By John Hively

In December of 2007, the bell for the tenth round clanged and Ricky Hatton exploded out of his corner and attacked Floyd Mayweather Jr. Near the one minute mark, Hatton winged his mighty left hook back in a wide arch while dipping his right hand to chest level. Mayweather saw the telegraphed punch, planted his feet and hurled a short, jolting left hook into the right side of Hatton’s face. Hatton toppled over, rammed his forehead into the padded ring post and then fell to his back. He got up on unsteady legs. Mayweather charged in. Two more left hooks and it was all she wrote. Hatton lost for the first time.

Earlier this year, Manny Pacquiao also swung a ferocious left hook over Hatton’s lowered right glove and flattened the Englishman in the second round. In the first round, Manny had stepped inside of Hatton’s left and fed him canvas with a right hand. He also decked the Englishman near the end of that session.

Hatton showed nothing new in the Pacquiao battle: no head movement, hands held too low, wide left hook, etc…. Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said “’We always knew Hatton pumped his hands before throwing a punch and was a sucker for the right hook.” And despite these deficiencies, it took the two best fighters in the world to take advantage of them.

Since his 2005 triumph over Kostya Tszyu, Ricky has been one of the best fighters in the world, and a consistent member on the top ten pound-for-pound lists. Don’t write him off due to these two losses because all of his flaws are correctable, and that’s precisely what Hatton should do as he prepares for his next fight. He should take lessons from the greats and the near greats: Bob Montgomery, Archie Moore, Jack Dempsey, Wladimir Klitschko, Joey Maxim and a host of others. They all came back from devastating stoppage losses and either established their greatness, or re-established it. Hatton can do the same.

In Madison Square Garden on February 18th 1944 , former lightweight titlist Bob “Bobcat” Montgomery strolled across the ring against 4-1 underdog Al “Bummy” Davis, a vicious hitter. One minute and three seconds later, the referee finished counting Montgomery out, the fastest knockout in Garden history up to that time.

After being blown away, the Bobcat didn’t let the loss get him down. He shrugged his shoulders and fifteen days later, Montgomery won a tight decision over Beau Jack and claimed New York recognition as the world lightweight champion. Both Montgomery and Jack were rated among the top ten lightweights of all time by Ring magazine earlier this decade.

Now, let’s speed up to June 2nd 1948 . Oakland , California experienced a nice warm day; that night the city and the boxing world went into a state of shock when unheralded Leonard Morrow, a light heavyweight fighter with an 11-2-1 record, strolled across the ring and turned the heat up against fourth rated Archie Moore, 91-14-8.

Almost immediately, Morrow landed a left-right combo and swept his stunned opponent to the canvas. Moore grabbed the ropes, paused for the referee’s count and then clambered to his feet on unsteady legs. Morrow sauntered across the canvas and flung his powerful left hook in a wide arc. That cannon shot landed on Moore ’s jaw and forced him to kiss the canvas for a nine count. Archie got to his hands and knees and dragged himself to his feet; he tore into his tormenter with a ferocious flurry to Morrow’s body. After weathering the storm, Morrow stepped back. Archie charged in again. Leonard saw the opening, dipped his shoulder slightly and launched a right cross straight down the pipeline. Like Hatton over sixty years later, Moore crashed onto his back, unconscious, hands straight at his side. He dreamed of who knows what as the referee finished his count and his opponent celebrated.

Moore could have given up at this point of his career, especially since he’d been flattened in eight rounds by Ezzard Charles less than six months earlier. Instead he decided to improve. He hung in there, even though he lost two of his next five. However, from November 1948 through September 20th 1955 , Moore posted a record of 54-2-1 with 37 stoppages. During this time he became the world light heavyweight champion and the number one rated heavyweight contender. Of his two losses during those years, one was to all-time great Harold Johnson, thrice avenged. The other was a disqualification defeat to one Clinton Bacon.

Hatton’s situation is eerily similar inasmuch as he lost a competitive battle against Mayweather by kayo and then was wiped out by Pacquiao. As noted above, he made errors that can be corrected, if he still wants to fight at a championship level.

Hatton should take heart; many great fighters have suffered devastating defeats, improved and came back to dominate their divisions. In 1916, washed up trial horse Jim Flynn flattened Jack Dempsey in one round. By 1918, Dempsey had improved and was on his way to becoming one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. In 1943, heavyweight contender Curtis Sheppard laid out Joey Maxim for the ten count in one round. Three weeks later, Maxim won a unanimous decision over his conqueror. Maxim later became the light heavyweight champion. Several years ago, the Ring magazine rated him at number fourteenth of all time in his division.

In 2003, Corrie Sanders bounced Wladimir Klitschko all over the canvas as though he were dribbling a basketball. The referee stopped Corrie’s dribbling exhibition in the second round; Wlad could have decided to cry and feel sorry for himself, but instead he decided to improve and now he is clearly the world’s best heavyweight - and by a wide margin. And let’s not forget that Manny Pacquiao was stopped twice in his first twenty-eight fights. Like Archie, Bob, Wlad, Joey and Jack, Manny didn’t let the losses make him think less of himself as a fighter. Instead he added to his fistic arsenal and is easily the best fighter in the world.

So Ricky Hatton, don’t lose heart. Correct your weaknesses and come back stronger than ever before. That’s what the great ones do.