Naseem Hamed vs. Ricky Hatton (historically)

Resume wise Hamed may have a better one . . . but Hatton became a two divisional Champ and is now considered the 140 lineal Champ.

Hameds accomplishment in stature is not even comparable to what Hatton has accomplished . . . so Hatton by a mile.

 

Tough one - in terms of their natural gifts as boxers, you would have to go with Naz, but Ricky has shown much more desire to achieve his full potential and is much more personable than Hamed, who is best described as an arrogant wanker.

In terms of what they did for British boxing, Hatton is probably the leading fighter and personality since Randy Turpin defeated Ray Robinson - boxing moved out of the mainstream upon the departures of Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank - hastened by the McClellan tragedy and a number of other things. Hamed was never as popular both with the public or press - many people turned up hoping to see him beaten, and when this happened the press corps were high-fiving each other for some time, whereas when Hatton lost he took a bit of stick from certain quarters, mainly because of his diet!

Hatton will leave the better legacy - if not in terms of his resume, which is respectable, but because of the impact he made on the sport in a country which was badly needing someone to be a leading face.

 

:rofl

I agree that Naz has more natural ability but I also think Hatton will be remembered as acheiving more... two weight world champion, linear LWW champ and never looked like being in trouble at the weight and taking on the best P4P boxer on the planet!

 

Perhaps so - was Naz ever linear champ?

I wasn't so interested in boxing back then so never paid that much attention to linear champs and all......

 

From memory... and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong... (was younger then and wasnt as in to boxing as I am now) but I think Naz was regarded as linear champ as he he beat Kelley and Johnson and Medina. But Barrera and Morales had only just come up to FW when MAB beat him, these were regarded as the superstars at the weight (Hamed included but most notably none of his opposition in that bracket).

Whereas Hatton has been regarded as linear champ since his win over Tszyu in 2005.

For me Hatton fought more C+ fighters than Hamed,
Hamed fought more B- fighters than Hatton, but
Hatton fought more B and above fighters than Hamed (Tzsyu, Mayweather, Castillo compared to MAB only).

I know people will disagree, probably down the Kelley and whether he was better than the Castillo that Hatton fought. I dont think he was.

 

Hatton's career is totally smoke and mirrors stuff. A whole bunch of WBU defences, which really scrape the barrell one good win over an old Tszyu (including pushing the rules to the limit) and another over a shot Castillo

I think his career was pretty much put into perspective when he struggled to death the first time he tried to fight at 147, and got knocked out vs. Mayweather who doesn't knock anybody out at these weights

Hatton's career has been opportunistic. His skillset is also pretty poor in comparison to Naz.

 

Good point Paddy - there are too many C level fighters on Hatton's record, the most bizarre thing is that they actually got worse as his WBU streak concluded. He should have been straight up to title level after he put on an exhibition against Ben Tackie, who was a real contender at the time - instead it was Pedersen and Vilches.

Many of Hamed's wins were against guys of similar ability throughout his career - other than the Kelley fight none in particular stand out, even that was for the KD's than the standard of opponent beaten, whilst Ricky has the Tszyu win and also Castillo, who wasn't as shot as many here believe - as he was actually competing in the rounds (though losing them) before being taken out.

Hamed was a stylist, but once out of his comfort zone for the first time against Marco, was clueless, whereas Hatton has been taken out of his zone many times and emerged victorious on all occasions, other than the Mayweather beating.

 

The bit in bold is about the only thing I agree with you on TFFP.

At LWW - who else could he have fought? Linear champ bar none.

At WW - yes he looked poor in his wins - but so did Naz against aged fighters like Medina. KO'd against Mayweather is no disgrace. PBF stopped Gatti at LWW and Mitchell at WW. Only other WW fights were decisions over Judah and Baldomir. No shame in losing to the best fighter on the planet.

Yes he had some poor defences of the WBU, but its only since Tszyu that he has been regarded so highly. (and rightly so imo)

 

Well okay, since Tszyu he has a win over Castillo who is shot to hell. The proof is in the pudding, he struggled with Ngoudjo prior, and can't even make weight recently

Maussa, Urango, Collazo (could have easily lost), KTFO by Mayweather (okay not a disgrace) and Lazcano

To me, I'd rather have Hamed's solid resume, even if there isn't a huge defining win. There is just too much filler in Hatton's, and he hasn't done anything to prove to me that he simply didn't beat an old guy at a stylistic advantage with some rule bending. Along with his skillset, I just can't rank him over Hamed for one decent win.

 

Too much mastic!

 

hatton got spanked by mayweather at his own game!!! deal with it!

 

Not in question... so what's your point?

 

For me though, Naseem was at his most impressive when he was blowing away other opponents who had equally unimpressive records whilst he was building his own reputation. The fight against Kelley was exciting, but Naz wasnt at his unbeatable best and then poor showings over Soto and Johnson (probably his best opponents after MAB and Kelley?) to add to Medina already mentioned. Hatton however was at his most impressive against Tszyu, whatever you thought of his game plan, he then KO'd Castillo in four and yes had unimpressive wins sandwiched between those fights and his defeat to Mayweather.

So, although I think there is more of a margin than you, I would say that on paper the margin is the Tszyu fight which tips it in Hatton's favour. Personally, I think there's a bigger gulf myself.