How Good was Ricky Hatton?

A fighter, even a great one, can grow old overnight, i.e. between fights. The best version of Kostya Tzsyu would be too much for the best version of Ricky Hatton.

 

I'm not so sure, Tyszu was always easy to hit, always slower (dand and foot speed) than Hatton and always had problems with being backed up and being pressured.

 

Hatton was a just a bad style matchup for Zoo at that point in his career. I don't think he got 'old overnight' just that he couldn't do 12x3 mins under pressure at high tempo anymore (he was never that keen on it even in his prime).

 

I agree that Hatton was a bad style match up for Tszyu. Kostya is still better in an overall sense though, and greater at that weight for me as well.

I actually had Kostya winning the first 5 rounds and Hatton the next 6. Only watched it the once though.

 

Exactly, and in retrospect, the blowout of a old pure boxer like MItchell(who was was never very good imo)didn't really tell us much about what Kostya had left at the time

 

Hatton even stated in his book that he believed he was the man to give Tszyu fits, because of his higher workrate and output.

Throw in the fact that Hatton was naturally reckless enough to be prepared to take many thudding shots to get his own off - rather than standing at a distance and catching the meaty end of the right hand..... he also admitted that had he stood off ala Judah he would have been put flat on his ass pronto.

There is a lot of revisionist history about this fight, but one must remember that Hatton took a vicious beating in this fight, and there wasn't that much between them on the cards. IMO if Tszyu had KD'd Hatton in the 12th..... the story might have been oh so different.

 

you forget the win over vince phillips and him being the 1st to stop malignaggi - and still the only. and we now saw that malignaggi was not shot when he faced hatton.

 

you are wrong again , hatton beat tszyu and phillips who beat tszyu and ray oliveira who narrowly beat phillips .
and there is no closing the circle from tszyu or phillips.
sounds somewhat like proving his superiority over tszyu for me.

 

Trying to claim that Hatton is greater in an overall sense than Tszyu is just crazy.

Tsyzu would be a lock for a top 10 all time place at 140, probably top 5 - Hatton struggles to crack a top 15.

 

Yeah, most people, I would wager, would consider Joe Louis to be greater, in the big picture, than Rocky Marciano, and Benny Leonard to be greater than Jimmy McLarnin, even though they were the ko victims, due to the fact that both losses occured at their end of the trail, and other examples exist as well...like Emile Griffith being trounced and decked along the way by Alan Minter, a fine fighter BTW, but one who wouldn't have even gotten near beating Griffith in Griffith's time...likewise it is, in my opinion, concerning Tzsyu and Hatton.

 

Tyszu was 35, Phillips 39

 

well , so the win over phillips really count less than what i thought - he also came back from a loss and apparently was having trouble making 140 and was on a downslide. but 35 isn't that old in tszyu's case : he just came back from a second defeat of a peek Shrmba Mitchell and was quite on hisslef peak , which was not short. if he'd have a weak career before or after that loss , that would have supported your point , but it wasn't the case.

 

35 is pretty old for a 140lber, certainly past prime and he only had 3 rounds in 2 years. In boxing stamina and ability to fight long hard fights counts allot.

Mitchell wasnt that good, was past prime and had just got a gift decision against Ndou the year before. He'd go ont to lose all his next big fights emphatically

Tyszu was slower with less stamina than in his prime, which plays a big part in if he can fight at Hattons pace. He also had a shoulder injury

Now Hatton may have beaten Tyszu in his prime, who knows its a possibility but it would be allot closer and a great win for him none the less.

 

agree except just about the 35 age - look at jmm , nate campbell , witter , mosley (agreed to fight pac at 140,and is 147) , look at what baldomir did when he was 35 , what phillips did in that age.