By Jim Cawkwell

Photo by Mary Ann Owen/FightWireImages.com

 

The fighting spirit of Ricky Hatton is conspicuous amongst many other championship level fighters in that it drives him to satisfy the paying public’s appetite for a real fight. His understanding is that the fans - as he continues to refer to himself - demand and deserve action. That he approaches his fights with the desire to fulfill those wishes separates him from fighters of similar status that are as yet still content to find a way to win that leaves them safe in their own skin.

 

Hatton’s eye for the genuine spectacle is realized not by his ability to deliver swift stoppages, but by an honest, grueling work-rate to which opponents first adjust then despair of as he appears in the eleventh and twelfth rounds still with boundless energy, ready to further diminish them in body and spirit.

 

But despite the success and esteemed reputation his ethics have brought, Hatton knows all too well the necessity of winning at the expense of performing to expectations.

 

Though Hatton’s twentieth contest seems far away, it was the one in which he learned one of his most valuable lessons. An early attempt at acclimatization to fighting in America found him in Detroit against Gilbert Quiros - a Costa Rican average in both achievement and reputation.

 

However, Quiros - the self-proclaimed “Animal” - towered over Hatton and began the work of justifying his nickname by savaging the Briton with punches; tearing his face into a bloody mess. The cut would not be the last Hatton would have to overcome, but at that moment, it threatened to cause a major interruption to his promising young career.

 

Given no more than another three minutes by those whose hopes he carried with him, and yet, if it came to it, would have to save him from himself, Hatton stood for the second round bloodied and desperate. One fighter lay doubled over in agony by the end of that round, unable to continue; it wasn’t Hatton. It was a thrilling scene, one that revealed Hatton’s bravery, but also the vulnerability that forced him to resort to his intangible qualities.

 

Hatton’s later career is littered with such scenarios that he has survived because of his courage, and no small contribution from a sixty-second surgeon. However, his elite championship career has seen him, without exception, forced to win without a performance characteristic of his true ability.

 

Throughout Hatton’s ascendancy, he dismissed a parade of hopeless challengers and has-beens. As a top contender and now a champion, his desire is to engage the very best available fighters. He has discovered that doing so is to decrease his chances of delivering the performance he craves.

 

If you’re only as good as your last fight, then Hatton has much work to do in order to repair the damage done from his bout with Luis Collazo last year. It was Hatton’s triumphant arrival as champion to American shores. But his buoyant optimism for the challenge was not enough, as he surrendered far too many advantages to a fine fighter in Collazo, vastly underrated in the trade.

 

Anyone that knew the business understood Collazo’s capacity, and to those people, Hatton did not need to offer excuses. However, the majority of eyes that watch the sport do not see all that they should, or are selective in their judgments. Despite the honesty of his expression, Hatton’s excuses appeared to most as a hollow attempt to cover his inability to deliver what he promised.

 

Hatton survived to fight another day, and that day is now upon him.

 

His American invasion has not yet found the momentum to carry it to the great fight venues in which he has surely dreamt of defeating his every challenger. Instead, his promoters have brought him to such obscure fight venues as the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, and now, the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas.

 

Aged twenty-eight, Hatton, because of his aggressiveness, ergo his increased exposure to punishment, needs to produce the form of his life, and against the marquee opponents sure to distinguish his career. His aggressive tendencies have sustained him thus far, but will only aid his downfall if he fights too long in search of more defining moments.

 

One of those moments is not expected to arrive in the form of Colombian, Juan Urango; though in boxing, one learns never to say never.

 

Precious little other than good fortune saw Urango crowned as a champion. However, each time a fighter answers the bell, he takes up the chance for redemption. Urango aims to prove that the disappointment of his performance, even in winning his title, was just a matter of clashing styles. Like Hatton, Urango can use this fight to change the perception of him that does not perhaps do justice to his overall presence.

 

Urango’s power betrays the underlying truth of his boxing ability. He has amateur credentials, though none as sparkling as those belonging to Hatton. Nevertheless, as they each have abandoned more sensible strategies to engage in dogfights, it is not expected that their meeting will be one full of technical nuance.

 

Amid the faux French culture of the Paris Hotel transplanted into the desert city, where Parisian greetings are offered in unmistakable American accents, the genuine success story of Ricky Hatton will write its next chapter. But how will it conclude?

 

Now one of the hunted, will Hatton be able to put the politics of his peers aside and concentrate on his performance with full knowledge of their glowering focus on him?

 

Since the masses of boxing fans seem not to care about Urango’s credentials, Hatton appears to have chosen a path that will see him either draw criticism if he dominates Urango, or receive even more dismissive reviews if he happens to struggle with the Colombian.

 

Perhaps this night’s work will not provide definition, but will instead be just another solid showing amongst the many others in Hatton’s library. He can at least hold on to his title, his position, and as the welterweight shuffle continues, and a procession of former lightweight champions pass through his domain, there will be other momentous occasions - perhaps at the MGM Grand or Mandalay Bay - where Hatton can pursue the moments he intends to stand as proof that he was one of the greatest fighters of his time.

 

Contact Jim Cawkwell at jimcawkwell@yahoo.co.uk