Why was Ricky Hatton so popular?

I wouldn't class the ages of 26-30 as the "tail end" of a fighter's career. Those are generally a guy's prime years. OK the fact that he lost a couple of times may well have hastened his retirement, but still he hardly went into those bouts with a "let's cash in" mindset like, say, Calzaghe-Jones.

Your point about Witter is exactly the one I am trying to make. Hatton was held back by Frank Warren who wanted to make money out of him fighting fair-to-middling opposition (still a lot better than the dross Witter faced) for as long as possible. Hatton had to threaten to leave him before Warren finally delivered the Tszyu fight. Witter was gifted a title shot on home soil which he had done nothing to deserve, spunked it away, faced bums for five years then got gifted another one versus a totally shot fighter.

As for "prove yourself the best in Britain", I don't see anyone bleating at David Haye to prove he's the best heavyweight in Britain by taking on Skelton or Sprott. I don't see any of the poles, for example, screaming that Adamek needs to fight Wlodorczak to prove himself the best in Poland. No Phillipinos screaming that Pac needs to prove himself versus Randy Suico. When I see my fighters take on the absolute elite, I personally don;t give two hoops about matches with much lesser fighters who just happened to be born on the same land mass.

 

Well, some on this website maybe who would argue Hatton's gloves were green if you told them they were blue. However, I think it's fair to say the vast majority I have spoken to find his fights exciting to watch.

 

[quote="TKO";4080993]

As for "prove yourself the best in Britain", I don't see anyone bleating at David Haye to prove he's the best heavyweight in Britain by taking on Skelton or Sprott. I don't see any of the poles, for example, screaming that Adamek needs to fight Wlodorczak to prove himself the best in Poland. No Phillipinos screaming that Pac needs to prove himself versus Randy Suico. When I see my fighters take on the absolute elite, I personally don;t give two hoops about matches with much lesser fighters who just happened to be born on the same land mass.[/quote]

In one

 

Just a little pointer...

Hatton was supposed to fight Witter under Warren, they had an agreement. They managed to wriggle their way out of that one...sorry to ruin the party :yep:deal

 

LMFAO couldn't have put it better myself!!!

 

Haye is not a proven world level operator at heavyweight and his fight with Macarrinelli was really a top level cruiserweight versus a journeyman who had fooled people into believing he was genuinely world class with carefully selected opponents.

Calzaghe fought Reid and Woodhall but didn't fight Carl Froch. Benn fought Eubank and Watson but didn't fight Herol Graham. Hatton fought Thaxton and Magee but not Witter. You see where this is heading? Bottom line, when you're fighting at domestic level (as per Sprot, Harrison, Williams, Skelton at heavy) then it is reasonable to expect a fighter to defend against the best fighters in the country at that level. When fighters progress beyond domestic title level, I would rather see them face the top opposition. At this stage, the fact that a fighter is from the same country ceases to be of any real relevance.

To accuse a fighter of "ducking" another, he has to be made a real, legitimate offer for me, i.e. we'll fight here on this date and you get this much. Simply banging on to the tabloids claiming you want to fight another guy and he's avoiding you does not cut it unless you're either very naive or just believing what you want to believe. By the same token, surely Witter should want to prove he's the best in Britain by taking on Ajose Olusegun and as he hasn't gone out of his way to fight him despite being #2 and #3 in the WBC he must be ducking him.

Doesn't ring very true either does it?

 

This is like a Hatton hugging convention today! I nominate TKO as Secretary of Defence and Trotter as Court Jester. My vote is in, you boys hard work has not gone unnoticed

An offer? It was in the damn contract. Fisheyed Warren and Hatton wriggled their way out and left Witter in the lurch just because he's "unmarketable" - and crucially dangerous. Instead they fought WBU tin cans so contrary to what people say he was only "above Witter" in fake world titles, in reality he was still a domestic level fighter.

Every other British fighter fought the best domestic guys on their way up, Hatton ducked his biggest challenge. It's clear to see.

 

Tin cans such as Vince Phillips and Ben Tackie?



[I know whats coming back, BTW]

 

Now I'd like to present to the court a compelling piece of evidence that Hatton DUCKED Witter even after the obvious ducking period of fighting WBU cans.

RICKY Hatton has sent out a clear message to old rival Junior Witter: "Win a proper world title and I will fight you."

Source: MEN (Hatton's hometown paper )

 

Having thought about it further, it is obvious Hatton did duck Witter.

However, I genuinely don't feel it is because he felt scared that he could lose, it was a personal issue.

The fight ought to have been made after his loss to Floyd. There was a clear window.... Bradley was supposed to fight Castillo to determine the mando challenger to fight Witter. Obviously Castillo couldn't make the weight so Witter vs Bradley was made.

Hatton decided to take on Juan Lazcano, who had been inactive, and clearly beaten 18 months previous by the guy Witter embarrassed, beat up and knocked out in his fight immediately prior to Bradley!

Sky could have forced this fight, beyond question. They could have refused to put Hatton vs Lazcano on PPV, but chose not to.

 

I'm not an unreasonable man so I'll step into Gareth Williams shoes and present the defences case...

“I was half contemplating fighting him but it all changed at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards in Birmingham.

“They got me up, Joe Calzaghe, Enzo Maccarinelli, Clinton Woods and Witter. We all walked to the stage and I shook hands with them all. Witter leaned over to me and whispered ‘One day.’

“I just thought, ‘You’ve just peed that up against the wall there.’ I really was thinking about getting in the ring with him.”

Make your own minds up...compelling

 

No. It's just a few people taking a rational objection to some of the lunatics that pervade this forum. I will defend any fighter I like against what I consider to be unjust criticism, especially when it's totally ******ed. Hatton, however, due to his popularity seems to come in for more than most. As Trotter said, it's no coincidence that the same people who claim he is arrogant (lol) also claim they hate his style, also claim they don't like his brother because he's a womaniser or his mum's frock. Basically, it's hating for its own sake and it gets weird after a while.

As for fighting "the best domestic guys" on the way on, see my previous post really can't be arsed explaining this again, it is not a difficult concept to grasp.

As regards the issue of it being in the contract, I don't know how true that is, it may have been in Hatton's contract with Warren. However, this still does not ampunt to a written offer from Witter for the fight. But then Witter, despite his big mouth, has never gone out of his way to challenge any top level opposition.

The WBU title is neither here nor there, however, Hatton's wins over the likes of Krivalopov, Magee, Phillips, Tackie and Oliveira marked him out as at least a fringe world level fighter. At the same time Witter was fighting Lucky Samba and Fred Kinuthia. What's good for the goose is good for the gander and Witter wasted his prime years taking those easy fights and never challenging himself.

 

What did you tell us? He fought Thaxton and Magee. No ****, unfortunately Magee and Thaxton amounted to little above domestic level. We all knew the class of the bunch; that was Junior Witter who went onto become WBC champion and #1 ranked junior welter. Hatton knew that too, guy ain't stupid, I'd suggest he's very clever the way he's done things.

I have some more evidence for the jury to consider...

Ray Hatton claims a "gentleman's agreement" is in place although Witter's promoter Mick Hennessy understood Lazcano had not signed his contract.

Hennessy said: "I spoke to Golden Boy Promotions in the early hours today and they told me that the Lazcano deal was not done yet.

"So my understanding is there is no contract signed between the two; the venue is not sorted as of today; HBO (American TV giants) have not confirmed they are covering it and it's not the fight the paying public want to see - which is Witter v Hatton.

"Junior is happy to jump in and take up their peanuts offer because he isn't greedy. "Ray Hatton says they are tied up for the next 12 months with a deal with HBO, who've got a list of opponents. But how can Junior not be on that list?

"We've been told that he is and that's the fight that HBO want to see. It's a travesty if it doesn't happen."

Witter didn't ever make an offer you say (apart from being in the contract)? Well...seems like he accepted one!!

 

If you believe what Hennessy says, you will believe anything.

They had a 12 month deal with HBO...... but HBO passed on the Lazcano fight!