Across the Pond with Richard Fletcher

By:  | Posted: Monday, May 26th, 2008 at 9:33 am.

THE depths of the human spirit are boundless. A fighter’s reserves, though, are draining away slowly from the moment he first steps into the ring.

Ricky Hatton looked to be running close to empty at times during his punishing homecoming victory over Juan Lazcano in Manchester on Saturday night.

A British record crowd of 56,000 saw Hatton pound out a wide unanimous decision over Lazcano in his first fight since crumbling at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr in Las Vegas last December.

But the bare numbers only tell half the story of Hatton’s return. Hatton fought with his usual fire and passion but his camp will have been alarmed by the amount of punches he took in return.

Hatton says that’s just the way he fights and the reason he is such a huge attraction. But it’s also a recipe for a shortened career ― and Hatton’s is already nearing its end.

In his youth, Hatton had a great boxing brain and could avoid most of the punches that came his way before delivering his own. But against Lazcano, he resorted to charging straight ahead and got caught with counters time and again.

In the eighth and tenth rounds, the alarm bells rang loudly for Hatton when Lazcano had him wobbling badly from big left hooks. Had Hatton been in with a bigger puncher, the consequences could have been far more serious.

It brought back memories of Hatton’s desperate struggle against Luis Collazo in Boston two years ago, when he was reeling all over the ring in the last round but held on to win.

Hatton did the same here, prevailing by scores of 120-110, 118-110 and 120-108. But the general consensus was that Hatton had made the fight a lot harder than it should have been. The bruises of battle showed that, with Hatton’s face reddened and his right eye swollen from underneath.

Steve Bunce, the renowned British boxing writer and pundit, said in his summing up on BBC radio that “the jury is still out” on Hatton’s future. Bunce said Hatton’s gung-ho performance might have been his way of getting the Mayweather defeat out of his system, and that he would come back a better fighter.

But Hatton turns 30 in October and has already been in a lot of hard fights, including the war with Kostya Tszyu three years ago ― definitely his greatest night ― and the emotionally draining defeat by Mayweather.

In some ways, Hatton’s showing was understandable. He was coming back from his first loss and desperate to make a statement in front of a huge partisan crowd, who were eager to see their favourite son rekindle the old fire.

But, as so often happens on these occasions, Hatton tried too hard. Instead of applying what his trainer Billy Graham likes to call “educated pressure”, Hatton lunged in, didn’t move his head and was nailed repeatedly by Lazcano’s sharp replies.

The worrying thing was that Hatton was back in his strongest weight division, and struggling against an opponent who was naturally smaller. Lazcano, four years older at 33, had fought the majority of his career as a lightweight and was having his first fight for 15 months.

But Hatton kept the punches coming throughout the 12 rounds and showed his heart and desire were still in tact as he ground out his 44th win in 45 fights , his 17th in Manchester.

Hatton can now regroup before his next fight in November, a probable collision with Paulie Malignaggi, the flamboyant New Yorker, who was unimpressive in scraping by the veteran Lovemore N’dou to retain his IBF title on the undercard.

That’s a winnable fight for Hatton and one that should help restore his credibility in America, where he is under contract to Golden Boy Promotions for another two fights.

But I think Hatton now has to forget all about a rematch with Mayweather. Although the fight would still generate enormous revenue, particularly in the UK, Hatton must know himself he has virtually no chance of winning, and even risks humiliation.

There are other money fights out there that Hatton could do well in. One is a possible meeting with the Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao, which has already been tentatively discussed by the fighters’ respective camps and HBO. The bout hinges on the outcome of Pacquiao’s next fight on June 28, when he steps up to challenge David Diaz for the WBC lightweight title.

But Hatton will have to be a bit less cavalier if he hopes to extend his career beyond even the next 12 months, which might be all the time he has left.

CATEGORIES:Boxing