Hatton, Witter and Mayweather

I agree with many of the above points, and if you look at Witter's record then yes, I would concede he does deserve a crack at Hatton. I'm not basing my opinions on statistics though, I'm looking at how he's performed during his career.
All too often he has promised us great things, then looked awful whilst fiddling and spoiling his way past opponents.This has never made him the most marketable of fighters, and if he ends up never getting a shot at Hatton, he only has himself to blame. He had his huge chance against Judah, but bottled it.
I quite like Witter and would like to see him fight Hatton, I just feel he should be doing a bit more. If he took on somebody like Mausser, rather than one of his victims, then maybe some real interest will develop.

 

I agree that right now Witter is deserving of a shot at Hatton. However, we can hardly have a pop at him for not fighting Witter next when he's stepping up to 147 to take on the undefeated p4p #1 in his own backyard. If Hatton returns to 140 after the Mayweather fight then Witter, along with Malignaggi and Torres is the best contender out there.

As for fighting just for the sake of shutting him up, boxing don't work like that. Witter, for most of his career, has been two steps behind Hatton (an unknown when Hatton was a prospect, an upcomer when Hatton was a contender, a contender when Hatton was a champ, now he's finally a champ Hatton is in megafights). Along with his ugly style and serious lack of marketability, he brought nothing to the table, simple as. Witter has looked to drum up publicity for himself by parading himself as Hatton's "rival" simply on the British angle (i.e. "we're both British therefore we should fight") and some have bought it. His reason for doing this is because if he had tried to drum himself up as a rival to another big fighter without the British angle (i.e. Cotto, Mayweather, Tszyu) he'd have got laughed the hell out of Dodge, especially after that performance against Judah.

If you want to start demanding a shot and calling out the champ, you have to do something to distinguish yourself, to stand out from the crowd. Witter, until his recent victories over Ndou, Corley and Harris, had not done that. Right now, he has finally shown himself as a stand-out guy at 140 and after Mayweather is one of the few fighters who can legitimately demand a shot at Hatton on merit.

 

I've no doubt the fight made perfect sense for Witter. A huge payday for a guy who couldn't draw flies off his own back and win, lose or draw he gets his name in the spotlight again when it was mud after the Judah fight. Hatton gains nothing, as per my previous post, Witter has always been two steps behind him and has not been any kind of draw. Until very recently, apart from happening to be born on the same mass of land, Witter has had very little to distinguish him from a number of other fighters in the division. And as I stated, if you want the right to call out a fighter and demand a shot, you have to distinguish yourself. Whilst Hatton was the be all and end all for Witter (simply because he can't draw flies to ****), he was not the same to Hatton.

As for belts, is he not challenging for the WBC 147lb one in his next fight then? I am just having a bit of trouble reconciling this notion that Hatton has apparently "ducked" a fighter who until recently has been pretty irrelevant to face the likes of Tszyu and Mayweather. I mean, if you're ducking someone, you generally do so because you're afraid of losing to them, right? Anyone with half a brain would have said Hatton had more chance of losing to either of those two than he does to Junior Witter, no?

Anyway, enough of this, where's Olu to bring up both Hatton and Witter's shameful ducking of Ajose Olusegun???

 

I seem to remember that HBO were interested in making Hatton/ Witter a few years ago and showcased Witter to get people interested. Witter 'fluffed his lines' en route to a boring win and HBO lost interest.

 

I think this is a fight Ricky has to take, win or lose against PBF. If he wins against PBF, then Witter represents arguably his best challenge out there. If he loses then Witter represents a way to become a 140 beltholder again and capture a title that has eluded him. It will also answer the domestic question that has dogged him his whole career.

Go on Ricky, agree to the fight :deal

 

Christ!! Witter beats a half decent opponent in Harris and all of a sudden he's a world beater. Witter fans seem to think that Hatton is going to stand stock still in mid-range and let Witter tee off on him....

If Hatton loses to PBF then Witter or Paulie M would make good comeback fights at 140.

 

Thats some slant on why Hatton is fighting Mayweather instead of Witter!!

The money and world wide acclaim of (possibly) beating the P4P #1 might also have something to do with it?

 

Junior does need to consolidate the good impression he has made against Harris with a futher impressive win or two against name opporsition, if Junior does that he may actually get the TV mogals wanting Junior Vs Ricky as well, and once you have them on your side things can happen, " The Hitman Vs The Hitter " it evan has a ready made Tag line,

How Does Junior consolidate ? off his performance against Kendall Holt i think Junior would stand Ricardo Torres on his Head, as a division double champion Junior would force the American fans and TV string pullers to really take notice,

Zab Judah ?, i am sure Zab would want to feel a belt around his waist once more could he be persueded to revisit 140lb to fight a man he has already beaten and would feel confident ofdoing again ? Junior fully prepared in now a different animal then the late sub newcomer that Zab beat, but still struggled look good against, this Mature Whitter might be favoured gain revenge against Zab, again it would be very Noteworthy across the pond, and do Juniors Rep no harm at All,

With Ricky Focused on Mayweather, and depending on how he gets on perhaps the winner or loser of Cotto & Mosley. Junior does not want to stall and slip off the radar, he need to keep his momentum and profile high

I would Favour Ricky over Junior providing he is not damaged/worn down by his welterweight adventures, If Ricky Saves Junior for his Farewell fight, he may not be so motivated and he could fall apart like Paul Hoko Hodkinson against Steve Robinson.

Hopefully it can take place within a year before long carrers start to take a toll, Junior and his performances need to nudge it along just a little bit more i feel
( neither of them really needs Paul Malenoggi (?)

Good Luck to both Ricky and Junior.

 

why dont you try watching the 40 odd other fights, god how stupid can you be?

 

His stamina might not be what It used to be though.

His stamina will drain even faster after all the shots he will take from Floyd and Floyd's leagues better than Callazo.

 

Hatton fans hate Witter. They just wish he would go away, because they know he'd be a real threat and would have been a real threat had the fight ever taken place.

I disagree with the people that think Witter cannot hurt Hatton. Yes Ricky has a solid chin, but Magee had him in serious trouble as did Collarzo. I think Witter hits harder than those 2 guys and will like the fact that Hatton is going to him. Witter is an effective counter puncher.

With Hatton having moved up to face Mayweather at 147, Witter is now the best 140 in the world. I doubt Hatton will come back down, because apart from Witter there are no fights there for Ricky. Hatton has already said he does not want to give Witter a pay day, so I cannot see the fight happening.

 

Magee DID NOT have hatton in SERIOUS trouble. Watch the fight again. Flash knockdown did not = Serious Trouble.

Collazo did have Hatton in serious trouble, at Ricky's first fight at a bigger weight, against a bigger guy, at short notice.

Who has Witter faced save for fringe contenders in the last year or so, and Zab Judah many moons ago, to warrant the sudden overhype.???

He recorded an impressive performance against Vivian Harris and then suddenly he's a Hatton beater....

Hatton's most recent comments on Sky Sports suggest hat he may be willing to face Witter in the future. Although if he does and beats him, then Witter will be shot obv.

 

he was more hurt in the 2nd round against Magee, not on ***** street but still hurt all the same

 

I am a Hatton fan, but from memory I think you are correct. Hatton got floored in the first round, then was hurt in the 2nd as well. It forced Hatton to change his game plan.

In terms of Witter, he has beaten some decent, credible opposition. He may not have looked great, but the likes of Kotelnik, Lynes and Ndou have all done reasonably ok since losing to Witter, in Ndou's case he picked up a world title, in Lynes a European title and Kotelnik was screwed out of a world title.

Witter's had to do things the hard way, winning the British, Commonwealth, European and then fight world ranked opponents before getting his world title shot. I see no sense in knocking his opposition. He's had a better career than most, and at his absolute best, yeah I can see him giving Hatton problems. Hatton is not Sugar Ray Leonard that I should think otherwise.

 

Hatton and Mayweather coming in Manchester on Friday?