Ricky Hattons quality of opposition.

they do have similar records.

but since it is fashionable on ESB to downgrade hatton's achievements, and praise froch relentlessly, some people will think this is a contraversial/ stupid OP.

 

pmsl

 

the version of dirrell that turned up the froch fight was nothing to write home about, and not any better than malinaggi. and like you say, difficult to count it as a genuine win.

 

This is true. But by way of virtue of edging Froch (in most peoples eyes, it was certainly a scrappy fight) and doing a number on Abraham he's done more to a top level opponent than Paulie ever has. And I think Dirrell lacks so much upstairs that he's scared of fighting, so I don't rate him mucch either

Unless you think the likes of Herman, Ndou etc etc are better than Froch? Ever time Paulie has stepped it up, he has looked pretty crap. He didn't exactly set the World alight against decent career lightweight Joe Miguel Cotto did he?

 

You know as well as I do what happened in his last couple of fights, regardless of what it says on Boxrec.

He's displayed enough to me that his strengths are very, very good. And his flaws are gaping holes at the moment. Yet, he's still better than malignaggi who I see no redeeming features in. Any fighter at the level of Froch or Hatton is going to dismiss him with absolute ease as he has no tools in his armory. He's like a blunt knife.

 

To be honest, I reckon Tszyu is fairly overrated anyway (watch me get killed)

 

I liked Tszyu in his heyday. Beastly right hand. It was laser guided. Yet it could be smothered, we didn't see it much in the Vince Phillips/Hatton fights. He needed to have space and feel comfortable in there.

 

Malignaggi is crap but Dirrell might have lost to Abraham ffs & lost to Froch (not the most skillfull, not the fastest & not the most powerful)

 

:banned:cus:kenny:gun:tomb

 

Tszyu was better than anyone Froch beat or even fought IMHO.

 

It didn't look like he might have lost to Abraham from where I was sitting. He schooled him pretty well. But we'll never know of course. Certainly showed his ability, as he did in flashes in the Froch fight. Never seen anything like that when Malignaggi stepped up to the plate, he just got smashed to bits.

And yes Froch is not the fastest, most skillful and most powerful, yet neither was Hatton. But he's effective in an awkward way, and being reasonable in most aspects, and his physical and mental makeup make him hard to shift as an overall package.

 

The difficulty that I'm having is comparing a fighter who is mid-way through one of the best runs in boxing, to one that's career is done and dusted.

It's definitely up for debate and I can see both sides of the argument, but the way Froch is going he will continue to rack up a very impressive resume.

Also, I'm not sure how much weight you can place on the argument of quality fought, as opposed to quality of wins.

 

I see what you're saying but the people who smashed Malignaggi were better than the people who Dirrell fought IMO.

Your 2nd paragraph about Froch is basically what I was saying about Dirrell. Dirrell has his attributes but still isn't much as an overall package because your mental make-up is very important in boxing. As limited as Malignaggi is he still has heart & a chin & experience which are also important. For me it's a fair comparison right now however Dirrell has the time & potential to surpass Malignaggi. whether he will or not.............?

 

If Froch beats Ward I'll take him more seriously as a British great. I don't think he's near great at the moment regardless of what Eddie Hearn spouts. Beat Ward and that will change my opinion entirely as he'll be beating a guy thats all wrong for him and is highly, highly skilled and adaptable.

Bute and a little LHW run would be the icing on the cake and he could propel himself to figure very highly.