He shouldn't be given a heroes welcome but neither should he be criticised to heavily as he lost to the best boxer in the world. Also the expectations you say he fell short of were clearly unrealistic in the first place. But yeah, you have a point. This british obsession with heroic losers needs to be put to bed.
Hatton is getting absolutely slated. I think the gallant loser thing is slowly becoming a thing of the past. He deserves a warmish welcome back. Allot of fighters in his position would never have fought Floyd and simply ducked him.
I totally disagree with your post. The way I look at it is if you are a fan of a fighter, you should support them through thick & thin. There is no in between. If I seen any Hatton fans here turn their back on Ricky just cos he lost, they are not real fans in my eyes. I cant believe that I am reading posters here saying that Hatton doesnt deserve a welcome home from his fans, cos he had the cheek to lose to the best:-(
I cant beleive people are saying Hatton is making excuses. He is not - don't people understand sarcasm? He fought well, until he was Koed both Sky and HBO had him 2 rounds down. At the end of the day he went to Las Vegas and fought the best p4p fighter probably in the last 10 years (maybe longer) at a weight division higher than his best. There are no other British fighers that have ever done that, most are happy to remain paper champions back home and earn a fortune conning the public. At the end of the day he came up short - no disgrace in that. At least people won't be able to say "well he never fought anyone" as is so true for most British boxers.
Actually I think Ricky underperformed and I expected allot more from him, and this is coming from someone who wanted Mayweather to win. Ricky talked about intelligent pressure but broke rule number 1 coming in with his guard down - the ultimate sin. Thats why Mayweather tagged him so cleanly. He moved in without a jab, breaking rule number 2. This made Ricky even easier to counter. Ricky took too long looking at Floyd before getting his shots off breaking rule number 3. This is sort of excusable as Floyd is hard to pin down BUT Floyd was stationary and Ricky just needed to let loose. He seemed too intimidated to give it his all. Ricky even threw less punches that he usually does. Ricky averaged 60punches a round in many of his fights but was down to 35punches a round against Mayweather. The disapointing thing is Hatton has performed better against lower level fighters. He used a jab and tight guard very regularly early in his career against Tackie. As mentioned he threw 60punches a round in many of his other fights. pressure was what woudl give Ricky a chance and he didn't pull it out. Ricky underperformed plain and simple. he has regressed since 2004 and kept his bad habits, which picking on smaller and older men who have let him get away with. I've wanted to see Ricky lose for years BUT was sad to see it finally happen when he could have done so much better BTW I've become a Hatton fan now hes been humbled and dont have to listen to his fans talking about him being 1 of the best of all time. I am interested to see how he bounces back
Agreed those sort of fans he doesnt need. One loss for ****s sake to the best pfp fighter in the world and people think he shouldnt be welcomed back off the plane. Hes done alot for british boxing and if it wasnt for him and a few others obv then british boxing wouldnt be as popular now and as its gunna get. 1 loss for ****s sake to the best in the world and hes still only young really. Thats the only thing i hate about boxing is the fickle fan base it has. And yet people still support man city through thick and thin lol go figure:huh