By Terence Dooley
Ricky Hatton dropped the strongest hint yet, regarding his return to boxing following his two-round knockout loss at the hands of Manny Pacquiao in May. Speaking to the Portsmouth paper The News, Hatton claimed that he might take the lead from his friend Tony Oakey, and try to rebound from a big defeat.
Oakey was stopped By Dean Francis last year, he also lost a decision to Nathan Cleverly, both contests were for the British title, despite these setbacks Oakey has regrouped, he won the light-heavyweight Prizefighter tournament, and is set to take on Shon Davies this weekend at Portsmouth’s Mountbatten Centre.
Hatton, who promotes the bill, said. “After the Nathan Cleverly loss, Tony found himself in the same position I find myself in now. I had a bad defeat and was thinking ‘Have I had too many fights? Have I had enough?’ But Tony looked better than ever in winning the Prizefighter [tournament] and was supremely confident in his interviews. In the end he absolutely walked it.”
Hatton then gave a clear hint over his own future. “I've not made a decision on my future yet,” he said. “But if there is any inspiration I can take, it's from what Tony did. Everyone thought it was over for him, but he's come back. Maybe I should look at that and think ‘My career is not over yet’.”
Hatton won world titles across two weights, defeated a modern great in Kostya Tszyu, and twice took on the best fighters in the world, falling short against Floyd Mayweather and Pacquiao. If he does decide to continue it will be a huge shot in the arm for the British boxing scene, which has seen Setanta fold, Haye pull out of a world title fight, and Amir Khan have to wait a bit longer for his WBA world title fight against Andreas Kotelnik.
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