes into a fight against one of the best welterweights in the division in Senchenko.

To compound his problems, Hatton had just lost 70 pounds of excess weight. Why would Hatton go into a tough fight after 3 1/2 years off from boxing and after losing a mess of weight like that? Hatton needed someone to tell him straight that was an insane idea. I’m sure someone must have told Hatton not to do this, don’t you think?