How would Hatton fare in the modern 140 Division?

Odd rankings and choices of boxers. Which version of the fighters are you ranking? Doesn’t seem to be prime for prime.

 

Hatton benefitted massivly from dodgy refs. He would use his size advantage to basically cheat his way through fights.

 

You could say that about a lot of good boxers though. It’s not ideal but not unusual either. Off the top of my head, Hopkins and Ward were two good boxers who were clever on the inside and got away with a lot in front of refs

 

Oh god dont make that comparrison.

 

I’m not comparing Hatton to Ward or Hopkins in terms of ability. I’m just making the point that being physical with opponents doesn’t automatically make you a bad boxer. Hatton had a bit of an ugly style at times but he was very good on his day.

 

Damn, that vid is interesting in hindsight.

Basically all three of them saying Hatton had reached his ceiling then, in early 2004.

Also, miss that Sky team.

 

I get your point but Ward and Hopkins would bend the rules from time to time in a fight where Hatton would smash them every round.

 

Elbows was one of his more obvious specialties as was butting in those onslaughts he did.

He did get a hell of a lot of help from the refs turning a blind eye; it was basically a known thing at the time. FW's hold on officials then makes Eddie's now look fair and unbiased.

This was one of the reasons why the Mayweather fight was such a shock for some people. No because of the obvious difference in skill between the two, but because Cortez clearly wasn't following FW's script to put it mildy.

 

Cotto obviously ranks higher than Hatton, both in terms of resumé and head to head. Whether he beats Hatton at 140 in 2005 is a completely different question.

At the time of that clip, Cotto was heralded as the next superstar of boxing; an unstoppable power-punching technically sound phenom who would demolish everything in his path. The hype-train was in overdrive, but he was relatively unproven at the highest level.

Within 12 months, he was dancing round on spaghetti legs and barely scraping by Chop Chop Corley and Ricardo Torres, and it would be another couple of years before he rebuilt his reputation.

Timing is sometimes critical. Would the Hatton who bludgeoned Tszyu be that big an underdog against the Cotto who went life and and death with Torres? It's a tough call; Hatton at his absolute peak against a vulnerable, green weight-drained Cotto.

As for Tszyu being "washed up", that is revisionism. He obviously wasn't prime, but he was coming off a demolition job on the consensus top contender, who he had struggled with a few years earlier.

Hatton is being underrated here. He was flawed, protected and well-managed, but at his best he was a genuine handful. He beat multiple world titlists and contenders, was a top 10 p4p mainstay for a few years, and his only losses were to the best two fighters of his generation. I'd pick Crawford to handle him; I'd like to see more of Prograis and Taylor before making that call, but not an easy night's work either way.

Postol? I have no idea why anyone would look at his fights and record and conclude that he would beat Hatton.

 

Cortez allowed the Hopkins inside stuff against Calzaghe a few months later. He was crap in that fight, Hatton wasn’t allowed near him so was more up against it.

 

Yep agreed.

 

Wow Scissors. You think that? Interested in more your take on some of the match ups? A mini breakdown.

 

I'm going against the grain. Regis likes to look for a perfect counter, Ricky smothers you & makes that difficult unless you are Pac/Floyd. I don't see a war.

 

Man, no love for Ricky. I think peak Hatton beats the crap out of that body.

 

Eh? I'm starting to think I've entered a thread designed to draw idiots like me in, only to say you've been baited in the ultimate fishing thread. It's a prank, calm down.

I'm a Josh Taylor fan boy. But if Taylor can escape about 92% of Postols jabs to close distance & work him over, I can assure you Hatton can too. I pick Hatton to stop Postol to the body or beat him up to a clear decision.

Twilight zone in here.