Former two-division world champion Ricky Hatton is questioning Floyd Mayweather Jr’s decision to be trained by his father for his upcoming super fight on May 2nd vs. Manny Pacquiao.
Floyd Mayweather Sr. will train his son for the fifth time since reuniting in May 2013 for his title defense against Robert Guerrero following a public-falling out in 2000, in which his son fired him as his manager just before making his fifth defense of the WBC Featherweight title against Gregorio Vargas and replaced him with James Prince. A few months after the fight, Floyd fired his father as his trainer as well replaced him with uncle Roger Mayweather until after his May 2012 clash with Miguel Cotto.
After suffering a 10th round knockout in December 2007 to Floyd Mayweather Jr, Ricky Hatton began training with Floyd Sr. to prepare for his descent back to 140 lbs. In a staggering display, Hatton came back to dominate and stop former two-division world champion Paulie Malignaggi in the 11th round.
Although Mayweather Sr. is lauded for being a superior defensive coach, Hatton indubitably remembers his brutal knockout defeat in May 2009 at the hands of Manny Pacquiao. As a result, Hatton is not fully confident Sr. can prepare his son aptly either, speaking with Sky Sports.
“He was a very good defensive coach and when I fought Paul Malignaggi; it couldn’t have gone any better, that was probably the best fight I produced since the Kostya Tszyu fight.”
However, everything went wrong when it came to preparing him for the Filipino superstar.
“Having said that, the training didn’t go quite as well for the Pacquiao fight. The tactics could have been better, there wasn’t too much method there. He’s not the best trainer in the corner I’ve had, but he is a very good trainer nonetheless.”
Mayweather Sr., speaking with the Guardian, admonished Hatton for not following the game plan and called on him to retire from the sport following the fight. For the record, Hatton didn’t fight for three years following the defeat, but retired for good after he was knocked out with a body shot by a Vyacheslav Senchenko shot to the liver.
“He didn’t do as he was told,” Mayweather Sr stated. “He didn’t put his hands up; it was an error on his behalf, I was telling him in the dressing room before the fight, ‘Make sure you keep your hands up.’
“He tried twice. He failed twice. He lost to my son and to lose someone below that; it’s time to leave the ring. At the end of the day, it’s his decision.”
Floyd Mayweather Jr., in an interview with ESPN’s Brian Kenny in 2009, acknowledged that his father gave Hatton a game plan, but failed to execute it properly.
“My dad gave Hatton a game plan. Hatton fought a southpaw; he’s not used to facing a southpaw, he gave him a game plan, and he didn’t execute the game plan,” he added.
At the end of the day, Hatton didn’t get the job done, period. He had a lot of courage to say these things because even he picked Mayweather to beat Pacquiao on May 2, but by the slightest of margins.
“I slightly lean towards Floyd, but only by the narrowest of margins,” Hatton said.
