Reports surfaced late last night that Ricky Hatton has decided he will not return to the ring. It appears that the 31-year-old Mancunian’s career was ended by the devastating knockout enacted upon him by Manny Pacquiao in a Las Vegas ring in May 2009.
Pacquiao also ended the career of Oscar de la Hoya, meting out brutal punishment on the former multiple-world champion.
Pacquiao effectively ended Hatton’s career, crushing the British fighter with flurries of heavy, unanswered punches, the fight ending in the second round. It appears that Hatton took the decision last weekend on a stag party in Tenerife, telling close friends he “no longer has the appetite to get into a ring and fight again”.
Hatton is believed to weigh around 14st, over 50lbs more than his fighting weight of 140lbs, light-welterweight. There will be much relief around his friends and family if it is the case. Hatton’s ring prowess appeared to have diminished in his last fight. In a 47-fight career, in which he was a world champion in two weight divisions, Hatton lost only to the two outstanding fighters of the generation, Floyd Mayweather and Pacquiao, in the same ring at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
There had been partial announcements that Hatton was back in the gym, and that he was talking about fighting again in June.
In spite of the news, reports from Mexico yesterday were still suggesting Hatton would “love” his comeback fight to be against Juan Manuel Marquez. That had come from the head of the Mexican’s promotion company.
Marquez was not keen on a contest with Amir Khan being discussed last month after his trainer said that the 36-year-old was being used as a stepping stone in Khan’s bid to raise his profile in America.
Marquez’s advisers were suggesting that a fight with Hatton was being discussed for later this year, yet in the UK, it was reported that the British boxer-turned-promoter will announce at some point in the next week that his fighting career in over. There will be sighs of relief all round. Right decision, right time, for the hugely popular folk hero whose estimated earnings in the ring verge on 40 million pounds.
Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk
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