What were Ricky Hatton's main strengths and weaknesses as a boxer?

I would say his 2 biggest weaknesses were defense and conditioning especially later in his career. I don’t think his style was ever going to give a long prime, but his lack of dedication sealed it. He was always there to hit and get hit, so defensively his lack of skill was his biggest downfall.

his strength was his strength. He was a rough guy who liked to get inside and grapple and punch, sort of like a smaller quicker Gene Fullmer. His work in the clinches turns many off but it was effective. He had a good inside game, good body puncher, insane pressure, and just wanted to be chest to chest all night long. He would sometimes make it dirty, but as a fullmer, Pedroza fan I don’t mind rough and dirty.

I think he gets sold short as just a guy, but to me only the very elite did and would beat him. You had to be more than good to beat Hatton. I would have loved to see him fight Cotto, I think Hatton would beat him at 140 but would give the edge to Cotto at WW, where I don’t think Hatton was suited for.

I am a big Hatton fan, and it was the fight with Tszyu that won me back to modern boxing after a lack of interest had settled in for a few years. I miss the excitement him and his traveling fans brought to every fight! Still one of my favorites

 

He is very good at planking as he showed against Pac.

 

BoxRec's Ratings...

 

Hatton was a volume puncher and a mauler. His was very energetic with his movements, lots of grappling, pushing on the inside, good body puncher, he could jab from the outside at times. Hatton seemed to have only 2 ranges, in a guys chest or on the outside where he looked uncomfortable. He would transition from one to the other with bull rush tactics and long jump hops. He was hittable often coming in or standing up to high and his punches had a wide quality to the them and he could be countered. His hands usually low to his chest. His inside game involved lots of pivots finished by rips to the body, the punishment was more accumulative. Against more top opposition he found himself more in the middle of the ring. His offense was very straight lined from the outside and he would take big shots coming in (vs Tszyu, Pac, Mayweather, Lazcano, Collazo, Senchenko). Even though he tried to move his head, he was in the way of the punches. He wasn't big on feints and parrys. His defense just like his offense was a full body movement and used a lot of energy. One of his favourite punches was a straight right where he fell into his opponent to grapple.

Ricky just had that type of skin that would cut/bruise or swell very easily. Even when he won he looked the worse of the two fighters. He was bursting full of energy and was usually spent in the late rounds of a fight. He never seemed to settle and relax, always preferring to be busy. That being said he was a good fighter one that had a ceiling as seen when he fought the worlds elite (FMJ and Pac) and he was highly criticized in close fights vs solid contenders Lazcano and Collazo) who fans thought he should have dominated but he struggled at looked human at times. Domestically he was extremely popular and his British fans loved and adored him following him all over the world.

Hatton was his own worst enemy regarding his weight. Early in his career the 30-40 lbs weight cuts his body could handle but eventually they taxed him so much he wasn't as effective late into fights. He used to eat massive English breakfasts after weighins - lots of bread, beans, sausages and would brag about it to the boxing media that it was his routine.

Part of Hatton's popularity was that he was the every day man who had come up through hard work. He would meet with his boys for beers at the same pub even when he was a world champion and he was a huge Manchester city fan. This was before the club was purchased by billionaires in 2008 and become one of the wealthiest clubs in the world. Ricky always walked out to their club song - Blue Moon and had their colour on his trunks.

His two defeats to FMJ and Pac because they are crushing kos follow him. They seem to define him more now than any of his victories. I'm not sure why - fighters like Hearns, Terry Norris and Donald Curry lost fights convincingly but don't seem to be as ridiculed by fans as much as Hatton.

 

I always think Hatton’s problems started when he reached contender status and from fighting 6 and 7 times a year he ended up fighting only 2 or 3 times a year.
This gave him time between fights to let himself go and put on an enormous amount of weight which did him no good when having to lose it for big fights.
If he’d been the type of guy to look after himself between fights and stayed in condition I think he would have been better.

 

His biggest strength ever is having Diamond dave parriss as his homegrown ref, far and away.

 

Foot speed and offensive side stepping were two of his strengths - especially earlier on before his lifestyle caught up with him

His weakness was punching at mid range or jabbing his way in - he preferred to leap in to grab and grapple

 

He would be indisciplined and blow up bw fights.

 

I've seen every Hatton fight that was filmed.

Strengths

Body punching - To me, he was a grade-A body puncher. He was creative with his combinations (more than the left-hand dominant body punchers that were his contemporaries--Cotto, Ward, Barrera, Mosley, etc.), could stop a guy with rights or lefts, and was very accurate (he was rarely warned).

Foot speed - He was able to close distance quickly and maneuver inside well because of it. In particular, Hatton was excellent at pivoting. He could even box off the back-foot when he wanted. His foot feints were solid, too.

Stamina - His endurance was very good. He could go 12 hard rounds at 140. Hatton had a good combination of bouncing on his feet, throwing quite a few punches, and being able to muscle a guy around.

Weaknesses

Lack of mid-range game - This showed when he was coming up, like when he faced Vince Phillips. Phillips was past his best and was beaten handily, but he had moments against Ricky and these weaknesses were exploited to a much greater degree by better operators. Hatton wanted to be in or out, and on the way in he had a tendency to drop his hands.

Bruising/Cutting - His skin just wasn't tough. I remember the scary moments he had long before he ever reached the top. For instance, the bad cut he experienced against Thaxton.

Recklessness - This got him in terrible trouble with Pacquiao and Mayweather. He seemed to let frustration take over and he figured, for some reason, that he could bull through whatever they had to offer. I imagine his ability to soak up a few good shots from Tszyu planted that in his mind.

Blowing up - As others have already stated, his weigh cuts were too much. Hatton admitted he felt it was a source of pride when he was fighting, but concedes that it shortened his career.

Note

Personally, I think the idea that he was "dirty" is exaggerated. He was by and large clean. The only thing he did to any significant degree was hold/clinch, which was annoying, but it was an applied tactic. He generally wasn't holding just to hold, like Wladimir Klitschko did, but to wear a guy down, pin him, and punish him.

 

Because he got dominated and then CRUSHED.
For years I told people he isn't an elite fighter pound for pound. And people would laugh.
Then Mayweather beat him -and make no mistake it was easy- and then stopped him.
Then he got blown out by Pac.
He was a good pro and he was solid but on the world level he wasn't anything special.

 

Fans don't feel like Hatton was nearly as good as Hearns, Norris, and Curry.

 

Strong guy, liked tu get in there. But defence was not top notch. He had a solid enough chin till he was faded.
Surprised he remained at the top as long as he did at times.

 

His ability y to set up devestating body attacks and sharp left hooks on the inside. One of his problems is he could get careless when advancing forwards and could occasionally mentally disengage in fights overall he did quite well. Not many people mention his brother as much though?