I remember being in the pub a week before Hatton v Mayweather and it seemed everyone was over reaching Ricky's ability and predicting the win , i wasn't swayed as i was well into the scene back then but I will say this for Ricky that if hearts won fights he'd have been a champion longer . Great time for British Boxing back then .
It was up there with the best wins by any British boxer. There was probably only Ricky and a few, few others who thought they were going to win that fight. I certainly didn’t. Kosta was a wrecking machine, an awesome warrior who could punch. Ricky proved he was top drawer that night.
Very good win and a great night for British boxing. If I remember right, not many people were selling out 20k stadiums in the UK back then. Ricky helped start the resurgence in British boxing. As others have said, Tszyu was quite inactive going into the fight. He had had a warm up fight against Sharmbra Mitchell, though, and Tszyu always trained like an animal. So, it wasn't a peak Tszyu, but it was still a good version of a great fighter. My one gripe is that this fight changed Hatton stylistically. Pre Tszyu, Hatton, whilst not technically great, he did have some underrated skills. He had good quick feet and he would attack behind a solid jab. He would create angles and unload on the inside. For Tszyu, he changed his game plan slightly and became more predictable; barrelling in, putting his weight on his opponent, and mauling him. It was less educated, but a good game plan against an inactive and aging opponent. Unfortunately, he carried on with this style for many fights post Tszyu. He admitted so himself. He said he felt indestructible after taking Tszyu's best shots, so he got lazy with how he worked his way inside of an opponent. To a certain degree, it's similar to Mike Tyson. Tyson's reason was falling in love with his power and eventually not training as hard as he used to, but, like Hatton, it resulted in a less effective and more predictable fighter for his opponents. Still, Hatton had a great career and that night in Manchester at silly o'clock in the morning against a genuine great in Tszyu is one of my best boxing memories.
Before the fight, a lot of observers were saying Hatton was tailor made for Tszyu. Hatton did a great job in keeping the pressure on Tszyu, giving litle room and applying constant pressure. Wont forget the moment Johnny Lewis said to KT he's going to stop it and Tszyu looks down....and then the moment Hatton realised he wasnt coming out for the 12th and collapsed in his corner!
I agree. His tactics were good except at the start of each round. I remember Hatton walking into a straight from Tszyu at the very start of loads of rounds.