Hatton would mug his way to a UD. Better fighter with too much activity for Lucas, he's have Matthysse overwhelmed at times. Hatton was an excellent fighter, people forget.
Take out the fights he lost and the one's that didn't even happen and we are left with Peterson. Great.
As a big enough boxing fan to post on a forum about it, you should really know the details behind the L's on people's records. No one counts those "losses" against Matthysse except the sanctioning bodies, athletic commissions and Boxrec. Those fights that he "lost" are among his best wins in that he was almost universally given credit for them--they did nothing to damage his reputation while a clear-cut loss would have. They're a big part of why he's considered as good a fighter as he is.
Are you ****ing nuts?!?! Zab Judah beat him. It was a close ****ing fight, but Judah definitely won on points, no matter how many people on here hate him. You can't just take a fighter you like and just disregard his close losses. That's just not the way the world works. :nono
Hatton made Floyd very uncomfortable the first half of the fight for stretches with his footspeed, head movement and ability to get inside. Of course Cortez never let Hatton do any work on the inside. I think Hatton ud. He would smother Lucas on the inside and stay there. Lucas can always land something big but Hatton would be working the body from the start and slow Lucas down.
Prime Wicky took all Kostya could throw at him. He could take all Kahleesi could throw at him too Hatton takes this, by fair means or foul
I think maybe he could have. He might get KO'd coming in at some point (ty Cpt Obvious) but Ricky risked that to one degree or another with any skilled or strong puncher. That said, as of this post and with Lucas having potentially a long chance to change my opinion, I think I like Rick to smother outbusy and overpower him. Prime Ricky Hatton by late stoppage.
He did this in a surprisingly clever way though, and displayed a ring IQ that isn't normally credited to Ricky. Kostya tended to need a certain amount of distance to get maximum power on his shots. As technically good as he was, he wasnt a particularly great short puncher and he liked to be at mid-long range and get the snap out of his right hand. Ricky jumped on Kostya and didn't give him the time and space required to maximise the power and leverage he got on his shot. It was a clever tactic. It looked like brawling, and ugly fighting, but it was surprisingly clever and calculated. Matthysse is dangerous from all ranges and is an excellent short puncher aswell. I'm not for one minute suggesting that Matthysse is better than Tzsyu, but I don't think it's a tactic that would serve Ricky well against Lucas.
Thats a good point. I remember at the start of most of the rounds, Ricky would just bull forward, and eat a hellacious shot, absolutely hellacious. That was the one time Kostya had the time and range for his power. But Ricky just bore on through, there was no stopping him that night. That version of Hatton, without Cortez as the ref, would have given Floyd all sorts of hell, let alone Lucas