His Manny Pacquiao fight plan, or lack of same, was a total disaster.
But now Ricky Hatton is boxing clever as to his future fistic plans and we now know know that Ricky Hatton, fresh out of a hospital stay, does not have laryngitis.
The popular British fighter told Sky Sports that he is not interested in returning to the ring to fight newly crowned world champion and UK neighbor Amir Khan.
But Hatton’s “no” was carefully parsed. What Hatton actually said was not now meaning that he realizes that Khan has not risen to such a stature that they both can make a huge paynight by squaring off.
That’s a smart move by Hatton because he is only 30 and the purse he would get for a bout now with Kid Khan is a mere bag of shells compared to what it could be down the line.
So it looks like a stalemate for now, promoter Frank Warren having staked out his position that Hatton is damaged goods and that a comeback could hurt him and boxing and now we have Hatton’s reply.
I will also give Hatton brain points for not swallowing Warren’s incendiary bait.
Instead, Hatton’s reponse was cool and measured. It was so smooth that I thought vneerable Daily Mail sports pundit and fight expert Lord Jeff Powell penned it
The bad blood between Hatton and his former promoter still flows but I doubt it will impede the eventual Battle Of Britain.
At age 30, and with his pockets full of pound notes, Hatton can sit on the sidelines and watch Khan mature and grow in importance.
One disquieting note is the assertion by Team Klitschko, in a broadside directed at English heavyweight mouth David Haye, that the Khan-Andrea Kotelnik WBA title bout only did 30,000 buys on Sky.
I am hoping, for the sport’s stake, that that is a mistake or a typo but I fear it’s not. Who the hell outside of 12 boxing nut jobs ever heard of Kotelnik?
Khan, super middleweight champ Carl Froch and possibly Haye have much to do if they are to restore the glory years to the UK fight scene.
