BoxRec

Looks as if Ricky Hatton won't be fighting till January of next year. He's proposed fight on Dec 9th isn't going to happen.

He should be facing Juan Urango in January for the IBF Light-welter title.
1 fight in a year is no way for Ricky to be advancing his career.

Maybe we can read more into the annoucment by Sports Network that they are discontinuing their legal action against Ricky and Ray Hatton, in SN statement they hoped that this could mean working together again in the future.

If he only fights once this year maybe he fits 3 into next year, Urango in January, Castillo in May/June then who knows maybe a move back up to Welter in Nov/Dec time ??????

Hmm, I wonder whether we might not see Hatton return to working with Warren some time in the not so distant future. I've long suspected that this would happen, and the recent split between Hobson and Waterman would seem to lend fuel to this particular fire.

Hatton and his father said all along that their decision was based entirely on monetary return. If Warren comes with an offer that Hatton cannot refuse, no reason it will not happen again.

Warren and King worked together again not so long ago, despite King taking Warren to the cleaners in court all those years ago, so you can never say never.

I'd say there looks to be a very good chance at Hatton working with SN again after the news that SN have dropped their case against the Hattons.

Much as I hate to admit it Hatton's career has gone to shit since dumping ol Frank.

Hatton is wasting his prime years. And lets be honest a fighter with his style is not going to have that long at his peak. I have a horrible feeling the Tszyu fight was the highest peak of his career and he is going steadily downhill. He has looked less than stellar in his last couple of fights.

It appears the proposed switch to January 6th is so Castillo can box on the undercard and build up a proposed showdown.

I dare say he'd help shift a few more tickets too given the laklustre main event.

This is ridiculous. I'm sorry, but fighting only once-a-year does not bode well for your skills, abilities being sharp etc. Ricky is also notorious for putting on weight when a bout is not coming up. I wonder whether even more weight will be added?

People may think I'm making a big issue about the weight factor, but I honestly feel one day, Ricky may "go to the well" and find there's nothing there!

Hatton camp can say his last bout was really tough, the break will do him good etc, but he's simply not active enough. I like Ricky - he's a likeable, down-to-earth person who does not get ahead of himself etc. I get the impression with Ricky that "what you see is what you get".

However, he's wasting valuable time, time where he's in his prime. He knows himself longevity is not on his side. Also, January 6 is the date scheduled for his next bout. This is incredibly close to the Christmas period & and all the pigging-out etc. Ricky is going to have to make a bug sacrifice ios indeed he does fight in January.

I totally agree with Balboa, it is surprising that Ricky would rather train through xmas and new year rather than fit in another fight in 2006. Its good news that Castillo will be on the undercard though. As added spice, it would be interesting if they matched him with a former Hatton opponent, maybe Maussa or Stewart.

Hatton needs to fight more often just once this year is scandalous he's wasting his best years. A wise move to move down in weight he lost his strength advantage at 147.

He looked enormous on Friday night in Woods' corner.

nickd wrote:He looked enormous on Friday night in Woods' corner.

I second that. Hatton looked bigger than I'vbe ever seen him before. There is no way he weighs around 168lbs now. I just cannot believe that judging by seeing him in Wodds' corner.

Ricky looked massive.

I think I'd favour Castillo over him now. This inactivity will have really hurt Hatton I think. And he has been out of condition for 4 months now since his last fight. Prob wont start camp for January until next month either.

January will only be Hatton's 4th fight in 2 years and that I am afraid is inexcusable.

Hatton is obvioulsy happy with his lot now but he's doing the fans who've lined his pockets a disservice by being so inactive and unprofessional. They want to see the best of Hatton in the ring and they're not getting anything like that for their money at the moment.

Ricky Hatton is officially going to be shot/past prime because of this inactivity imo, a fighter who only trains for fights, blows up to 20-30lbs over his fighting weight, and is reliant on being able to outwork, outspeed his opponents can't train for 12weeks in 1 year. We saw his lack of footwork/head movement against Maussa/Collazo.

I don't know if a past prime Hatton will be beat for a while fighting the likes of Urango/Rabbah/Castillo (yes I dont rate Castillo as A Class at 140) - these are fighters below his level that are made for him imo. But sadly Ricky won't any longer be a threat to the Elite and may be beat by a lesser fighter because of this inactivity.

No way Hatton ever beats PBF now - he had a chance of this if they fought prime2prime.

Phenomenal-Nutrition wrote:Ricky Hatton is officially going to be shot/past prime because of this inactivity imo, a fighter who only trains for fights, blows up to 20-30lbs over his fighting weight, and is reliant on being able to outwork, outspeed his opponents can't train for 12weeks in 1 year. We saw his lack of footwork/head movement against Maussa/Collazo.

I don't know if a past prime Hatton will be beat for a while fighting the likes of Urango/Rabbah/Castillo (yes I dont rate Castillo as A Class at 140) - these are fighters below his level that are made for him imo. But sadly Ricky won't any longer be a threat to the Elite and may be beat by a lesser fighter because of this inactivity.

No way Hatton ever beats PBF now - he had a chance of this if they fought prime2prime.

Oh come on, Hatton never had a chance against Mayweather, ...what has he ever done in his career to how that he could beat Mayweather?... nothing!.... Floyd is in a different class. I think Hatton is really retired now in his mind already, the hunger is gone, and he's basically just hanging around for a few more big paydays. Extremely dissapointing... the next decent fighter that Ricky fights will beat him I think. Will he even be able to comfortably make 140 again?... what a waste of talent!... the mind boggles!!!...

Shouldn't be physically on the decline yet!

Max Molyneux wrote:Shouldn't be physically on the decline yet!

Its possible. He has been out of shape since his last fight in May. That sort of behaviour will speed up his decline and he already looks like he could be slipping.

He had a poor camp for the Collazo fight in comparison to his normal build up though - especially trying to stack on the extra muscle in what amounted to just 6-7 weeks.

He can still do 140 easily and it's something of a myth that he struggles to do so since he's had Kerry Kayes on board.

G-man wrote:He had a poor camp for the Collazo fight in comparison to his normal build up though - especially trying to stack on the extra muscle in what amounted to just 6-7 weeks.

He can still do 140 easily and it's something of a myth that he struggles to do so since he's had Kerry Kayes on board.

Well lets see how he looks in his January fight. He has not looked as good in his last two fights that is for sure. Could be a variety of reasons for that.

What cannot be doubted is Hatton would be better off looking after himself between fights and not doing so will shorten his career considerably.

G-man wrote:He had a poor camp for the Collazo fight in comparison to his normal build up though - especially trying to stack on the extra muscle in what amounted to just 6-7 weeks.

He can still do 140 easily and it's something of a myth that he struggles to do so since he's had Kerry Kayes on board.

Looks like he has Mr Kiplin on board as well by the size of him on Saturday...

silkov wrote:

G-man wrote:He had a poor camp for the Collazo fight in comparison to his normal build up though - especially trying to stack on the extra muscle in what amounted to just 6-7 weeks.

He can still do 140 easily and it's something of a myth that he struggles to do so since he's had Kerry Kayes on board.

Looks like he has Mr Kiplin on board as well by the size of him on Saturday...

He looked terrible for sure.

silkov wrote:

G-man wrote:He had a poor camp for the Collazo fight in comparison to his normal build up though - especially trying to stack on the extra muscle in what amounted to just 6-7 weeks.

He can still do 140 easily and it's something of a myth that he struggles to do so since he's had Kerry Kayes on board.

Looks like he has Mr Kiplin on board as well by the size of him on Saturday...

Well there's not much his team can do when he's not in the gym. It's the way he's always done it.

Will it catch up with him? maybe - maybe not.

G-man wrote:

silkov wrote:

G-man wrote:He had a poor camp for the Collazo fight in comparison to his normal build up though - especially trying to stack on the extra muscle in what amounted to just 6-7 weeks.

He can still do 140 easily and it's something of a myth that he struggles to do so since he's had Kerry Kayes on board.

Looks like he has Mr Kiplin on board as well by the size of him on Saturday...

Well there's not much his team can do when he's not in the gym. It's the way he's always done it.

Will it catch up with him? maybe - maybe not.

Well I don't think it was as bad when he was fighting 3 or 4 times a year. Now he's taking longer between fights and being out of condition longer you'd think it will have more of an affect on him.

nickd wrote:

G-man wrote:

silkov wrote: Looks like he has Mr Kiplin on board as well by the size of him on Saturday...

Well there's not much his team can do when he's not in the gym. It's the way he's always done it.

Will it catch up with him? maybe - maybe not.

Well I don't think it was as bad when he was fighting 3 or 4 times a year. Now he's taking longer between fights and being out of condition longer you'd think it will have more of an affect on him.

Possibly but as long as he does a long enough camp i'm pretty confident he can rid his body of the garbage he puts in inbetween fights. In his defence, there's no-one that trains harder once they're in the gym.

Witter is in the gym all year round and he's gassed down the stretch of all his distance fights - even when it's not been fought at a pace.

Rick should be a few pounds lighter now he's had his hair shaved off . You couldn't really see it on saturday coz he had a cap on.

G-man wrote:

nickd wrote:

G-man wrote: Well there's not much his team can do when he's not in the gym. It's the way he's always done it.

Will it catch up with him? maybe - maybe not.

Well I don't think it was as bad when he was fighting 3 or 4 times a year. Now he's taking longer between fights and being out of condition longer you'd think it will have more of an affect on him.

Possibly but as long as he does a long enough camp i'm pretty confident he can rid his body of the garbage he puts in inbetween fights. In his defence, there's no-one that trains harder once they're in the gym.

Witter is in the gym all year round and he's gassed down the stretch of all his distance fights - even when it's not been fought at a pace.

Rick should be a few pounds lighter now he's had his hair shaved off . You couldn't really see it on saturday coz he had a cap on.

True he has plenty of time to prepare, but there is no doubt Hatton would be coming into fights in a lot better shape and with a bigger reserve of stamina if he was looking after himself and keeping fit between fights. Any fitness guru or trainer would tell you the same, its been proven over time!

nickd wrote:

G-man wrote:

nickd wrote: Well I don't think it was as bad when he was fighting 3 or 4 times a year. Now he's taking longer between fights and being out of condition longer you'd think it will have more of an affect on him.

Possibly but as long as he does a long enough camp i'm pretty confident he can rid his body of the garbage he puts in inbetween fights. In his defence, there's no-one that trains harder once they're in the gym.

Witter is in the gym all year round and he's gassed down the stretch of all his distance fights - even when it's not been fought at a pace.

Rick should be a few pounds lighter now he's had his hair shaved off . You couldn't really see it on saturday coz he had a cap on.

True he has plenty of time to prepare, but there is no doubt Hatton would be coming into fights in a lot better shape and with a bigger reserve of stamina if he was looking after himself and keeping fit between fights. Any fitness guru or trainer would tell you the same, its been proven over time!

I don't disagree and Kerry would tell you the same thing.