Ricky Hatton won his light-heavyweight bout with Paulie Malignaggi after the American’s corner retired him in the 11th round on this day in 2008.
Hatton, breaking from his trademark brawling style in his first fight under new trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr, was a different class against the slick but light-punching Malignaggi.
The victory took Hatton’s professional record to 45-1 (32 KOs) in the same ring he had suffered his only defeat almost a year earlier, a 10th-round stoppage by Floyd Mayweather Jr at welterweight.
This time it was Hatton, 30, bringing proceedings to an early halt as referee Kenny Bayless stepped in to record a TKO verdict when Malignaggi’s corner retired their man 28 seconds into the penultimate round.
“I think bearing in mind I’ve only done seven weeks with Floyd, I showed the changes that we’ve been working on,” Hatton said, after defeating Malignaggi.
“I don’t think you’ve seen Ricky Hatton move his head as much or jab as much. Sometimes the red mist set in and I put my foot on the gas but Rome wasn’t built in a day and I think with the changes that me and Floyd have been working on what I did tonight was quite impressive.
“So I’d like to thank Floyd for bringing back my hunger for the game.”
Hatton only fought twice more after that victory, losing to Manny Pacquiao six months later before ending his career three years later following a loss to Vyacheslav Senchenko.
