Malignaggi loses chance for big money Hatton rematch

By ESB - 11/26/2012 - Comments

Malignaggi loses chance for big money Hatton rematchBy Michael Collins: There’s no question that Ricky Hatton (45-3, 32 KO’s) is feeling pretty bad right about now after being stopped in the 9th round last Saturday night by former WBA World welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko (33-1, 22 KO’s) in front of his own fans in Manchester, England. That had to be painful experience for Hatton in more ways that one.

However, one person who was probably hurt even more by Hatton’s loss is WBA 147 lb champion Paulie Malignaggi, who was hoping to give Hatton a chance at his title in a rematch. This was going to be a big money fight for Malignaggi and the money that he could have gotten for that fight would have likely set him up for life. Now that opportunity is gone due to Hatton losing to Senchenko and then immediately retiring rather than choosing to try and learn something from the defeat.

If Malignaggi still wants the fight with Hatton he’s going to have to try and convince him to still make the fight, although I don’t see there being much interest in the fight outside of the UK and the hardcore boxing community. Malignaggi wouldn’t be able to have his WBA title on the line, and the fight would be like an exhibition bout rather than a real fight.

Malignaggi was interviewed after the fight by Primetime and said “Senchenko fought a great fight tonight, and mainly didn’t come apart. This was a tough crowd to be in front of. He took some good shots from Ricky, and the entire time he kept his composure. It never looked like he was going to quit on himself. He stayed with it, he started to grind his way back into the fight and ultimately he landed a great body shot. So you’ve got to give Senchenko some credit. Hatton was trying to beat him up, rough him up in the trenches. You saw with Hatton how he was holding him down with one hand and uppercutting him with the other. Senchenko stuck with it.”