By Shaun Brown: I hope I am wrong, as I am a Ricky Hatton fan, but last night I thought I saw signs that the man was on the decline. It was kinda of similar to watching Gatti towards the end of his career. Of course, Hatton has not been in as many wars as the human highlight reel but he seems to me an aging old 29 year-old..
I thought there were parts of his performance that were encouraging, his stamina for one and his work rate. He was always on his toes but he really needs to start listening to Billy Graham. There was absolutely no need to take the risks he did in the later rounds. And as a fighter gets older he must take less risks to prolong his career. At times the way he waded in made me cringe, nothing change I suppose. He did say afterwards that it was the same old Hatton, not doing as he’s told and giving the fans value for money.
That’s all very well Ricky but I’m quite sure that most fans would rather see you win and not get hurt than win and do get hurt. The marks on his face after the fight seemed to indicate that he was in some sort of war, he wasn’t. Most of the fight he controlled and when he stepped on the gas, Juan Lazcano couldn’t handle it. Although it may seem I’m being critical, I thought it was his best performance since he beat Kostya Tszyu.
As a fan, the last thing I want to see is Hatton take a beating from someone. Thankfully, the fight against Malignaggi should not provide that. The Magic Man’s power isn’t there to hurt the Hitman, but if he continues to go in head first the way he did at times last night, a culmination of the New Yorker’s punches will eventually have him in trouble.
Hatton did seem nervous last night as he confirmed afterwards and that’s understandable. The chest infection obviously didn’t help his preparations. But he needs to change his style. The all-action style he has will not see him through his three fight deal with Golden Boy and HBO.
If his training is spot on and he puts in a disciplined, clinical performance against Malignaggi I expect him to win and maybe even stop him. But the risks must stop.
And surely after last night this talk of Mayweather II will come to an end. Fight one of the three fight Golden Boy/HBO deal is obviously with Malignaggi and should he come through that it will be interesting to see who will be next on the hitlist or if Hatton continues fighting.
Timothy Bradley springs to mind as a fight in early 09 but he’s not the household name that Richard Schaefer would be interested in. And I expect the money men will be looking at the fighters stepping up from lightweight by then. Manny Pacquiao, Juan Diaz, Juan Manuel Marquez and Michael Katsidis would be fantastic marquee fights.
I just wonder if Hatton will still be fighting this time next year.