When rough and tumble Ricky Hatton of England got into the ring with Manny Pacquiao, I am reminded of another tough battler from across the pond. He may not have reached the heights of Hatton but he was good enough to hold the British light middleweight title for a couple of years in the late 1970’s. He also traveled ten rounds with the great Roberto Duran. His name was Jimmy Batten.
Batten was born in 1955 and turned professional in 1974. He worked his way up the British rankings and in 1977 after Maurice “Mo” Hope vacated the British light middleweight title, Batten was matched with Albert Hillman. Batten stopped Hillman in round seven to win the vacant title. He would defend that title twice with kayo victories over Larry Paul and Tony Poole.
In 1978 he would be matched with France’s Gilbert Cohen for the vacant European light middleweight crown. This time Batten would fall short as Cohen stopped him in the third round. Finally in 1979 Batten lost his British title to Pat Thomas. Nevertheless he remained active and competitive. In 1982 he came to Atlantic City and was surprisingly stopped by hard hitting but erratic Mario Maldonado in the first round.
Later in 1982 Batten was matched with the legendary Roberto Duran. At this point though the legend of the great Duran had been tarnished. He was only a few years removed from the “No Mas” loss to Sugar Ray Leonard. He attempted redemption against Wilfred Benitez but “Wilfred The Wizard” outboxed him. Then to add insult to injury, an unheralded Brit outscored Roberto by the name of Kirkland Laing. The loss to Laing was claimed the 1982 Upset Of The Year by Ring Magazine. The Duran – Batten bout took place in Miami Beach as the “walk out” bout after the first Aaron Pryor – Alexis Arguello classic. If Roberto was expecting an easy night, he was wrong. Although Duran won a decision by a comfortable margin, Batten showed pluck as he fought him tooth and nail. If anyone thought that Batten had gone ten rounds with a “washed up” Duran, they were wrong. In his next fight Duran would halt Pipino Cuevas. Then he would savage and upset Davey Moore to become a champion again. Roberto followed that by giving Marvelous Marvin Hagler fifteen rounds of hell.
Batten remained as one of England’s best 154 pounders. In 1983 he was matched with Prince Rodney for his old British light middleweight crown that had been vacated by the classy and talented Herol Graham. Batten failed to regain his title as Rodney stopped him in the sixth round. That was Jimmy Batten’s last bout. He left the ring with a more then respectable 40-9 record.