Ricky Hatton comeback announced

Propane Nightmare

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/boxing/19565377

Lots of reports circulating around at the moment.

Former two-weight world champion Ricky Hatton is expected to announce his boxing comeback on Friday. Hatton, 33, has not fought since suffering a second-round knockout by Manny Pacquiao in May 2009.

The Manchester-based former light-welterweight and welterweight champion formally retired last year and now runs his own promotions company.

But he has called a news conference for Friday and says he will make a "major announcement".

I really hope he doesn't return, his best days are well behind him, not worth the risk of brain damage for a pay day.

Syferus

Who is there left to fight? The likes of Bradley don't fill the mind with joy. Always like Hatton and I appreciated he had the balls to take on the best - twice - and risk losing rather than playing it safe and protecting a record.

corny

Syferus wrote: »

Who is there left to fight? The likes of Bradley don't fill the mind with joy. Always like Hatton and I appreciated he had the balls to take on the best - twice - and risk losing rather than playing it safe and protecting a record.

Hardly something to whet the appetite but wasn't there talk of another Malinaggi fight.

Larsso30

I was always of the opinion Id like him to stay retired, I was a huge fan and didnt wanna see him beat by someone who wouldnt of deserved to share a ring with him in his prime. But now **** it, im excited hes coming back!

carltonleon

I think he would be better off staying in retirement. He was on his way down in his last couple of fights and a 2/3 year layoff is not going to reverse that

getuponthis

Obviously realised he couldn't afford his coke habit anymore!

super_furry

Syferus wrote: »

Who is there left to fight? The likes of Bradley don't fill the mind with joy. Always like Hatton and I appreciated he had the balls to take on the best - twice - and risk losing rather than playing it safe and protecting a record.

Might be a bit of a generalisation by I don't think the Hatton fans care. They're there for the night out, the beer and to see Ricky win.

andrew241983

getuponthis wrote: »

Obviously realised he couldn't afford his coke habit anymore!

FANTAPANTS

i think he is/was a great fighter and not afraid to ix it with the big timers but i think he should stay retired it could be to risky coming back

xtal191

Could fight Khan

boxer.fan

I reckon that since both Khan & Hatton have both lost their last couple of fights, they see an opportunity to make some big bucks in the UK, since the USA will no longer be bothered with them. They will more than likely have a few "hype up" bouts before challenging each other & marketing it as the biggest british boxing fight of all time.
Cant blame them really, The opportunity is there for the taking. I know I would be watching it.

coronaextra

super_furry wrote: »

Might be a bit of a generalisation by I don't think the Hatton fans care. They're there for the night out, the beer and to see Ricky win.

:rolleyes: This!

Whos going to Manchester in November?

(I presume this fight will be in Manchester???)


Dont think its the right decision for him come back, theres not much left for him out there (bar a few paydays) but Im looking forward to it. Always had a lot of respect for Ricky.

djhaxman

He's only 33. I still think Hatton could beat the feather fisted Malignaggi again if given a shot at him.

Good luck to him if he wants to give it another go.

Frankie Lee

Would it even be possible for him to get his weight down again?

blaze1

Hope he does make a comeback, he might not get the same draw in the US but he'd still rake in the biggest crowd by a longshot in the England.

barney4001

xtal191 wrote: »

Could fight Khan

not a bad idea there was talk of it before that came to nothing

Kev M

I'd like to see him stay retired but that being said I'd definitely tune in to his fights still. 2 or 3 tune-ups first then Khan or even by that stage maybe Kell Brook could be interesting. If he comes back anywhere close to his best I think he would have the beating of top guys like Canelo and Lopez who are on this weekend, but that's a big if.

colly10

I can't see Hatton having anything to offer at this stage. They were hailing a win against Mallignaggi as being a turn around for him and that was a long time ago. It's years since he's shown anything as a fighter and he doesn't treat his body well so could only have declined.

He should stay retired

Just An Opinion

Frankie Lee wrote: »

Would it even be possible for him to get his weight down again?

He has already lost 3 stone, he wouldn't be far from fighting weight now.

FANTAPANTS

hatton would easily beat khan or brook but its the big boys after that i would be afraid of him getting hurt...Dont want to see a great boxer getting hurt beyond repair and it will happen if he ventures outta europe:mad::mad:

corny

FANTAPANTS wrote: »

hatton would easily beat khan or brook but its the big boys after that i would be afraid of him getting hurt...Dont want to see a great boxer getting hurt beyond repair and it will happen if he ventures outta europe:mad::mad:

I don't think he wants the big boys though. This is a money making exercise not an attempt to assuage the torment of the brutal defeats he suffered. At the time, he held his hands up and said these guys are better than me. I doubt he thinks after 3 years of letting himself go that he's suddenly become a more capable fighter.

He'll run though featherfists, then pick off a few nice earners. I'd actually love to see him fight Khan.

Boardwalker100

Hatton V Khan!! It'd have my attention anyway!! And I'd be backing him all the way. I'm sure if he's back in shape it could be done!

ebbsy

My own prediction is that he will first fight a stooge, and then move on to fight Khan, purely for financial reasons.

As regards that fight I think Khan would stop him in the middle rounds.

Larsso30

Khan hasnt stopped **** at world level, he cant fight on the inside where Ricky will take the fight and he has a china chin, yes he has lighting fast hands but not always overly accurate and doesnt know how to stay on the outside. If Danny Garcia or Lamont Peterson can beat Khan, ive no doubt and past prime Ricky Hatton can still beat him.

keane2097

Anywhere to see a video of the press conference? Or even pics of what sort of shape he's in at this moment?

nacho libre

"I got back into promoting, which I loved, but it didn't quite fill the void. I got a huge buzz getting opportunities for my fighters and I was in the gym every day of the week passing on the knowledge, but it didn't fill the gap."


I really hope it works out for him, but i fear the worst if he loses comprehensively again and is left demoralised. Bear in mind he has stated he contemplated committing suicide after his last loss.

Larsso30

keane2097 wrote: »

Anywhere to see a video of the press conference? Or even pics of what sort of shape he's in at this moment?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m8gnMYD6vs&feature=player_embedded

In terrific shape by looks of things and recent tweets.

pancho84

Looking forward to his return, Im half thinking of booking tickets and going over, anyone thinking similar

Larsso30

10 thousand tickets sold already.

Still the biggest draw in boxing this side of the Atlantic without a shadow of a doubt.

boxer.fan

Larsso30 wrote: »

10 thousand tickets sold already.

Still the biggest draw in boxing this side of the Atlantic without a shadow of a doubt.

Like i mentioned earlier, Hatton - Khan would/will be the biggest british boxing bout of all time.

Dirk Gently

Frankie Lee wrote: »

Would it even be possible for him to get his weight down again?

he was only in shape for fights tbh, he had a tendency to whack the weight on between fights and get fit again coming up to the fight. He looks like he's fit again judging by his press conference.

Syferus

I will watch anyways, I just hope it proves to be a fitting swansong for a great fighter rather than a pale shadow of what went before. The Kahn fight does sound like an interesting porospect in all honesty.

Larsso30

boxer.fan wrote: »

Like i mentioned earlier, Hatton - Khan would/will be the biggest british boxing bout of all time.

I dont think, Khan has no where near the popularity in the UK that some would have you believe.

Ricky is huge draw, but Khan is no Benn/Eubank.

I mean, there Benn v Eubank was HUGE bigger than Amir Khan will ever be in England.

ebbsy

Colin Hart was very up front about this, said Ricky had nothing left in the tank mentally, Bernard Dunne has also refused to jump on the Hatton bandwagon and wondered where all this is going.

Ricky would need a few warm up fights and if they were against tomato cans that would be no prep for bigger fights, which in my view he has a less than 50% chance of winning.

Good boxer in his day though.

megadodge

Firstly, I always liked Ricky Hatton, I liked his style, I liked his personality and was there in the MEN the night he beat Tzsyu.

Having said that, I think this comeback is a bad idea. He will doubtlessly be matched easily for 2-3 fights, then what? It's almost inevitable that a match with Khan will be demanded by the public and with the money it would earn it's understandable that he'd take it - and get hammered!!

Khan is exactly what Ricky at this stage doesn't need. I doubt it would even last 4-5 rounds before Ricky is pulled out / stopped. Khan will be just too fast for him and Ricky will walk into a hell of a lot of sharp, accurate punches and probably be cut and marked up pretty quickly. Obviously there is the chance of landing on Khan's iffy chin, but I think he'll have huge problems getting close. In his prime it would have made a perfect blend of styles, but in 2013/2014 I don't think so. His style of fighting and his lifestyle outside the ring don't lend themselves to a long career and he did well to last as long as he did, but now after 3 years of added weight, boozing, cocaine etc. he's hardly going to be any better.

Brook would also beat him, but it might take longer.

walshb

Mega nailed it. Little else to add. That lifestyle and 3 years of inactivity make for a bad show IMO. At least when he was ballooning up during fights he was still an active boxer. Now he has been off for 3 plus years and been ballooning up in weight, and god knows what else! Even if matched against less than the best could still see him really struggle. Any half decent active PRO could really cause him problems.

walshb

Boardwalker100 wrote: »

Hatton V Khan!! It'd have my attention anyway!! And I'd be backing him all the way. I'm sure if he's back in shape it could be done!

Back in aesthetic shape and back in prime boxing shape are very different scenarios. Ricky may well make weight and look good, but he cannot expect to be all that close to the 2005-2009 era. It's a road far too far. They guy has been known to have treated his body fairly poorly for the past few years when retired.

I am a little confused reading some posts here thinking that "if he's back in shape he can beat Canelo?" That to me is just an insane view.

Wait for it. Hatton and his team will see how his training, and most importantly his sparring fare out. If he cannot do it I think a comeback could be called off. Nobody knows how far into his training preparation he has come, but the real indicator will be his sparring.

rebelomar

Not sure how this comeback is going to fare out...having one or two warm up fights before targeting Paulie wouldn't be the worst plan in the world. Def stay away from any kind of puncher for the time being! The man sells tickets and its always good to see Ricky Hatton..great personality!!

getz

i notice in the local [manchester news] that ricky has just had his first fight[his dad] was arrested after attacking him out side his gym at the weekend

walshb

getz wrote: »

i notice in the local [manchester news] that ricky has just had his first fight[his dad] was arrested after attacking him out side his gym at the weekend

Just read up on this. I never knew that they had fallen out a couple of years ago. Very sad that. Father and son who were close, it seems, are now at loggerheads. It must put a real strain on the whole family. Ricky's children, his mother and brother, and other close relatives. Far from an ideal situation when plotting a comeback.