Ricky Hatton retired in 2012 with a record of 45-3, having lost only to Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, and Vyacheslav Senchenko in an unsuccessful comeback.
Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton brought fans countless nights of excitement and entertainment, from Hatton’s KO win over Jose Luis Castillo, who Mayweather won a highly close fight with, to his win over Kostya Tszyu to become IBF world champion.
Hatton was dropped twice in the Pacquiao fight before succumbing to a brutal knockout, and once in the Mayweather clash, but it was years earlier that the Brit faced real adversity in the ring.
Ricky Hatton went the distance in British title war after cut opened above his eye
Hatton’s career was plagued by cuts. In many of his fights, especially early on, Hatton was forced to overcome cuts opening above his eye, but in no fight did this happen earlier than in his fight with Jon Thaxton.
The pair came together to fight for the vacant British super lightweight title, when Hatton was 21-0 and Thaxton was 19-5. Thaxton had to lost to journeyman Emanuel Augustus, who was Mayweather’s toughest test.
In their encounter, a cut opened up above Hatton’s eye in the very first seconds of the fight. The commentators can be heard saying:
“The more I look at that eye that looks horrendous.”
“Mick Williamson, the expert cutman in Hatton’s corner, has a very very serious look on his face. He knows that is bad. He has needed about 13 or 14 stitches through his career, Hatton.”
Despite the cut and the blood over his eye and face, Hatton remained calm and stuck to the game plan.
Thaxton proved to be a tough operator, and Hatton, who KO’d Carlos Maussa, wasn’t able to stop him, instead the fight went into deep waters, where Hatton’s composure in the face of adversity secured him his first 12-round decision victory. Hatton had never gone more than six rounds before this fight.
Ricky Hatton’s son yet to return after back-to-back losses
Hatton’s son, Campbell Hatton, has made a go of boxing himself, and by the end of 2023 had built his record up to 14-0.
Though criticized for not being as good as his father, Campbell appeared to be learning and improving with each fight, trained for most of his career by Matthew Hatton before moving recently to Ben Davison’s stable.
He came unstuck, though, when he faced 13-1-2 James Flint for the Central Area title, and lost by unanimous decision.
In the rematch, Hatton harnessed the bad luck of his father, as a cut opened up above his eye en route to another, albeit closer, unanimous decision defeat.