Ricky Hatton believes losing to Floyd Mayweather Jr is what motivated Canelo Alvarez to become the seemingly untouchable boxer he is today.
Canelo took on the formidable ‘Money Mayweather‘ as a 23-year-old in 2013, in what was his only career loss to date, while Mayweather was 36 years old at the time and still at the height of his powers.
It was a frustrating night for the Mexican who struggled to land a meaningful punch on Mayweather Jr, as he systematically picked Canelo apart to win by majority decision on the judge’s scorecards.
Hatton has history with both men, having been knocked out by Mayweather Jr in 2007 and he saw his brother, Matthew Hatton, fall to an unanimous decision defeat to Canelo in 2011.
“I think Mayweather when he fought Canelo, Canelo didn’t even win a round did he? I think Mayweather created a monster in many ways.” the former two-weight world champion told talkSPORT.
“It’s an example to many youngsters out there that if you do get beat, doesn’t mean your career is over. That defeat, it can make or break someone and it made Canelo.
“I think I see Canelo retiring undefeated [not losing again]. I don’t see anyone that can beat him. He’s so exciting, strong, powerful and explosive.
“Then on the other hand, he’s so defensively untouchable. I think he can go out to light-heavyweight and win world titles there, I really do.
“Quite rightly the pound-for-pound number one.”
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Since fighting Mayweather Jr, Canelo has gone on to achieve some staggering feats in boxing, becoming a four-weight world champion and undisputed at super middleweight.
Next up, the Mexican is moving up to light-heavyweight to take on Dmitry Bivol for the WBA light heavyweight title on May 7th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The pound-for-pound king of boxing, Canelo, has travelled up to 175 lbs once before when he knocked out The Krusher’, Sergey Kovalev, in the 11th round of their clash in 2019 to become the WBO light heavyweight champion.
As for Mayweather Jr, he is returning in an exhibition bout on May 14th on a helipad atop the Burj Al Arab Jumeriah Hotel in Dubai, against his former sparring partner, Don Moore.
With Hatton partaking in his own exhibition against Marco Antonio Barrera on July 2nd, could we potentially see a Mayweather Jr vs Hatton rematch in the future?
“I’ve not really looked that far ahead.” Hatton insisted, as he expanded on the reasons for his return to the ring. “I’m an ambassador for mental health and I did this more to show that anything is possible, look what you can do.
“When you’ve been a professional athlete like I’ve been and you retire, it sounds selfish, but unless you’ve been in my shoes and experienced the roar of the crowd… 60,000 at the City of Manchester Stadium, 40,000 going over to Vegas singing ‘there’s only one Ricky Hatton’.
“When you’ve had that high and it’s gone, that’s the hardest thing to cope with in retirement, but I’m going to get a chance to do it again.”