 Hatton was unable to bully Collazo in Boston |
Ricky Hatton has only two fights left in him and should move back to light welterweight, says Barry McGuigan. Hatton, 27, moved up to welterweight last week to claim the WBA belt from America's Luis Collazo, but looked far from convincing at Boston Garden.
"Ricky has maybe another year left," former featherweight king and ITV commentator McGuigan told BBC Sport.
"His best bet is to fight Floyd Mayweather at light welter. His advantages are at 140lbs, not 147."
Many observers thought Hatton should have lost his breakthrough fight on American soil, and he has hinted himself that he will move back down.
Hatton, who gave up his IBF and WBA light welterweight belts to fight Collazo, wants to fight the winner of next month's WBC lightweight clash between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo.
 |  Ricky is giving up a lot of his advantages going up to 147lbs - his power is at 140 |
"Some people might ask themselves, 'why the hell did he go up to welterweight?'" said McGuigan.
"But if you look at the bigger picture, it was a fairly obvious decision because (IBF welterweight champion) Mayweather has gone up and (WBO light welterweight champion) Miguel Cotto is going up.
"Maybe (WBC light middleweight champion) Oscar de la Hoya is going back down to welterweight and there's also (former two-weight world champions) Shane Mosley and Arturo Gatti.
"But Ricky is giving up a lot of his advantages going up to 147lbs - his power is at 140. He manhandles guys at 140, beats them up.
"By going to 147 he was always going to be taking a risk as these guys are naturally coming down from a bigger weight.
"You're not able to throw them about so much, and when you hit them flat out it doesn't have the same effect.
| HBO are not going to pay Ricky big money and give him easy fights |
"It was a gamble (taking the fight against Collazo) and it was a gamble worth taking, but I thought he was very lucky to win it.
"It looks as if his resistance is beginning to ebb away. You can't have blood, guts and thunder fights like those and not put huge miles on the clock.
"But HBO (the American broadcaster with which Hatton has a three-fight deal) are not going to pay big money and give him easy fights.
"And Ricky knows there's only a couple of fights left in him and he wants to maximise his purses - that's his pension, his walk-away money."
If Hatton does choose to stay at 147lbs, McGuigan believes Gatti should be the man he fights next.
"Gatti is an easy fight for him, in relative terms. His resistance is gone and he's a bit shabby in general," said McGuigan, a former WBA featherweight champion.
Canada's Gatti challenges Argentina's Carlos Baldomir for the WBC welterweight crown on 22 July.
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