Ricky Hatton says he’s open to an exhibition match against Floyd Mayweather Jr after he faces Marco Antonio Barrera on Saturday night in Manchester.
Hatton has trimmed off a huge amount of weight, and he almost looks like his old self. With the way Hatton looked at the weigh-in on Friday, he’d give Mayweather huge problems in an exhibition. Floyd has lost a lot of hand and foot speed due to his age, and he’d be vulnerable against Hatton’s body attacks.
It’s questionable whether the 45-year-old Mayweather would agree to fight Hatton again because Floyd is focused on safe exhibition matches against popular YouTubers. There’s a lot of easy money for Mayweather to make against these novices, and a lot of their followers on social media are willing to pay to see these events.
The 44-year-old Hatton (45-3, 32 KOs) lost to Mayweather by a tenth round knockout in December 2007 at the beginning of the end of his career. Although the fight was competitive, Mayweather took advantage of the referee not allowing Hatton to work on the inside and ran away with it in the second half.
“It’s been good for me physically and good for me mentally. It’s given me a lifestyle change. I realize that at 44 years of age. If I had a phone call from Floyd Mayweather or anyone for that matter, I’d be a fool not to look at it because look at it’s done for me physically and mentally,” said Ricky Hatton to talkSPORT Boxing when asked if he’d be interested in a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“If Floyd Mayweather called me on the phone, I’d be an idiot not to look at it, but like I said, in this exhibition format, I’m all for it. My best days are behind me. But in an exhibition to move around with Floyd Mayweather again? Absolutely, yeah.
“It’s going to be an emotional night for me on Saturday, but everyone is in for a treat,” said Hatton about his exhibition with 48-year-old Marco Antonio Barrera.
“He’s been my friend for a lot of years. I walked him into the ring in Las Vegas for one of his fights when I boxed Jose Luis Castillo. Marco walked me into the ring for Jose Luis Castillo.
“I said, ‘Marco, won’t you get a bit of stick from your fellow countrymen?’ He said, ‘No, no, no. You’re my brother.’ It’s going to be ironic. We’re going to be sharing the ring on Saturday. He’s a great fighter.
“He had all those fights with Erik Morales, outboxed Naseem Hamed, and sort of ended Naseem’s career. He was a fantastic talent, a legend, and a hero of mine.
“So I’m going to have to be on my toes. We’re still former champions, and we’re still professionals and have pride. We have the crowd there. He’s not going to want to come to Manchester and have me box his ears off,” said Hatton about Barrera.
