Local, regional and national sports news
If the recent Sunday Times rich list is to be believed, Manchester’s Ricky Hatton has £29 million to his name, so it’s obviously not money which has given the ‘Hitman’ thoughts of returning to the ring after his disastrous outing against pound-for pound king Manny Pacquiao some fifteen months ago.
 Teneriffa Ferienwohnungen
Tenerife
Apartments |
27.08.2010 - One fight too many
If the recent Sunday Times rich list is to be believed, Manchester’s Ricky Hatton has £29 million to his name, so it’s obviously not money which has given the ‘Hitman’ thoughts of returning to the ring after his disastrous outing against pound-for pound king Manny Pacquiao some fifteen months ago.
Although many in the fight game feel that he should officially retire after the brutal way in which his last fight ended, Ricky has renewed his pro boxing licence, with many fans and supporters feeling that he can still cut it amongst the prospects of the junior welterweight division, a division in which he was still rated at number three by the American Ring Magazine only a few months ago.
But does Ricky need to step into a ring with the likes of Amir Khan or the American number one in the world ratings, Timothy Bradley, two very fast sharp shooters, who at this stage of Ricky’s career could possible humiliate him, something that neither I nor any of his many fans would like to see happen.
The theme is familiar, for throughout boxing history, the humiliation of leading fighters who were tempted to return to the ring for one last shot at splendour is a long one. Amongst them included some of the greats of the ring, Joe Louis, ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Joe Fazier and ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard, who all had that one fight too many. Suddenly they are caught in a nightmare against an opponent when they discover that no only had their reflexes slowed down, along with their speed of punch, but also that their legs won’t move.
It happened to two of my favourite modern day fighters during the last couple of years. In December 2008, the once great Oscar de la Hoya took on the Filipino, Manny Pacquiao, and most people in the fight business believed it to be an even money fight, thinking that Pacquiao was too small to beat a fighter who had won world titles in weight divisions much heavier than Pacquiao’s. As it turned out the Filipino looked the more powerful and more vibrant of the two and De La Hoya was made to look older than his years, as Pacquiao knocked him about from pillar to post and he retired from the fight at the end of the 8th round.
In a more recent contest in Manchester, the great Mexican battler Marco Antonio Barrera was pitched in with young Amir Khan, but was never in the fight as Khan methodically picked him apart, before the referee stopped the fight to save the great former world champion from further punishment and humiliation. It was a sad sight on both occasions to witness the two former multi world champions take such a pasting.
‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard, one of the all time greats, once stated, “a fighter never knows when it’s the last bell. He doesn’t want to face it”. And he didn’t for ove the last ten years of his career, he officially retired four times. Although in April 1987 after his third return to the ring he disproved conventional wisdom that a fighter cannot come back, when he shocked the boxing world by beating Marvin Hagler, the supree world champion in the middleweight division and then retired again. Yet 20 months later he felt the urge to pull on the gloves again, but over the next few years he was only the shell of a once great fighting machine. Then finally in 1997, he had his last fight against hector ‘Macho’ Camacho, but it was painful to watch the former superstar being hammered and humiliated, when stopped in the 5th round, by a man who at 34 was no youngster himself in the boxing game. Fortunately Leonard retired with his faculties intact and well-off financially. He’s still in the game with his speaking engagements and business ventures, and apparently happy and peaceful. I’m sure Ricky Hatton will follow the same path, for he’s already made a start with his successful after diner shows and his boxing promotions, which must keep Britain’s most popular boxer busy enough, without the hard slog of training to do battle in the square ring once again.
| Tenerife - 08.02.2012 - Emergency services in Tenerife were called into action again yesterday to rescue a hiker who took ill during a walk in the Anaga hills outside Santa Cruz. more...
Canary Islands - 08.02.2012 - Yesterday's ugly scenes at Bilbao airport, where Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary had to be given a police escort after his provocation of former Spanair employees, prompted a furious reaction against the head of the airline by Canarian MP Ana Oramas. more...
Las Palmas - 08.02.2012 - The snags preventing the release of tickets for the concert by rock legend Bruce Springsteen in Gran Canaria have now been resolved and the gig has been confirmed 100%, say the organisers. more...
La Laguna - 07.02.2012 - A well-known Tenerife lawyer is the focus of police attention in a money-laundering and fraud investigation ordered by a La Laguna judge. more...
Canary Islands - 07.02.2012 - Relations between the Canarian government and the new Spanish government sank further yesterday when the region's tourism minister was apparently snubbed by his national counterpart. more...
Canary Islands - 07.02.2012 - Two Britons who had to be rescued again after getting into trouble on their bid to cross the Atlantic in a pedal boat could face a hefty fine for the latest mobilisation of air and sea rescue resources. more...
 Banish the blues
They tell us that this is one of the most depressing times of the year more... |
IslandConnections - Edition 661 Real Estate TenerifeWe are a real estate company, constituted in the year 2002, and nevertheless our professional team possesses a long trajectory in the real estate sector in the north of Tenerife. www.optima-tenerife.es ic media group The Magazine - Edition 73
|
