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Boxing

Ricky Hatton picks the toughest fight of his career and it's not Manny Pacquiao

Ricky Hatton picks the toughest fight of his career and it's not Manny PacquiaoGettyImages

Former two-weight world champion Ricky Hatton has revealed who he feels was the toughest fight of his career, but it's a name that many fans would not expect.

Throughout his 15-year career, Hatton has faced some of the boxing's biggest names including Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. 

But while Hatton was knocked out by both Mayweather and Pacquiao, he does not deem either of those two encounters as the toughest fight of his career. 

Instead, 'The Hitman' claims his world welterweight title fight against Luis Collazo was the contest which pushed him to the limit. 

"That was my toughest fight,” Hatton told talkSPORT when reflecting on his clash with Collazo in May 2006.

“I mean, getting beat by Pacquiao like I did was very tough to come to terms with and Floyd Mayweather was just technically so good.

"From a physical point of view [Collazo was tougher]. I never made fights easy for myself. I was always going to have it out with someone.”

Hatton then went into more detail when it came to discussing the Collazo contest and believes that despite knocking the American down in the frst round, the move up to 147lbs negated his punching power. 

“I took it, and I knocked him down in the first ten seconds. I thought, ‘I’ll be in the bar in half an hour at this rate.’ But he got up and I won it on a unanimous decision, but only by one point," Hatton continued.

“I think it was only the knockdown that won it. The people that I could bully at 10 stone. When I got close, I could push them, shove them all.

"I couldn’t do it at 10st 7lbs. I hit him, and the shots just bounced off him. I went to shove him back and he didn’t move. I thought, ‘Oh this is going to be a long night.’”

After beating Collazo on the scorecards, Hatton can still remember how he felt as a result of the gruelling contest which took place 17 years ago. 

"It was the worst after I’ve felt. I had hot sweats, shaky, shivering and I couldn’t even go to the afterparty I was in such a bad way.”

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