Vyacheslav Senchenko ended the comeback of former two division world champion Ricky Hatton with a ninth round body punch stoppage in a scheduled ten round Welterweight bout In front of 20,000 adoring Hatton fans at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Hatton came out in his familiar stalking style which made Senchenko a bit uncomfortable. Senchenko used lateral movement in an effort to offset the on-charging Hatton. Hatton mixed up the assault with the body and head with lefts to the body and the right’s upstairs. Senchenko got going with straight right hands in the second. Hatton continued the pressure and was getting through with solid shots but never had Senchenko in any type of distress.
The crowd continued to urge their man on and it was working to an extent but Hatton got sloppy and started eating some right hands and body shots. In round seven, a cut formed under the left eye of Senchenko and some bad swelling started to be visible around Hatton’s right eye. The two fought a spirited eighth and Hatton started out well in round nine until a perfect left to the flank of Hatton sent him down on all fours and the referee counted ten as Hatton gasped in pain.
The bout’s sudden end came at 2:52 of round nine.
Senchenko of Ukraine is now 33-1 with twenty-two knockouts. Hatton of Manchester, UK who was making his first ring appearance in forty-two month since being flattened by Manny Pacquiao will most likely go into a second retirement with a record of 45-3
The scores at the time of the stoppage were 78-74, 77-76 and 77-76 (15rounds.com had it 77-75 for Hatton off of the television viewing)
