HBO doing Hatton no favours in America

I've watched the fight 4 times now, with 4 different commentaries (2 American, 1 British and 1 Spanish) and I can't believe how negative HBO were.

The British commentary was, as you'd expect, highly pro Hatton and full of glowing praise, but you had HBO (who are supposed to be pushing Hatton in the US) at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, with the most unenthusiastic, highly dismissive (of Hatton, Castillo and the fight itself) commentary I've ever heard.

I can't find the British video on youtube, but here's 2 different American ones. You'd never guess it was the latter who are writing Hatton's paychecks:

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In the first video, when the KO punch is landed:

"There's a GOOD LEFT HOOK AND IT PUTS DOWN CASTILLO!!! OH WHAT A BODY SHOT!"

"What a terrific blast!"

"THAT'S IT, HE KNOCKED HIM OUT, A BODY SHOT KNOCKOUT VICTORY FOR RICKY THE HTIMAN HATTON!!!"

"You don't see many fights ended with that! That is as good as it gets!"

etc.

And now HBO:

"This is being ruled a knockdown... and he stays on the canvas and this fight is over."

"I think all of those people who said coming into this fight that Castillo was shot are looking pretty smart right now."

"He looked like a shot fighter from the beginning."

"Not the same guy who fought Coralles."

"Hatton won't get much credit for that victory, because of the way Castillo looked."


Jesus Christ, no wonder most of America are calling Hatton the new Ruiz, that's all HBO were talking about for the entire fight. The whole of the 4th round (up until the KO punch, which they barely commented on - you'd think Castillo had fallen down by himself listening to it) was spent criticising Hatton for excessive holding. For the people who only saw HBO, watch it again with no sound and tell me the fight sucked. I thought the 3rd round was a GOOD, entertaining round of boxing. Castillo was coming into the fight more as it wore on, throwing and landing more shots, and Hatton was throwing some vicious hooks to the body. Yes there was a bit too much clinching but comparing Hatton to Ruiz? There's a difference between jabbing and grabbing your way to a decision victory and physically dominating your opponent, pushing him around the ring and throwing plenty of big punches on the inside.

I really think HBO are doing Hatton's popularity in America no favours at alll with that kind of extremely negative commentary. How about when a good shot is landed you comment on it (preferably with a bit of ****ing enthusiasm), rather than talk about how shot Castillo looks, or how much Hatton is clinching? If the job of a commentator is to enhance the enjoyment of a fight, then HBO did a terrible job, because they made a fairly entertaining fight sound like a complete snoozefest. It's really hard to enjoy a fight when the commentators don't stop **** talking it (and both of the fighters involved) for its entire duration.

Honestly I think if the commentators from the first video had done the HBO broadcast instead of Lampley and Kellerman (Steward was a little more positive about the fight and unlike the other 2 - especially Kellerman - seems to actually like Hatton), the reaction to the fight (and Hatton) from American fans wouldn't have been so negative.

Like I said, watch it again with different commentary (or none at all) and tell me it sucked - it was a decent fight and a very good performance (despite what Lampley and Kellerman would have you believe).