:thumbsup Best answer here. How can anyone expect a guy who made a career off defending the WBU for sooo long to be a serious threat to the best guys in and around his weight? Umpteen excuses have been made for his performances against what was viewed as average competition. Facts is the guy just wasnt good enough. World class definitly. But the fringes of world class at best.
Ricky definitely could have been more disciplined between fights. During his prime at 140, he was top 5 easy, arguably top 3, but let's face it, his style, while exciting, does not make for a consistent title defender, and he was due to be spanked by the likes of Mayweather or Paq. I wouldnt call him an alltimer, whereas IMO Tzsyu definitely is.
ballooning up to heavyweight and back down to 140lbs meant that hatton developed a china chin (according to the roy jones bull**** theory of boxing). hatton did this 40 times compared to roy jones' once.
He had a good career at the end of the day. A very good rather than great fighter who did himself no favours with his weight. I found his style entertaining and the Tszyu win was immense. Nobody can take that performance away from him.
Kostya was past his prime when Hatton beat him. Hatton was a tough little fighter but he was not an elite fighter. Once he began to fight outside of England he was exposed! I give him credit for stepping into the right with Pac Man & Mayweather but he did not have the tools to give either one a run for their money. His hit and hold tactics could only take him so far. His out of the ring life style did not help matters. He should retire:hi:
He has without a doubt. I've been a Hatton fan since 2003. 2003 he was a nice prospect that people had an eye on. In 2005 when he upset KT, all of a sudden there were tons of Hatton fans. 2007 after he beat JLC he's popularity grew even more and everybody loved the quote when Hatton said "These 4 rounds were more exciting than Mayweather's whole career" something along those lines. Everybody loved that and people wanted to see Mayweather lose. When Hatton lost later in 2007 a lot of people jumped off the bandwagon, and it was a nice perspective of who actually was a true Hatton fan and who were the people riding on his coattails. Then a year later when Hatton outboxed Paulie all of a sudden there was a nice boost on the Hatton bandwagon yet again. Then after he got crushed against Pacquiao I'm very hardpressed to find somebody not shitting on Hatton or calling him a **** fighter or what have you. Anyway, BOT, Hatton's decline wa sat the hands of Mayweather plain and simple. Hatton wanted to prove everybody wrong yet again, and he fell short and lost his "0". That took a lot out of him and he hasn't been the same since.
i think it has alot to do with the fact that he was not as disciplined between fights as he was in preperation for them. im not saying its nessesary to be that strict with yourself ALL the time, but i mean come on, full english breakfasts and god knows how much alchohol everyday? its much harder to strip yourself down to a certain weight as you get older. switching of the head trainer was another dumb move in my mind, (btw im a hatton fan b4 u guys go mad lol) you cant change a guy like hatton, he was born a brawler and is gona die 1, you can make slight adjustments and try and get him to respond better in terms of the fundamentals of the game, but whenever the guy gets hit flush, he was always gonna resort back to his original style anyhow. so in a nutshell (imo) 1)No Discipline Between Fights 2)Moving Up To 147 For Those Few Fights 3)Switching Trainers 4)Engaging In Alot Of Brawls Resulting In A Steady Deterioration Of His Ability To Withstand A Clean Shot aka No Punch Resistence lol 5)Overated by some, he was good, but not THAT good in the end