Ricky Hatton: His Career so far.

Ricky Hatton is today the most popular and well known boxer in Britain. A two weight world champion, with an excellent career record of 43-1 with 31 kos he is thought by some to be among the top British fighters of all time and considered by many many people to be a crowd pleasing fighter who gives his all for his fans, and in his own words never shirks from a challenge.

The question is how true is this? I intend to, by breaking his career down into three different parts, assess how good his record really is and through that, establish whether he really did take the fights the challenging fights that genuine fight fans wanted to see.

PART 1


Firstly, im going to examine the period between 2001-2005 where Ricky Hatton was WBU Jnr Welterweight erm Champion. During this time, Hatton made 15 successful defences of his bauble. To me, he took some decent fights during this period: Eamon Magee, Ben Tackie, Vince Phillips, Ray Olivera and Michael Stewart. All decent fights for an up and coming prospect/contender. However, some of these fights came as late in his tenure as 2005 ie the Olivera fight and also the Stewart fight a few months before.

Though there is an argument that he largely farted around from 2002 onwards, I don't have a problem with the way his career went from 2002 to 2003. He learned a few lessons from the Magee bout that have stood him in good stead and also displayed heart and determination in the Phillips bout. Furthermore the fights inbetween weren't of such a bad standard considering where he was in his career at that point with bouts against Hutchinson etc.

However, after a very good display of his boxing skills against grizzled veteran Ben Tackie I am of the belief that he should have stepped it up. The most ardent fans of Hatton will point to the fact that he tried to take on fellow undefeated prospect Kelson Pinto who pulled out of the fight for the vacant WBO title, however nobody really then thought of Pinto as anything particularly good and the WBO title, especially prior to Hopkins getting at middleweight, was looked on with some disdain from the other major sanctioning bodies. Again, a fight against WBA Champion Vivian Harris, which would have been a very good one failed to materialise, though this was largely not Hattons fault from what I understand.

To me, one of his biggest drawbacks was his failure to fight Sharmba Mitchell at this point. Mitchell fought on a Hatton under card I believe and Frank Warren just didn't seem interested in the fight. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and whilst Mitchell got crushed by a comebacking Zoo, it would have got his name in the mix alot earlier and would have been his biggest fight and win to date. Fights against Vilches and Stewart(a Mitchell left over) were at this point a disgrace and to his credit Hatton spoke out against it.

SUMMARY: Unlike most, I don't really knock Hatton for his career trajectory following his WBU title win. He needed some serious refinement before he went on to challenge in the seriously deep at this point 140 division. He took some awful fights in 2004, but in his defence tried to make matches against Pinto and Harris for notable titles. I also don't blame him for not fighting Witter at this point, as the Zab Judah stigma still lingered and it really wasn't as big a fight as it could have been at that point.

 

PART 2

Unlike most, I give maximum credit to Hatton in regards to the Zoo win. Kostya, was at this point, by people on this very boxing forum, regarded as p4p top 5 and was the undisputed number 1 at JNR Welter. This was the fight as a boxing fan I wanted to see Hatton take. He took the fight, and won it in a foul fest, but nonetheless he won and it was a relatively entertaining bout. Boxing fans and Hatton casual football fans alike were happy that he finally stepped it up and he became regarded as the new number 1 at JNR Welter.

A fight against new WBA belt holder was also acceptable. Maussa, had upset Harris and to me this was a totally justifiable fight in that he would be getting a well respected title, more recognition world wide by being a unfied champion and also Maussa was an awkward customer and not some easy gimme fight like some might suggest.

Things, however, start going downhill largely from here.

The Phenom that is Floyd Mayweather Jnr had recently entered the divison. Cynics and doubters and people that called him boring were silenced when he dished out a frightful one sided beating to Arturo Gatti WBC champion. Mayweather was undefeated, a 3 weight class champion and he instantly called out Ricky Hatton following the fight.

This fight at this point was red hot. Hatton, with such a large following and an apparently exciting, action packed style was the undefeated, widely regarded number 1 in the division. Mayweather, as Ive said was an undefeated 3 weight world champion coming off a career best performance. People started talking of this as this generations Leonard - Duran....it had to happen.

Mayweather offered the fight to Hatton 3 times and 3 times he turned it down, with Hattons manager and father stating that he 'wasn't ready'
Excuse me ? What? What sort of champion is that? Baulking at the challenge of the division number 1 contender? This disappointed me and im sure the vast majority of real boxing fans.

Mayweather subsquently arranged to move up a division to challenge the champion of the 147 divison Zab Judah....after some time Hatton decided to follow. Was it because Judah was upset by a largely mediocre journeyman by the name of Carlos Baldomir and he eyed an easy scalp and route to two weight champion recognition? Or was he chasing Mayweather the man he had turned down only months before? You make the choice.

Hatton struggled but picked up a WBA title from the little known belt holder Luiz Collazo. Meanwhile Mayweather beat Judah and Baldomir to become the 147 Champion. Hatton didn't fight for the rest of the year decided he was a Jnr Welter after all and went back down a division for a totally pointless fight with a false title holder Juan Urango.

He then arranged to fight Josie Castillo. Again, I give credit to Hatton for this fight. Castillo was a mere fight removed from destroying Diego Corrales and no one was saying he was shot then. Hatton disposed of Castillo in a manner never seen before and his career had regained momentum and his status as the best 140 secure.

However, all this time old rival Junior Witter was also gathering momentum. Beating guys like Ndou and then taking a title for his own with his victory over chop chop Corley for the WBC belt. If Hatton wasn't a welterweight surely a fight now made sense?

Hatton instead decided he was now ready for Mayweather. He moved back up a division, one he admitted he struggled in and was defeated comprehensively inside 10 rounds.

Excuses rained in after the match. The ref was at fault. I wasn't a welterweight. My fans pissed off Cortez. It would be different at 140.

That is most annoying to me: I wasn't a welter weight. Why did he not take the fight in 2005? He had the chance and refused it 3 times. Ray Hatton bats suggestions away buy saying that the fight needed to become bigger. Did it? They were both red hot at this point Hatton and Mayweather. Why didn't they fight for the undisputed JNR Welter title if Hatton thought things would be different at 140? Why was he more ready after his mediocre performance at 147?

SUMMARY: Hatton has not been thinking of the fans at all since Zoo. The Mayweather fight made a whole load more sense if you are of the view that Hatton would have been better at 140 than 147. Furthermore I thought that by the time it had happened it had lost a little steam after Hattons **** showings against Urango and Collazo and Mayweathers snore fest against Baldomir. Hatton denied boxing fans a chance to see 140 unified once more, when both he and Mayweather were red hot, coming off career defining performances. Also, I believe a fight with Witter should have taken place in 2007, as it was becoming clear that Junior was world class, he had a world title that Hatton had also mandated before any showdown could take place and it was clear that Ricky lost many advantages at welter and had that ready made excuse for Mayweather. Hatton has cheated boxing fans since 2005 and there is very little defence against it in my opinion.

 

Its not over yet Jeff!

I know your a big Hatton fan so you may find yourself disagreeing big time with part 2! But cheers all the same :good

 

PART 3: POST MAYWEATHER

To me, Hatton if he is to regain the affection of the hardcore boxing purist and to build any legacy at 140, which is clearly the division in which he belongs, he must do a number of things.

Number 1: Take on Witter asap. This is a big British derby fight. The simmering hatred that has been building up for years and the fact that Hatton is so popular amongst casual sports fans could capture the public imagination in a way that hasn't been seen since Benn-Eubank. The two best fighters in their weight class, both with world titles....awesome it MUST happen. If it doesn't it will forever blot the record of Ricky Hatton IMO.

Number 2: Take on Malinaggi. A fellow title holder, and one who is highly thought of. Cotto left over yes, but hes picked up some steam since then. If Hattons going to stay at 140, hes gotta take on this guy and hes clearly one of the top fighters left.

Number 3: Juan Diaz. The baby bull. Clearly the best fighter at 135 and with a crowd pleasing style to boot...this could well be a far and FOTY candidate. It would add substantially to Hattons legacy too imo as Diaz is clearly a very talented fighter and one of the best in and around Hattons weight class.

If he takes these 3 fights before he retires, I for one will be happy. As will the majority of British Boxing fans im sure.

 

Its not an article mate. I wrote it.