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Not quitting

13/12/2007

RICKY Hatton cast aside the disappointment of defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jnr by revealing his intention to carry on boxing.

The Hitman, who was stopped in the 10th round of his fight in Las Vegas last weekend, had left the MGM Grand insisting he would ‘have a proper think’ about his future after a first defeat in 44 fights.

Although the prospect of fighting Oscar De La Hoya appears to have gone – especially with trainer Billy Graham saying afterwards that Hatton was best as a light-welterweight – the Hitman is keen to return.

He said: “I’ll be damned if I am going to finish by getting knocked out by someone in the last fight of my life.

“You’ve got to know me, and I feel I can win titles at light-welter and welterweight.

“I am not going to finish, because my training camp went well. I can’t stand fighters that make excuses when things go wrong, and the top and bottom is that I got knocked out and beaten by the better man.

“The two times I have moved up to welterweight my training camp has been OK and I have gone into it with a spring in my step, but even though Floyd is not the biggest welterweight out there, you still notice the difference.”

Hatton claimed afterwards to have fought like a mug, but Graham insisted the better man had won on the night.

He said: “I’m devastated. I always told Ricky leading into the fight it wasn’t going to be a problem cutting the ring down and stopping Floyd, the problem was going to be what he did when he got there.

“Ricky was too close to work but I was telling him that. I tried to change it but physically he couldn’t.”

HATTON’S brother Matthew defeated Frankie Santos on points on the undercard, registering his 33rd victory from 37 fights.