Ricky Hatton

Hatton was always very over hyped on these shores. Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed the hype train but when you look at it he benefited hugely from leanient referees.

 

In the period your mate speaks of, Hatton boxed hand-picked opponents often from lower weights (Pendleton, Pep, Pedersen, Bailey, Rios, Krivolapov). He was happy to face Thaxton, Magee, Rowlands and Stephen Smith (another lightweight) but not confident enough to face Witter.

 

My opinion is that he went to the well too many times for training camps fighting cans - think he even got fed up with it at one stage and nearly quit in a fight as he had zero motivation.

He could have progressed just as quick with at least 25% less fights and been a lot fresher when he chased the legacy fights.

However, his lifestyle when out of camp is probably the greatest factor in the fights he lost.

Don't live the life and even the greats will get found out eventually.

 

Hatton was just a average fighter at best.Workrate and aggression probably made him last as long as he did with Mayweather.Pacquiao showed the level he was at,poor time for british boxing bar Calazaghe.Froch,Khan and Brook i believe all achieved him more than him,espically when they went across the pond.

 

This....His prime years were probably the WBU years prior to Tsyzu ! Making weight killed his punch resistance. He walked through bombs off Tsyzu but went rapidly down hill in that department after...He was wobbled or seriously hurt by fighters he once would've brushed off after Tsyzu. Talk about lifestyle ****ing up a career !

 

The KT fight was his downfall. After that fight he just thought he could use the same tactics again everyone. He didn't make any adjustments. Maybe he wasn't capable of doing so...

 

Rewatching the Mayweather fight,the scorecards of most,give the opinion of a tight fight,it was only by 2 or 3 rounds,which is very suprising giving the gulf in class between them two.Hatton had that Froch style,of just leaving his chin in the air,most British fighters are just so poor at being coached at how to defend.Look at the Brook Spence fight,everytime Spence got hit,his defence was very good to prevent additional damage,compared to Brook.Khan aswell defence is shocking.

 

It's pretty annoying when people refer to him as "average" or a club fighter

He won 45 fights and achieved more than enough to rise above that status.

Average fighters or club fighters don't go in to world honours hence average or club level .

He was exciting to watch and had soke good scalps . But i do agree hes not on calzaghe, Lewis levels which some people like to place him

 

Hatton was very good but not great.

I always look at him and think "would he have achieved even more than he did if he wasn't drinking heavily and gaining large amounts of weight between fights"

That's a question that has to be asked when discussing Hatton's career.

 

Where is bettyswollocks when Hatton fans need teaching

 

I hate talking about hatton...think my more idiotic boxing chat always involves him.

I genuinely think he gets a raw deal out of his career. He was a terrific fighter the problem was although entertaining his style wasnt always pleasing to the eye. But it takes different ways to skin a cat. Hatton was one of the best at what he done...which was just basically wear opponents down by any means necessary. I still say and i know i ll get stick for this...but he was better than calzaghe. He just wasnt visually as pleasing. For all the stick he took over his out the ring shenanigans he was as fit as they came in a boxing ring...fought for 3 minutes of every round and was relentless with it. It was an art how he used to break them opponents down. Admittedly they liked the opponents a bit older a bit like calzaghes best wins cause the older guys struggled with their incredible workrates.

But hatton was a nightmare to hold off. Think theres some truth to what your friends saying they kept him fighting at the same level for too long...he started to stagnate. And he did lose his way after tyszu cause he fell into the trap of trying to bulldoze everyone after it.

Still say that tyszu win is one of the best in recent years by any british fighter. People talk about his age. But that was a very good version of tyszu that night...he,d just iced sharma mitchell in 3 rounds 6 months previously etc. Had only had 31 fights so was still fresh. Plus wasnt your usual ageing part time fighter. Kosta tyszu was a relentless trainer. His training schedule was incredible. Pretty sure i read somewhere he was training up to 8 hours a day.

 

The problem with hatton was his discipline post fights... This perhaps meant he passed his best earlier than he should have. Hatton was a quality fighter who entertained us all, he talks like he was past his best through no fault of his own when actually all the fault was his. Manny still fighting now and may weather fought onto 40! Also any boxer who leads with the head will eventually get knocked out and that's what happened... I can't critisize him because my love of boxing stems from the likes of calzaghe, prince naseem and hatton!

 

I agree with this, mate. Really surprised by one or two comments...not sure how you can be an average 2 division world champion like but there you go. I loved Ricky Hatton, in my eyes he’s one of the ATG British fighters. He’d stick to his opponent like s**t on a duvet. You couldn’t shake him off. Working his opponents on the inside, roughing them up, fast hands, a lot like the way Porter operates and i’m fan of his, too.

I agree with others too that he neglected himself massively between fights. He’s admitted himself that the first few weeks of camp was spent trying to shift the fat. That was prime Pac and he’s an ATG and same with Mayweather. No shame losing to them but he put on a lot of memorable nights.