Boxing / Ralph Ellis / 21 November 2008 / Leave a comment

In Paulie Malignaggi, Ricky Hatton faces an opponent who possesses an abundance of speed and is renowned for staying power, the exact attributes that Ralph Ellis feels could exploit Hatton's love of life's excesses.

Ricky Hatton has admitted he's been asking himself some tough questions: Yesterday in his last press conference before his fight with Pauli Malignaggi the Hitman said "I went into training wondering, am I past it? And Have the hard times finally caught up with me?"

Trouble is, it's not the hard times that have been catching up with the 30-year-old fighter. It's the good times. The times after each fight he's spent boozing and knocking back burgers and chips, ballooning three stone or more in weight. And while the hype says he'll deal with that again and beat Malignaggi, there's a real world out there in which that sort of excess catches up with any athlete, especially when his age doesn't begin with a two any more.

Hatton is unrepentant about his drinking. "I'm still going to have a pint now and again because that's what makes me what I am," he says.

"It's like Roy Keane or Wayne Rooney. If you took away the fire in their belly they would not be the same on the football pitch. I have done it that way my whole career and I am sick of hearing about this drinking will catch up with me."

Does that mean he doesn't even want to listen to Floyd Mayweather Senior on the subject? He's the man credited with giving Hatton a new enthusiasm in his training. Yet even he has reservations about Hatton's lifestyle, and it's worth listening to that before you start throwing money at the favourite odds of [2.22] for Hatton to win on points.

Under the inevitable headline "you booze, you lose" in this morning's papers, Mayweather Senior is laying down the law in no uncertain terms about Hatton's love of a pint - or according to some reports 57 pints, four vodkas, three whisky chasers and a bottle of champagne on a four-day trip to Tenerife.

"The only way is not to drink at all," he says.

"Don't meet me half way - half way is nothing. You don't get half a title or half of being the best pound-for-pound fighter. There's talk about fighting my son for a second time but you are never going to beat him if you are into drinking.

"For Ricky to fight my son, he has got to get a lot more in with me. Not just one or two fights. He has to get in with me totally."

That's a worrying clue that behind all the bravado talk about how Hatton has embraced a new intensity in training, the man in charge of him isn't so convinced. And it raises doubts about whether he will have the stamina and fitness to get through 12 rounds against an opponent who is younger, quicker, and will keep moving rather than stand there waiting to be hit. Also don't forget he's in Las Vegas, fighting an American, (even if Malignaggi is half Sicilian as well). That's normally worth an extra point or two to the home fighter. It means sadly, much as I'd like Hatton to triumph again, the head must rule the heart on this one and I'll be laying him at [1.52]

Last words go to the Daily Mail's Des Kelly who's written one of those lines I wish I'd thought of. "Hatton is optimistic but then his glass is always half full. That's his problem".

Five things you might not know about Pauli Malignaggi

1.He was born in Brooklyn but moved to Syracuse and then on to Palazzolo Acreidi in Sicily when he was a few months old. He moved back to New York with his grandfather when he was six

2.His father Sebastiano is a former professional soccer player and still lives in Sicily

3.His granddad first took him to the gym to keep him out of trouble when he was 16 and he fell in love with boxing "I wrapped my hands, stood in front of the mirror, and thought it looked cool"

4.He describes himself as a "superstud" and has posed for Playboy and Esquire magazines

5.He is fluent in Italian, Sicilian and Spanish