• Welterweight

Hatton urges Pacquiao to retire

Manny Pacquiao was prone for a number of minutes after being knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez © Getty Images

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Ricky Hatton believes Manny Pacquiao should join him in retirement following his devastating defeat by Juan Manuel Marquez at the weekend.

The eight-division world champion was knocked out cold in the sixth round of his fourth fight with Marquez, dropping face-first onto the canvas after being caught by a huge right cross while attacking the Mexican.

Pacquiao remained laid out on the canvas for a number of minutes before coming round. The result, along with the disputed defeat by Timothy Bradley, appears to have scuppered plans for his long-awaited bout with pound-for-pound rival Floyd Mayweather.

Pacquiao has hinted that he will fight on, refusing to rule out a fifth contest with Marquez, but Hatton has urged the Filipino to walk away from the ring with his reputation and record intact.

"The only advice I could give Manny Pacquiao is that his legacy is already secured," said Hatton, who embarked on a comeback cut brutally short by Vyacheslav Senchenko in Manchester in November.

"The thing is with us fighters is that there is always one more fight. What's he going to achieve by having one more fight? Probably nothing. He's an eight-weight world champion. There's nothing more to be said.

"You'd like to see him go into retirement and spend some time with his family and be happy. He can't do any more from a boxing point of view."

Pacquiao sent Hatton to his first retirement in 2009, and while the Mancunian insisted his comeback three years later was about competing once more for world titles he will not be drawn back to the ring for a third spell.

"I won't be fighting again," he said. "I got what I wanted from my comeback even though it ended in a defeat. I needed to find out if I still had it, and I haven't got it, and I can move on now."

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