I remember as a teen I loved Kostya, I thought he was great value to watch and being so young only the really big hitting come forward types could keep me in my chair. (I was 14ish gimme a break) and I went over his fights one after another saving his losses for last well I had my soul ripped in two my Cool Vince and then I got to the Hatton bout.... Wtf? Even as a teen I could see this was bull. That fight was filthy enough to make Ruiz blush Kostya never stopped looking to the ref to save him from Hatton's rabbit punches, elbows, wrestling and low blows all night. He just leaned on Tszyu and rushed him to the ropes and seemed happy to engage in as little actual boxing at all and those damn commentators "Ricky is goin toe to toe" "Inside fighting" what a joke. Honestly a lil bit of a rant but I won't hide I despise Hatton for ruining a potentially very, very fun fight.
Hatton was always a dirty fighter, but the fault lies with diamond dave parriss, who is the most biased and incompetent ref I have ever seen.
Hatton was able to fight his fight. It was dirty and in close, and I do think the referee let that sort of thing happen to much. Hatton would get his Karma with the Mayweather fight, and by having a referee that refused to let Hatton even get close to him. I guess it was a wash in the end.
I remember going into that fight thinking Koysta was going to crush Hatton with a straight right hand. Man was I wrong. Hatton fought the perfect fight for a swarmer by not letting Koysta have any room to punch and by making him fight at a range he wasn't comfortable at. When you think about Tzyu, he was at his best when he could set the pace and time that right hand against guys that stayed outside just a little to long. Hatton stayed in his chest all night inside of the right hand and he had the physical strength to push Tzyu back which no one ever really did to him. Hatton was terrific that night.
I thought he was filthy and never looked this good again because he and the ref were drinking buddies.
If I'm honest I thought KT looked past it and Hatton mugged him. I was never impressed by it. I believe if memory serves me correct KT hadn't even been active for a bit. And Hatton was allowed to do whatever he wanted too including being dirty at times.
Disgraceful performances by both Hatton and parriss. I laugh out loud every time Hatton's fans complain about Cortez.
this is one of my favorite fights, ever! Simply because I kind of drifted away from boxing for a few years and didn’t really have much interest in it. Then I watched this fight not really knowing either guy and I got hooked all over again. I think it is an awesome fight and made me a huge Hatton fan! He is on my top 10 non Philly fighters easily. I don’t mind dirty fighters shoot I love Fullmer, Pedroza types so Hatton is right up my alley.
He absolutely was a rough dude on the inside. Hatton was a guy with a 65' reach but was strong as a bull. He knew being a rough inside fighter was his key to winning. He also knew that keeping Tzyu from having space to fire that straight right was just as important and he didn't care what it took to win. I'm not a really that big of a fan of Hatton's. I actually like Tzyu quite a bit more as a fighter but I admire Hatton's performance in that fight. He put himself in the best position to win and did just that.
He would be KO'd with a real ref in a different country. He was fouled for dropping Hatton with a body shot FFS there is fighting rough then there is being a Ruiz clinching non stop, butting, holding and hitting and cuddling Kostya to the ropes.I saw no real inside fighting just blatant rule breaking. He and the ref seemed to not care how he won that night I agree lol.
Tszyu was hard done by. He was past his best and inactive too. The referee was awful. Hatton was able to do what he wanted and fought really dirty. The worst part is when Tszyu landed a legit body shot and knocked him down and it was ruled low then Hatton deliberately hit Tszyu really hard and really low and didn’t even lose a point. Said afterwards it was a retaliation? To a wrongly called low-blow? GTFOH.
Not a fan of Hatton, but it was his time. Tszyu had seen better days, Ricky, the younger man took his shot and got the win. Nature of the beast.
