Exclusive Interview: Ray Hatton

Ray and Carol Hatton have the good fortune to have raised two children who currently happen to be title-holding boxers. Eldest son Ricky is the longtime WBU light welterweight titlist while twenty-three year old Matthew holds the British Central Area welterweight belt. Ray was kind enough to speak to us about Ricky’s likely match-up with the highly respected reigning divisional champion Kostya Tszyu and many of the matters that surround this hotly anticipated showdown.

Saddoboxing – Where are things with the Hatton – Tszyu fight?

Ray Hatton – “Well, as far as making the fight, and don’t forget we can only go by what our promoter Frank Warren tells us, is the fight is 99.9% done. All it is, is just one or two small things that he doesn’t envision having any problems with and I believe that Vlad Wharton is flying over to put pen to paper. It’s difficult and all I can do is tell you what we’re being told, as believe it or not the boxers are the last ones…unless you’re in Kostya Tszyu’s position and obviously he calls the shots, really.”

SB – This fight must be amazingly exciting for your whole household.

RH – “At the moment, it’s like everything else. We’ve been down this road quite a few times with different opponents and Richard’s (Ricky) been up for the fights and then all of a sudden, through no fault of his own, it’s fallen through. People are asking me if the fight is really on and I say that it’s 99.9% but when I see my son’s signature on a contract along with Kostya Tszyu’s, then I’ll be 100% confident because we’ve had that many disappointments in the last eighteen months.”

SB – Assuming that everything does go well and the contracts get signed, when would Ricky be going back in the gym to begin the serious phase of his training in preparation to meet Tszyu?

RH – “He’s going in training about fourteen weeks before the fight. He normally goes into training ten weeks before a fight but this one, especially other than a couple of years ago when Richard had a bad eye injury, this will probably be the longest he’ll have been out of the ring. He’s never been out of the ring for six months like this will be. It really does no harm because last year he was in the gym forty-two out of fifty-two weeks and as anyone will tell you, it’s not necessarily whether or not you’re having a three, four or five round fight, it’s the weeks of training up to that. You may have a four rounder or do somebody in five rounds but it’s those weeks before. It becomes very hard when you end up doing a lot of weeks in the gym and then have fights that go the distance. That makes it doubly as hard.”

SB – You’ve obviously been very close witness to Ricky’s entire boxing career. Do you feel that this coming June will be the best time for Ricky to fight Kostya Tszyu?

RH – “He’s coming up to his best time, really, a lot of people tend to forget that Richard is only just turned twenty-six. It seems to the boxing world that he’s been around a long time, but that’s only because his first pro fight was when he was eighteen. A lot of people say to me, “How old is Ricky, is he twenty-eight or twenty-nine?” He was only twenty- six in October. I think he and Miguel Cotto are still the babies of the division. Even though I think it’s right to face Tszyu now, Richard has had thirty-eight fights and he’s coming into his maturity, but I still think he’s a short way off of his best. He’s slowly approaching it but I still think there’s more to come really.”

SB – I actually jumped up and down when I read that Tszyu had agreed to fight Ricky and I know that it’s been Ricky’s dream to a long time now to fight Kostya.

RH – “Oh yeah, Tszyu’s the dream fight because he’s still considered to be the undisputed champion any way you look at it, but I think Ricky would have been happy to fight any of the other champions out there because he just wanted a shot at another belt. We’re happy that the Tszyu fight will be in Manchester, but like we’ve said all along, we wouldn’t have cared if it had been in America or Australia or anywhere. Ricky will basically fight anyone anywhere. People tend to think that Ricky Hatton’s protected and he doesn’t want to come out of Manchester. You can imagine how frustrating it is when he wants to come out and fight the best but he gets tarred with the brush that he’s a hometown fighter, which couldn’t be further from the point. I think what it is, that it’s very hard for a promoter, in our case Frank Warren, when you can have anything from fifteen to eighteen thousand people in an arena, it’s very tempting to always keep the fights there. The promoters are in there to make money, just like anybody else.”

SB – The amount of revenue derived from that type of gate must be very hard to walk away from.

RH – “And you’ve been there at the MEN Arena yourself, Curtis, and the atmosphere there especially is…I don’t think people in America can really appreciate the kind of atmosphere that goes on there when Ricky fights. They may see it on TV but I don’t think they can really appreciate what it’s like because they haven’t been there.”

SB – There’s an amazing crowd response and feeling when Ricky fights, and that’s been when he’s fighting the likes of Ben Tackie and Mike Stewart. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when he fights Kostya Tszyu.

RH – “Well, this is why they’re looking for an outside venue. They’ve got the MEN at the moment but I think they’re looking for an outside venue for thirty-eight to forty thousand.”

SB – That sounds like a good idea but I have always heard that the MEN was expandable…

RH – “Yeah, they’re going to set it out for the maximum of twenty thousand, but they reckon that all the seats will go within the week.”

SB – Is there any chance of the fight happening at Manchester City Stadium?

RH – “Unfortunately they can’t do it there because of the European Ladies’ Soccer championships, which starts on June 5th, the day of the fight, so that’s out. I know they’ve made inquiries for the Reebok Stadium, which they’re very, very interested in. That’s the Bolton Wanderers soccer team stadium. It’s half an hour away from Manchester on the motorway. But I have heard that they’re just trying to find a way because Elton John is supposed to be doing a live concert there on June 6th. I think they’re just trying to figure a way that they can have the fight on the 5th and then be ready to have the Elton John concert on the evening of the 6th. They feel it’s possible simply because if Richard and Tszyu fight at 2am, which I think is more realistic than the 4am that’s been talked about, then they have got quite a long time to reset the stadium out for the concert.”

SB – It’s amazing that Ricky’s popularity has risen to the point where his fights have to be reconciled in the same arenas with the likes of entertainment stars such as Elton John.

RH – “Yes, it is indeed. Basically, I think it’s, regardless of whether Richard wins or loses, it’s the way he fights that excites people. I always think that win or lose, Richard will always give value for money.”

SB – To me Ricky is the most exciting fighter in the world and I think that everyone will come to see that after the Tszyu fight.

RH – “Yeah, I hope so. If everything goes right, it’ll be great if he could win it. We don’t hold our breath, we’re realistic that it’s a tough fight but it would be nice if he could win it. It would also be nice if then maybe some of the other champions could come to us and we could get the fight on with them. Rather than we always feel as though we seem to be going cap in hand to everybody else.”

SB – I know that the champions in the weight class had been reluctant to come to Manchester, but I don’t think you’d have much of a problem with that if Ricky beats Kostya. Do that and the world is your oyster.

RH – “I hope so, really, and I know Richard’s dream is to fight in America. He said to me that, only a few weeks ago, “if I thought I was going to finish my career without having fought somewhere like Las Vegas, it doesn’t matter what I’d won or how much money I’d have earned. I would feel that there had been something lacking in my career.”

SB – Ideally that will happen and even if he doesn’t beat Tszyu, how Ricky fights in that one would be very important.

RH – “That’s it, win or lose, as long as it’s a good performance and it’s a good, exciting fight for the fans, that’s the main thing. As Richard always says “at the end of the day, I don’t want anybody to go out of a Ricky Hatton fight bored. Win or lose, I always want to give value for money.” It’s a shame that people in America didn’t see the Ray Oliveira fight because it was a great one for the spectators. It’s a shame that they didn’t see that because they would’ve had plenty of entertainment. Richard gets a bit frustrated at times when people only see what they want to see out of Ricky Hatton, but I’m the opposite. I just say let them see what they want to see. It’s always nice for these fighters to see just how good he is when they’re in there with him because there’s nowhere for them to go then. There’s no going back to the drawing board. It does amaze me how the Americans and even the Australians perceive Richard as a fighter that just stands in front of you slugging away in your face. I think to myself that surely all these boxing experts must look at him and say “hang on,” but yet surprisingly they all say the same.”

SB – In my experience, people who have that opinion generally have never seen an entire Ricky Hatton fight in person, in attendance at the venue, rather than on television or a tape. Ideally, they’ll get to do so when Ricky fights in America but by that time, they may no longer need convincing as he may have already beaten Tszyu.

RH – “I hope so, but Ricky has to be a little bit cute so he doesn’t get nailed with that right hand. It’ll be interesting won’t it?”

SB – Ricky did that very well against Ben Tackie, and while Tszyu is a far more difficult challenge than Tackie, I’m wondering if Ricky will fight Tszyu in a similar fashion.

RH – “I think what he’ll try doing is avoid the right hand but jump on Tszyu and do more close in work. I was reading an article where Lovemore N’Dou was slating Richard, saying he wouldn’t go a round with Tszyu, who’s left hook to the body would cripple Hatton and this, that and the rest of it. But, I must say that I haven’t seen Tszyu throw a lot of body shots.”

SB – Offhand, I can’t recall a lot of bodywork from Kostya either, possibly because I don’t think a lot of people get too close in with him. If that’s the case, then I think that works to his advantage because it seems his right hand does it’s best work when the opponent is on the outside.

RH – “I may be wrong but I don’t think he’s the best worker inside. I think he likes a medium range distance.”

SB – I agree that he does like to keep opponents at the end of his punches, but I think Kostya has the full arsenal. I saw that during the second Mitchell fight when Sharmba was clinching Tszyu, Kostya would find a way, particularly with the left hand, to land a hook to Mitchell’s head from a very short distance. Mitchell would shudder each time he got hit with oneof those and that kind of concerned me in regards to a Hatton – Tszyu contest, although I think that Ricky would have a better chance at holding both of Tszyu’s arms down in a clinch.

RH – “I think you’re right there and I think Kostya Tszyu would possibly get a shock at just how strong Richard is, which hopefully will be a psychological advantage because Tszyu has always been stronger than his opponents, hasn’t he? And to be honest, I can’t think of anybody in the last two or three years who has really hit Tszyu. It’s a big difference when Ricky starts throwing shots at Tszyu, and I wonder how easy Tszyu is going to find it to get his own off. I know a lot of people say that when Tszyu starts throwing the shots at Hatton, Richard won’t get his own off but Richard always gets his shots off. Even when he’s in there with people who throw a lot of leather back. It’ll be interesting to see if Tszyu, when he’s getting hit, starts worrying more about what’s coming back.”

SB – Logically I imagine that Tszyu would look at this fight as one in which he better do something about Ricky early because the last thing he needs to be is in the later rounds with a guy who just gets stronger and is nine years younger. Also, if the fight is close and it comes to a decision, he may have to assume coming in that Ricky would get that decision, so I imagine Kostya will want to take care of Ricky early on.

RH – “Early on, yeah, and I think he’ll hope that Richard will be careless. That’s the only fear I have but I do think Richard has a better chin than Zab Judah and Mitchell.”

SB – Yeah, I’ve seen Ricky take some very good punches from some very good people and basically walk through them but of course, it’s a different matter getting hit by Tszyu. I think as long as Ricky doesn’t get hit flush repeatedly by that right hand…

RH – “Tszyu does get his punches in but he’s not the most mobile fighter, is he? I think it’s all about changing the angles so he can’t set you with that right hand. If you come in on a straight line then you’re going to get caught with one.”

SB – Anything else you’d like to say in closing?

RH – “Just that all Richard wants to do is put a good fight on for the fans, whether they’re in Britain, Australia or America, really anywhere they’re watching the fight. That’s what it’s about, it’s all about the fans and giving value for money. Win or lose, hopefully he’ll give a good account and make it exciting, which he will do, because that’s one thing about him (laughs) It’s like even when Gatti wasn’t winning, you still watched him. He was still probably more exciting to watch when he wasn’t winning than what some of the champions were when they were winning.”

Curtis McCormick can be reached at thomaspointrd@aol.com