The Brits and Germans have a knack for finding comfort zone opponents for their champs. I'm talking about a guy who brings a pretty record, a respectable ranking, a safe bet and absolutely nothing defining or legacy building about it. I'm thinking Sturm, Abrahm, Calzaghe, Hatton etc Good fights, respectable opponents but ones that ULTIMATELY we don't really give a **** about. It's just another fight that pads a well established pros record, just like a journeyman padded their record when they were prospects.
Hatton? Even if he loses every fight he has from now on he's still the man that beat Kostya Tszyu into retirement and the man who has probably ended Jose Luis Castillo's career by knocking him out with a bodyshot. Thats two legends he's seen off, thats pretty good in legacy terms. And I'd hardly call fighting Floyd Mayweather staying the comfort zone either.
Perhaps a year ago this would have applied to Hatton and Calzaghe. Sturm and Abraham I'd agree with. :huh
Do you think I am talking about now when Hatton is his own man or when Hatton was under Frank Warren. Think it through. Hatton fought numerous guys who fit the description I gave. On example is Mikhail Krivolapov who had a pretty record of 34-2, ranked well, safe bet and ultimately something that doesn't help Hattons legacy in any shape or form.
Come on - Manfredo, Bika, Ashira! Pretty records, well ranked but ultimately no one gives a **** about them but good opponents.
Abraham hasn't got the time (due to his injury) to fight real top fighters - and who would that have been??? When he became champion I only saw/see Taylor and Wright as an opponent for his legacy and the respective promoters made no real afford to lift a clash.
Yeah thats true, he was held back far too much by Frank Warren, but he also took some risky fights in and amongst the likes of Krivopalov, Vilches, Stevi Smith etc. there was proper tests like Eamonn Magee and Ben Tackie. It was those two fights, along with Vince Philips and Ray Oliveira to a lesser extent, that showed me that Hatton was good enough to go right to the top, the other fights werent as important. To be honest you cant expect someone to have legacy defining superfight swith big name fighters when they're on the way up. The time for Hatton to cement his legacy is now, not back then. Boxing fans are too easy to dismiss fighters if they arent fighting big names from day one. Prospects and their opponents are given more scrutiny than ever before. This is partly down to Boxrec and partly down to the mega-fight fetish that seems to obsess, where boxing fans seem to have this mentality that boxing needs to have constant mega-fights like Floyd - Oscar with big household named fighters to save itself. People are constantly looking for that one big fight that will change it all, not realizing that fighters are lucky to get one or two of those big-name fights in an entire career! Felix Sturm faced a lot of unknown fighters and was one of these guys, but he beat Oscar De La Hoya as far as I'm concerned.
well they can do that cause in europe most of the "fans " just come out to see their man fight and win. they do not care about the opponent........so much for their boxing knowlege. that is how they can sell out a fight for example in germany without even mentioning the opponent. they support their boxers just for nationalistic pride.........not for the sake of the sport. and that is different in the states.
