Hatton winding down his career

Gaz, glossing over it that way, it isn't. But when the fight was so long in the making, then not due to Hatton's skyrocket win over Tzsyu, but then on again due to his coming back down to earth somewhat, only for it to be sidestepped so blatantly with no good reason, to boxing fans that's no small thing. The other thing is, trying to champion Paulie Malignaggi as a serious threat to Hatton is almost laughable. The guy is a good fighter but Hatton would still be an overwhelming favourite. Jack is the only person I have ever seen on any forum that knows boxing and think Malignaggi is a better fighter than Witter. You may not see anything wrong with a fighter claiming to be the best in the world and deliberately avoiding a fighter for easier opposition, but there are plenty of fans left that don't think like Frank Warren and just want to see the best fighters fight.

 

Its always makes me chuckle when people on here use terms like "educated" and "knowledgable" only when discribing people who agree with them.

 

SleazeNation, you're right, you didn't say that. What you did say on page 7 of this thread is that you didn't believe Hatton turned down a fight with Mayweather three times. I proved he did turn it down at least once, which would have been at his preferred weight. You wanted proof, and I gave you what I thought would be enough. You were right, to the best of our knowledge, Hatton only ducked Mayweather once previously.

 

Well you`d surely have to be uneducated not to see the wood for the "tree`s". You can fool some of the people some of the time but not ALL the time. Looks like Hatton has you double duped nucca.:yep

 

Not really, I just don't seem to have this blind hatred of certain boxers that some people have.

 

Gaz, some have blind love as well as blind hatred. That's why this debate will go on and on. One usually precedes the other. The truth is somewhere in the middle if people are just willing to accept it. Witter has himself to blame for many things. He's performed badly at the wrong times and tried to get a fight by needling a very popular fighter. On the other side, Hatton has sold himself as a man of the people and aspired to be like Marvin Hagler. He's also not lived up to his own image at times and has made many poor excuses for not fighting his domestic and now world rival, even to the point of contradicting himself. In between both have worked hard to get to where they are now deserve respect for doing so. Hatton desreves respect for chasing and fighting the best , Witter deserves respect for the same desire to face the best. It's just that Hatton hasn't done so well being the hunted as he has the being the hunter. The probelm is, the reasons Hatton has given for not facing Witter have left him open to criticism. people are logically going to look at who he does choose to fight and apply his own excuses to them. It's a question of whether you believe getting to the top gives you carte blanche to do as you please or if you have a duty to keep proving yourself against the best possible opponents (as much as is possible anyway).

 

Marv. Believe it or not I don't consider myself a big Hatton fan. I like the guys personality and I've been to see him fight a few times but I'm no zealot, I just get behind most British fighters. Some more than others, based on style/ excitement etc but I don't hate or love any boxer.

I'm sorry Hatton hasn't scaled to the heady heights of Hagler but not many fighters do. And don't forget Hagler ignored plenty of active Middleweights when he spent that 2-3 years fighting Hearns, Mugabi and Leonard.

 

Adrian Stone Vs Mosley!

 

Marquez does alright. He hasn't gained the American mainstream exposure like barrera or Morales did, but he has drawn big enough in the past. I know Pacquiao is a really big draw, but look at what the numbers for their fight did. The Mexicans love Marquez, so it's not like he goes truly underappreciated. He's making millions per fight, which is good. I think he's a bit different from Witter, who after being a top class pro for many years and a world champion is still fighting on undercards of prospects.

 

Gaz, he didn't ignore them to fight the likes of Vilches and Pedersen, and then for the likes of Lazcano and Malignaggi.

 

Awww poor Junior, Hatter should give Witter the chance to make money/become marketable. :rofl

If you didn't like somebody and you were their only chance of making money, would you give them the shot?

 

He's not ignoring Witter to fight Lascano, like he's not ignoring Cotto to fight Lascano. Its not supposed to be a fight against the best availiable opponent, ita confidence fight after a big loss, pretty common in boxing. PauliM is number 2 behind Witter, so thats a pretty good opponent. I agree the fight should have happened around the time of Pederson and Vilches but no one on here was really complaining too hard then or when Hatton was facing Zoo, Maussa, JLC, Mayweather. It all seems to have come to a head on the back of the Mayweather loss and the Lascano fight and by and large its the same people who never liked Hatton in the first place looking for something to beat him up with.

 

Vilches and Pedersen were late replacements for other fighters.

One being the unbeaten Pinto, the other being the unbeaten big punching Antonio Mesquita.

He didn't take these two fights by choice so can people stop reeling them off like Hatton fought these two deliberately.

 

I see you mentioned this in the other thread, onourway. But I rememer when Pinto dropped out of that fight. Witter did state he was ready to go (could be true, could be nonsense), but do you really think he was considered? I sincerely doubt it.

 

Gaz, there are also people who just want to see the fight and see no reason for it not to happen that are questioning this. That's the thing. People can say that it should but can't give a good reason why it isn't, not even Ricky Hatton himself can do that. It's generalising to say that it's only people who hate Hatton that are saying this. There are plenty I've seen on different froums that are saying that they are fans of Hatton but find his reluctance puzzling and his excuses pathetic. It was almost immediately after losing to Mayweather, Hatton stated he was still the best light-welterewight in the world. I, and many other boxing fans, expected him at some point to underline that statement by beating the best in the division, that being Witter. If it were someone else, I'd be calling for Hatton to fight them and not someone easier- AFTER a confidence builder. At least if Hatton left no questions at 140lbs, it would go some way to giving a Mayweather rematch some credibility (along with beating a decent welterweight).