British boxing legends John Conteh and Henry Cooper both believe that Ricky Hatton should retire from the sport.
Hatton was knocked out by Manny Pacquiao in the second round of their light-welterweight clash in Las Vegas last weekend, resulting in numerous calls for the popular Mancunian, 30, to hang up his gloves.
Certainly, former light-heavyweight champion Conteh believes that after twice failing to become the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world (Hatton was stopped by former number one Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2007), The Hitman should walk away.
?I?d like to see Ricky retire. I don?t see any point in continuing. He?s fought the greatest fighters out there, there?s nowhere else for him to go,? the Liverpudlian reasoned.
?He?s a wealthy man. He succeeded: he established financial security for himself and his family, so well done to him.?
And former heavyweight contender Cooper is also of the opinion that Hatton should bring the curtain down on what has been a hugely successful career.
However, the 75-year-old Londoner believes that Hatton could have dethroned Pacquiao as boxing?s number one had he not decided to link up with outspoken trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr.
“I don’t understand this modern obsession with having American trainers, and Hatton is the latest to fall for for it,” Cooper argued.
“And where did it get him against Manny Pacquiao, apart from flat on his back?
“Now I’m afraid Ricky will have to retire because he’s got nowhere left to go. But he’s probably got ?20million in the bank. How much more do you need in your pension fund?”
Cooper also had strong words of advice for another current British boxing star, namely David Haye.
The Hayemaker will challenge Wladimir Klitschko for his WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles on June 20 in Berlin, live on Setanta Sports.
The bout has developed into something of a grudge match, with Haye causing uproar within the Klitschko camp by recently donning a t-shirt depicting him holding aloft the decapitated heads of Wladimir and his brother, Vitali, who holds the WBC title.
Such antics are unnecessary and have no place in boxing, according to Cooper.
“Instead of all that showboating nonsense, Haye should prove how good he is by doing the business in the ring,” he is quoted as saying by The Mirror.
“If he gives Klitschko a good belting, then he can shout it from the rooftops.
“But boxing has enough critics without heavyweight title contenders walking around in T-shirts with pictures of their opponent’s head cut off. Where’s the noble art in all that?
“You don’t have to like your opponent or hold hands with him, but too much respect has gone out of the game.
“When I did head-to-head press conferences before a fight, I never wanted to sit near the guy I was supposed to be punching in the mush a couple of days later.
?I was always more comfortable if he was at one end of the room and I was at the other, partly because I didn’t want to talk to him and discover he was actually a decent lad in case it softened my whole mindset.
“But eyeballing your rival to wind him up? Muhammad Ali started all that, but at least he did it with a twinkle in his eye. And he never bothered with decapitated heads.”
