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Home » One conversation killed Oscar De La Hoya vs Ricky Hatton UK bout

One conversation killed Oscar De La Hoya vs Ricky Hatton UK bout

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  • 3 min read

British superstar Ricky Hatton versus eleven-time champion Oscar De La Hoya can be considered a super-fight that got away for boxing fans.

During his career, Hatton should have secured a high-profile clash with De La Hoya. Back in 2010, there was a serious offer on the table.

A story published by World Boxing News at the time outlined a potential Hatton vs De La Hoya battle in the UK.

It centered around the infamous David Haye vs Audley Harrison fight in England. Golden Boy representatives confirmed their interest in a doubleheader.

Robert Diaz, executive of Golden Boy Promotions, offered Hatton a dream fight with one of his heroes on home soil. It may have proven too good to turn down for the ‘Hitman.’

Oscar De La Hoya vs Ricky Hatton

Legend De La Hoya was willing to travel to England to sell out Hatton’s beloved City of Manchester stadium potentially. Ricky would have relished the challenge.

However, he returned two years later against Vyacheslav Senchenko and lost.

Re-applying for his boxers’ license [which he’d lost at the time due to outside problems] was put off until after the De La Hoya offer.

It’s been well documented in the press why Hatton lost his license. The two-weight world champion had just started to get back to the gym. He lost almost two stone in a bid to get fit.

Dates were touted for the summer of 2010 at the City of Manchester Stadium to make his dream fight with De La Hoya. It never transpired.

Retirement

De La Hoya had only announced his retirement in April 2009 after losing to the number one fighter on the planet Manny Pacquiao.

The Golden Boy promoter had itchy feet with the Hatton idea and wanted a victory in his first fight on UK soil.

Whether the reason for the match-up was pride or money was a different matter. But both fighters were comfortable in the bank account department.

However, a possible battle in England seemed to make sense. It certainly did in 2012 when Hatton packed out the MEN Arena.

If it were De La Hoya in the opposite corner, it would undoubtedly be a fight that would capture the imagination of the British fans and fill a football stadium.

In an update to the story, WBN learned from Robert Diaz that this wasn’t the case. At a dinner meeting, a discussion came up about De La Hoya vs Hatton.

Sadly, all concerned did not stipulate they were on board, and the Hatton dream died.

After fighting that one more time in 2012, Hatton joined De La Hoya in never fighting again as a professional.

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