Ricky Hatton Hires Manny Pacquiao’s Trainer

There’s an old saying, “if you can beat ‘em, join ‘em,” that I think has just been replaced by a new saying, which goes a little something like this: “If they beat the living crap out of you and completely humiliate you in under two rounds in front of a packed arena filled with your devoted fans ... join ‘em.” ↵There was much talk in the aftermath of Ricky Hatton’s destruction at the hands of Manny Pacquiao that Hatton might be interested in taking on Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach. Now, according to an exclusive over at Ring Talk, that speculation has become reality. ↵↵If this news is true, it’s news that actually provides a glossy smokescreen for even bigger news. The fact that Hatton is going to employ the trainer of the man who just utterly destroyed him in front of millions (the same trainer who also publicly feuded to great comic effect with Hatton’s old trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr.) is ironic and interesting, no doubt. But more compelling by far is the fact that obviously, given the fact that he is hiring a trainer, Mr. Hatton is planning to continue with his boxing career, which is not something that was entirely certain after that ass-whupping he received from Pac Man about a month ago. ↵

↵↵It’s also not something that Freddie Roach himself seemed too enthusiastic about in conversations after the Pacquiao/Hatton press conference, as you’ll see in the video I shot below. At about 2:17 of the video, Freddie gives his take on the possibility of training Hatton. At the time, it certainly doesn’t seem like a gig he was volunteering for. ↵

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