By Martin ‘The Brain’ Potter of the boxing clever podcast – Boxing is not a tickling contest. This is a phrase that Ricky Hatton has used a few times in his career, with the serious meaning behind the jokey statement being that once two fighters lay hands on each other in the ring, it is with the intention of causing pain as opposed to laughter. With this is mind and with Hatton having recently renewed his boxing licence the question to be asked is; Is Manchester’s affable hitman really ready to rejoin the toughest sport of all?
The obvious, most common and probably logical answer is that Hatton is a shot fighter. When most people arrive at this conclusion they point to the compelling and some would say decisive evidence of Ricky’s last fight, the devastating defeat at the hands of pound for pound great Manny Pacquiao. Hatton, it could be said, was blown away like a straw shack in the face of the hurricane of hurt that was hurled at him by the whirling fists of the Philippine sensation. I sat there in the immediate aftermath of the fight, with Ricky lying stricken on the canvas, and along with friends who were viewing the fight with me was seriously worried for the safety of the hitman. However despite the admittedly brutal defeat that he suffered, I think it is perhaps a bit premature to say Hatton is completely finished as a decent level fighter..
Let’s look at that fight and Ricky’s standing as a current fighter in a different way. Hatton was only having his second fight under Floyd Mayweather Snr against Pacquiao and reports that have emerged suggest that all was not well in the training camp leading up to the fight. Ricky did no southpaw padwork and Mr Mayweather was repeatedly late, which was evidenced in the 24/7 series when, despite being already late, Floyd decided to stop off for breakfast in a drive-through – great work from the self titled ‘greatest trainer in the world’…. Alongside the training camp problems Ricky was caught cold and hard in the opening round of the fight, going down heavily twice. Hatton never really recovered, went out swinging in the second and then got caught with the monstrous shot that knocked him clean out.
Many great fighters have been caught cold and early over the years and have come back to have success in subsequent contests. It happened to Frazier against Foreman, it happened twice to Lennox Lewis and even Pacquiao himself was KO’d early in his career. Notwithstanding these observations, I am not for one minute suggesting that Hatton could or would have won the fight – Manny is just too good for him, but one bad defeat (against the best fighter on the planet at that time) doesn’t make Hatton a shot fighter overnight.
Those strongly opposing Hatton’s comeback would also point to the Mayweather defeat, but like the defeat against Manny, he was fighting the best fighter in the world at the time. In short, Hatton’s only defeats have come against the two best fighters in the world and two of the best fighters of the past decade pound for pound, so they can hardly be seen as a death knell for his career. Let’s not forgot that in the fight prior to Pacquiao, Hatton was the first man to stop two time world champion Pauli Malinaggi (OK, not a huge achievement but still..) and prior to Mayweather, Ricky had never been defeated.
My biggest concern for Ricky is his close relationship with his old pal ‘Mr Guinness’ and in his hiatus from the ring they appear to have advanced from friendship to going steady, with the result being that Hatton no longer needs the fat-suit he famously wore during one of ring entrances. However Ricky has shed the pounds previously and if he really applies himself then he could do it again (or am I being a tad optimistic?!?)
Admittedly the thirty plus version of Hatton has slowed and is somewhat easier to tag, but I don’t believe we will really know if Ricky Hatton is a completely shot fighter unless he gets back in the ring. I don’t think Hatton will ever reach the heights of that memorable night against Kostya Tzysu again, but surely even a slightly faded Hatton could compete against good fighters like Casamayor or Andres Kotelnik and maybe he could even nick another world belt. Let’s not forget that Cotto managed it and the nature of his defeats to Margarito (the real ‘hands of stone) and Pacquiao were no less brutal than those suffered by Hatton.
The hitman fired blanks in his biggest tests against Mayweather and Pacquiao but he might just have enough firepower left to shoot for glory one last time….although that could spell trouble for the takings of Manchester’s bar owners!
To hear more from the brain, tune in to the boxing clever podcast, available on i tunes or at www.boxingclever.libsyn.com