Admittedly he struggled even in most of his best wins, but he beat some top contenders, dethroned Tyszu and made the most of what he had. Saying he was pitiful/beat nobody of note/was simply the product of marketing is extreme.
Maybe i was harsh, but I do see him as average, and i do think his reputation is mainly due to very good marketing. Tyszu was not at his best, and Hatton used very rough house tactics, this was his greatest win no doubt, but there are a great number of WW's that would beat that version of Hatton today, and there have been in the past.
He was a mauler but a good one. His best pure boxing was on display when he beat Paulie M in a shut out but other than that he was a come forward, heart on his sleeve, head in his ass (in the case of Emmanuel) fighter. I won't miss him but that's more to do with his despicable out of ring behaviour since he was smashed to pieces by Pac.
Ricky brought a lot of UK Fans back to boxing, I enjoyed all his fights and am a big fan of his. Glad he's retired - if only for his mental state. He can walk away with his head held high!!! His Bentley is pretty special too.
Well, Hatton has been a protected fighter for a long time. But when he finally stepped up, he did fight the best. It was a bit hit & miss then, but at least he fought the best and proved he belonged to the top of the division. Some nights he looked impressive, some nights his performance was sub-par. He only really lost to the two best fighters of this era, and was somewhat competitive against one of them (FMJ). So yes, he was a good fighter, not great, but pretty good nonetheless.
Average??? How do you define average??? #1 in your division for 5 years??? In all likely hood he is a top 3-4 LWW (Not WW as you said) over the last 30 years with JCC and Pryor ahead of him and between him and tszyu for the 3-4 spot...In a H2H sense I am sure Oscar and a few others take him out in a hypothetical setting. A fight with Cotto at 140 and Judah would have answered a lot more questions about ricky difinitively....about Cotto & judah as well! But average....not unless it has a strange definition I am not aware of!?
He is a bum, Witter would have beaten him, Khan now, would beat the best Hatton, as would Alexander, Bradley etc. I am pleased his marketing paid off well on you though.:roll:atsch
Crap, Witter struggled to fill the shitty Bradford arena! When the Khan Hatton fight would of been an option Khan would of been pulped. Bradley and Alexander really are marketing jobs and would of been made short work of. If you want to overlook Hatton's skills you cannot overlook he was the hardest working (in the ring albeit) lww for years and achieved alot.
This...^ Those who say he was domestic level and what not are simply haters. He only lost to the two greatest fighters of our generation. There's something to be said about that. And had he been more disiplined (unhealthy lifestyle) he'd still by fighting today beating guys like Bradley and Marquez. Very good fighter...
He was good, but not an elite world class fighter. He wasted time fighting bums, I mean take a look at his vs Mayweather's record prior to their fight and it was no contest. 42-0 with only 2 good names.