Ricky Hatton's Mum calls talkSPORT to defend son

[The_budweiser]

The mother of former boxing champ Ricky Hatton today called talkSPORT, after the station’s sports bulletin reader Ian Abrahams said that the Mancunian boxer shouldn’t fight again as he has ‘no legacy to fight for.’

 

Carol Hatton, who would regularly watch her son’s fights from ringside, was incensed to hear Abrahams (known to most talkSPORT listeners as The Moose due to his elk like appearance) dismiss her son’s boxing legacy. Speaking to Adrian Goldberg earlier in the day about the talk of Hatton fighting once more, Abrahams said of Hatton: “He lost his last two fights to Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao and in the Pacquiao one in particular he was pretty badly beaten.

 

“You can’t tell me that he needs the money. You can’t tell me that he has a legacy to fight for because he’s already been beaten twice. It’s not like when Joe Calzaghe was fighting, he was protecting a 100% unbeaten record. He’s not a professional sportsman anymore, he’s not fought for a year.”

 

After hearing Abrahams’ comments, Mrs Hatton called talkSPORT’s Hawksbee and Jacobs Show to vent her spleen. “He [Abrahams] annoyed me,” said Mrs Hatton. “And for a guy that has a job on the radio, he should get his facts right first and foremost. His [Ricky’s] last fight was in May. Now that, to me, isn’t 12 months ago. So he should get his facts right before he spouts off.

 

“I do realise that everyone is allowed an opinion on whether Richard should make a comeback or not, we’ll have to see about that as it’s not 100%, but I do take exception to him saying, ‘What legacy?’ Let him tell me which boxer in the last decade has been more successful than Ricky Hatton? To me that’s a legacy. He’s had the best fans in the world. I don’t believe there are any comparisons with Joe [Calzaghe]. Joe has made a name for himself; he’s a brilliant, brilliant fighter. But the objection is for him [Abrahams] to say, ‘What legacy?’

 

“Two phenomenal fighters, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, beat Richard and my philosophy in life is ‘better to have tried and failed, than never to have tried at all.’”

 

An on-line poll running on talkSPORT’s website which asked, ‘Should Ricky Hatton fight again?’ was split 50/50 on whether Ricky should return to the ring. Asked by Hawksbee what she thought of the listener poll, Mrs Hatton said: “I do appreciate that. I do know that the people who don’t want Ricky to go back in the ring are saying it because they like him as a person and they don’t want him to get hurt. He doesn’t need the money, but Richard is his own man. He’s never talked about it with either his father or myself. If we said to him, ‘box,’ he’d retire. If we said to him ‘retire,’ he’d box.

 

“The only thing I’ve ever said to Richard is, ‘It’s your decision. If you want to fight again you do it for yourself. You don’t do it for the fans because you don’t owe the fans anything. You don’t do it for your mam, your dad, and your little boy, Campbell. You do it for yourself.’ If he wants to go back in the ring and get rid of a few of the demons that are in his head then he deserves to go back. I’m not saying that he didn’t deserve to be beaten in his last fight; it was the way he was beaten that was very hurtful to him.”

 

http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Boxing/30089/Ricky_Hattons_Mum_calls_talkSPORT_to_defend_son.aspx

[oxo1947]

I have to agree with Abrahams---& 50% of his own fans... it's not so much his last loss as the way he fought in his last 2 wins...... great fighter, but the bell has rung.

[Andre00]

I don`t think it`s Abraham place to say such things, i mean Hatton didn't lose to anybody, he lost to two top guys in the boxing world, it's not fair to judge him base on that, i think he can give a great fight against a Marquez/Cotto etc, give the man some props. Abraham??? who u think you are ??? >> Floyd? Manny? lol

[Faulks]

I don`t think it`s Abraham place to say such things, i mean Hatton didn't lose to anybody, he lost to two top guys in the boxing world, it's not fair to judge him base on that, i think he can give a great fight against a Marquez/Cotto etc, give the man some props. Abraham??? who u think you are ??? >> Floyd? Manny? lol

 

I think Cotto eats Hatton with ease

[Andre00]

Well they both need a come back win real bad, so a win/win situation fight lol