Do you miss the Hatton Days

Wouldn't say i miss him but i liked wagtching him fight and he was a very good fighter. Personal favorite fight ( other than Tszyu, under-rated performance IMO ) was against Ray Oliveira, top performance.
He let himself go unfortuneatly, has any other fighter ballooned so much between fights ?

 

I concurr mate.

i definatley miss those days, its a shame really atsch

G

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv2sbUH_hYI[/ame]

terrific fighter.

even sugar ray respected him. :yep

 

I reckon he could do something in a Pacquiao rematch.. I guess even to a Hatton fan that would be confusing.

 

What do you think?

 

Nowhere near world class? WBA, IBF, IBO light welterweight champion, WBA welterweight Champion, former ring magazine top 10, pound for pounder and number 1 light welter for what 4 years? The Ring magazines 2005 'Fighter of the Year' .......Jesus Christ! What does a fighter have to do to get near world class? undisputed Champ at 3 weights?

 

To me world class means what it says, someone who is capable of operating at world level, which Hatton was, that said, I do think his holding helped him exist somewhat at that level.

When Hatton beat Zoo he beat him by smothering him so he could rob him of the extension for his power, and I think because he was successful doing that he adopted that style more and more at world level (Urango, Castillo), only that luxury to hold was taken away against Mayweather, which blunted his offense, as Hatton is the type of fighter who will only get off himself when he's inhibited your offense by tying up, thus making himself safe.

I think there is an argument to say that Hatton tried to box with Malignaggi in round 1 of their fight but quickly realized that he might get out-boxed doing that, and so resorted back to his old style, cause if you watch the first round Malignaggi did okay using the jab.

I would say Hatton is a much better fighter than the Pacquiao/Mayweather fights suggest, but by the same token he was a one dimensional fighter who when you take away his ability to hold, and asked him to work his way in, could be found wanting when asked to adapt. One thing I will say though, is whilst Manny might still of beaten him, Hatton had already deteriorated (physically) by that point imo. His durability had started to leave him by then, as even Juan Lazcano was able to hurt him in their fight. Of coarse Hatton did well against Malignaggi making it appear he still had something left, but the reality is Malignaggi is so feather fisted and so defense orientated, to where by he invites pressure, that Hatton was always gonna walk through him and would not have to worry so much about the punches coming back at him, however I think we saw in the Lazcano, Pacquiao fights what Hatton really had left in the tank. Infact I think there is an argument to say he was slipping before! he fought Mayweather, as he'd always shown good stamina previously, yet against Mayweather he tired in the mid rounds, and even before that he'd tired significantly against Urango. I do howeber think Mayweather beat a very good version of Hatton, but Pacquiao, no so much. A sure fire sign of a shot fighter is poor balance imo, and I felt Hatton exhibited that during the Malignaggi fight, even though he won.

Hatton was a very good fighter who got the most out of what he had to work with. He was also generally in entertaining fights, particularly early in his career. One of my favourite Hatton fights is the Tackie fight, as Hatton showed just how much of a tough SOB he was in that fight.

 

Once Ricky landed that short right in the 2nd I would say he mixed up his approach well against Paulie. Of course that performance was deceiving, as he had nothing to worry about coming back at him.

 

He was ill against Urango IIRC. Justsayin'...