How Good was Ricky Hatton?

Regardless of Hatton being 'protected' he always WANTED the big fights.

Fights that were as tough as Witter if maybe not as tough stylistically (Hatton obviously didn't see that he could beat Witter, nor did I, not on Witters 'best night' anyway, mainly because Hatton seemed intimidated and I doubt he would've attempted to implement his style in the same way as he would against an opponent he was confident against) so he can hardly be called 'protected' when he sought out fights with Tszyu and Pac. Warren may have protected him, but that's not Hatton's fault IMO.

 

Hatton operated his career on a risk-reward basis, which is a smart thing to do but not a fan friendly thing to do. This wasn't simply Warren not letting him have the fights, Team Hatton weren't keen on allot of the harder fights. Hatton turned down a good few fights while with Warren. Look at after he left Warren when he could fight whoever he wanted, he fought Maussa, Collazo, while turning down the FMJ fight, turning down the Witter fight. He also turned down a Cotto fight at some stage. But when he could make the big bucks he stepped up and fought the best

Witter may have beaten him, he was a risk, I'm not 100% sure how that would go. Witter lacks stamina/straight punching/. But he is a great shot slipper and faster than Hatton. Hatton has the bigger heart, great stamina/workrate (very underrated stamina), and he can actually fight inside. I was a Witter fan and its 1 I always wanted to see

Its a shame Witter-Hatton didn't happen after the Mayweather fight, but if I had a choice of making £5m against Witter or £20m against Pacquaio I know which I'd take. Its also a shame Witter didnt get a shot earlier in his career, he would have taken Shamba Mitchell out back in the day imo and that would have set something up. Witter was unfortunate to twice come up against 2 very good young American prospects in their prime. But its all Witter's fault really, he fought too negatively, didnt have a big fighting heart, didnt fight often enough, and turned down fights with Cotto/Pinto that could have catapulted him to the big stage.

 

Good post.

People often just blackball Hatton and assume Witter was just an innocent, hard done by, avoided fighter.

The truth was that he was offered plenty of decent fights, turned them down and then started spouting off in the media.

It's alright claiming to be a devastating puncher when fighting the likes of Alan Temple and Lucky Sambo, but let's face it, who with a pulse did he face between Judah and N'Dou?

Hatton was wasting time with a few bull**** WBU fights, but still managed to rack up wins over Magee, Phillips, Tackie, Oliveira and Stewart.

Pretty much any of those would have gotten into the top 3 wins on Witter's resume.

 

Ndou, Harris, Kotelnik, Corley all rate solidly over Magee, Phillips, Tackie, Oliveira and Stewart as fighters mate, especially the older versions Hatton faced, I wouldnt mention even Stewart as he was never up to much.

Witter in his defense was taking the Brit/Euro titles and beating fighters of such calibre to do so. He should have taken the Pinto/Maggee fights when they were offered though as they were winnable fights that would have advanced him. He also made a mistake leaving Warren. But Witter never had the silver spoon treatment that Ricky had

 

Hmmmm.......

Corley was done, as subsequent results have proved. It was a **** performance by Witter as well.

Harris was never really that good IMO, a top end Euro level fighter (even though he isn't European - but you get me!).

Kotelnik is a good win, but the fight was very close and he had a loss to M'Baye - though in his defence he stripped Maidana of his '0', who subsequently made Ortiz his *****.

N'Dou is a granite chinned gatekeeper, who if he had a higher workrate, would probably have gotten a share of the spoils vs Witter. He lost to pretty much every top end fighter he ever faced.

Leaving Warren was probably a mistake, but he is a difficult fighter to move. Throughout his career he has had next to no momentum - spells of inactivity followed up by a joke opponent in a tuneup.

They are both pretty tough guys to rate, but I think one of them can be pretty proud of his achievements and the other ought to wonder what might have been. If only I had focused my attentions elsewhere and made a legacy of my own.

Part of that must be bad management, he ought to have realised ages ago that he wasn't on Hatton's radar, yet he continually called him out. Why not take a hard fight in the States and force the fight?

The only time he was in a real position to force the fight was when he beat Harris, but by that time nobody really cared because Ricky was already signed to face Mayweather.

Things haven't panned out right for him on numerous occasions, but he could have done more to help his cause.

 

All those fighters have their drawbacks but all were titlists, Harris was a pretty good 1 who messed up against Mausa, Ndou deserved wins over Mitchell/Malignaggi 2, and pushed Cotto. Allot of people had Kotelnik beating the French man twice. Corley went down hill after Witter, but nearly all of Hatton's opponents went on losing streaks/retirement afterwards too if you want to look at it that way

They are still all better than Magee, Phillips, Tackie, Oliveira and Stewart. And Maussa/Malignaggi for that matter too.

Hatton has been far more fortunate than Witter with his career in fairness. If WItter and Hatton were strikers Hatton would be playing for Man United (bare with me ) getting 10 chances a game, Witter would be playing at Hull City getting 1-2 half chances of scoring. Hatton has just had far more chances of making big fights on his terms, Witter hasnt. I think we can be pretty sure Tyszu aside which is a tough 1 Witter beats the rest of Hatton's comp. Both are pretty much done though, maybe 1 gets 1 last roll of the dice versus Khan though

 

I don't think Junior Witter and Phil Brown could work together effectively!

 

"Old habits die hard"...and therein lay Hatton's intrinsic problem when he started to rub shoulders with the best.

You can't have your fists rocking underneath your chin as you come in. Sure, this will work against standard and even some decent opponents as they concern themselves with defending against the expected rushes, but the better ones are going to be picking out those abundant moments when he leads in with his head and persists with the same angle of attack.

The capable Eamonn MaGee showed how much the assertive counterpunch did not agree with Hatton, before he inexplicably simmered as the rounds went by, letting Hatton hoover up the rounds.

After the big slash with a rusty Tszyu came problems at the higher weight and Mayweather unravelled Hatton when it came down to who deserves to be 'undefeated' more. It was all cakes n' cream with Mayweather Sr for a time after the loss, but Hatton needed to learn these little lessons a good 7 years prior.

When Pacquiao came whatever he learnt went out of the window and his style of walking square-on gave him virtually no chance against a man several levels above his game.

Hatton was a good fighter, but his popularity will do more for his legacy than his record will, which contains many stepping-stones of filler. Frank Warren ensured he struck at the right time as did his bad habits (inside the ring and out) ensure he fell from the top in due course.

 

I think he was prety good really.

He was the best junior welter on the planet for a period of a few years and despite the key fights that he missed he was going after the beltholders.

He was ultiimately overmatched when he was put in with a great fighter like Mayweather or Paquiao but they were both the best pound for pound fighter on the planet when they beat him.

On a final note I think that he might just pull off one last upset before he hangs up his gloves.

 

He was painfully overrated. He beat a once-was Tszyu, and was exposed soon enough by the elite fighters he got around to fighting. The British press didn't help matters much by touting him as though he were the second coming of Ken Buchanan. Calzaghe they were justified in raving about...not Hatton.

 

I personally want him to give it away and enjoy the rest of his days.

However, if he chooses to pack in, I'd like to see his comeback fight be a ten rounder on an undercard somewhere - wishful thinking obviously.

It's difficult to guage what he has left - if he is to continue at 140 he needs to get back with his old nutritionist, and with a trainer he can genuinely trust. Billy Graham wasn't a master tactician, but there was 100% trust between the pair of them until after the Floyd fight, after which it all went sour.

I just wish he would have shown more discipline in the ring, granted, he would have still lost to Floyd and Manny, but would have been much more competitive in doing so, and would have won some of his wars easier - therefore preserving his career.

 

this is the perfect analises,,,,imagine him trying to crack the top 5 today he would not be a Champ.

 

Almost everybody was saying Tzsyu would murder him at the time. And almost everybody had Tzsyu near the very top of the pound-for-pound list at the time. Tzsyu's standing was VERY HIGH.
Hatton beat him up.
It's always AFTER the event that people say "washed-up".
Maybe Tszyu was overrated. I dont know.

Hatton deserves credit.

 

Yeah i understand that completely, but it's just a thing where i hate to see fighters who outright deserve their shot not getting it, and to basically be taunted by the man in the power position, well like i said.

 

he's already beaten one of the current champs, Urango.....