By Jeff Zimmerman
After a stellar career with a record of 45-3, 32 KOs, Manchester’s own Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of hall of fame weekend June 6-9 in Canastota, NY, along with former world champs Michael Moorer, Ivan Calderon and Diego Corrales, trainer Kenny Adams and boxing manager Jackie Kallen. Hatton talked about his career defining win against Kostya Tszyu for his first world title at home in Manchester as well as mega fights in Las Vegas against Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao and the love for his fans that followed him across the Atlantic. He also opened up about his personal struggles through his career especially after his loss to Mayweather. Hatton also weighed in on the Garcia-Haney PED controversy, thoughts on a Fury-Usyk rematch and a possible Fury-Joshua all British showdown. He also had high praise for Tim Tszyu, son of hall of famer Kostya Tszyu, who has a big fight this summer versus Vergil Ortiz Jr and gave his assessment of Jake Paul matchup versus the legend, “Iron Mike” Tyson.
Brilliant boxing record for Ricky. No shame in being beaten by Floyd.
Always thought he was overrated
Definitely not overrated! He may not have been the flashiest of boxers and liked to bang a bit too much but he had solid skills, underrated speed, and was extremely strong. I remember him squatting like a thousand pounds in a training session.
His biggest problem was drinking and eating and blowing way up in weight between bouts. His record could have been even better if he had been more disciplined.
But he has some very good wins on his resume’ including Kostya Tszyu and jose luis castillo.
And 2 of his 3 losses were against p4p elite fighters, there’s no shame in losing to them.
His fanbase was incredible as well, they traveled everywhere and sang the entire time during his fights, it was truly a spectacle to behold. I had never seen anything like it before or since, they would even pack the weigh in and sing.
I’d say he clearly had a hall of fame career. Congrats to the hitman on getting in the hall!
“ There’s only one Ricky Hatton….”
What got me was he supposed to be the slugger and he gets knocked out by a boxer? didn’t sit well with me, plus a one punch ko , nah.
The guy pressing forward actually takes more risks in a fight. I have made tons of money betting on the boxer over the puncher.
If you’re a highly skilled counter puncher like Floyd it’s smarter and safer to sit back and let your opponent take the lead so you can counter his mistakes. If memory serves me correctly Floyd caught him with a beautiful check hook as hatton got over aggressive. It was a great shot that ricky didn’t see.
As for pacquiao, it was actually Freddie Roach who came up with the strategy to throw the right hand every time Ricky cocked the left hook. They practiced that in training for the fight. Just amazing insight and game plan from Freddie and incredible speed and timing from Pacquiao to follow through on the instructions perfectly.
Again, how does this make Ricky overrated? He was the underdog in both bouts for a reason.. So i think he was rated perfectly, not over or under rated,
Great fighter, hall worthy. I suppose you think Kostya Tszyu was overrated too since he lost to ricky.
He definitely was. His fame was built on beating and old washed up Tzyu, who hadn’t fight in over 2 years, and was about to retire. Most of his earlier fights were against jr.lightweights and lightweights who moved up. He found all type of excuses to avoid Junior Witter, even before the Tzyu fight. look at Hatton’s record and you will find the only 3 elite fighters are Mayweather, Pac. and a semi- retired Tzyu. I will Credit him with being the greatest at excuses, even that is hanging on a thread, Fury is competing for that clown.
Don’t remember Tszyu being old at the time he fought Hatton-he was dominating everyone then and was a big favorite.
Well deserved. His only 2 losses in his prime were to ultimate all time greats. He dared to be great.
Great interview and wonderful person. UK fighters like Hamed and Hatton largely paved the way for other international stars like Tyson Fury and GGG to expereince huge success in the US market. That, conflated with Hatton’s accomplishments as a fighter, make him deserving of the IBHOF nod. Gret work, Ricky!
To this day, I remembered Hatton’s fans, and the BIG TIME noise they brought during Hatton’s fights at home. I always shook my head but smiled at the same time.
I remember watching that fight against tzyu. I remember this fight catapulted him to stardom. Much earned accomplishment.