12.05.06 – By Bryce Wren, photo by David Martin Warr – DKP: The news is all over. Ricky Hatton is making his big American splash. Are you excited? Why would you be? Does anybody really take his first US opponent Luis Collazo seriously? Collazo is a guy who only three fights ago, last year, was boxing a guy named Richard Heath, with a 1-1 record. Do you think that’s bad for a so called high profile opponent to one of Britains greatest exports since the Beatles? Well, if you didn’t think that was bad, chew on this, the guy that Collazo fought four fights ago, named Kevin Carter had a professional record of 7-41-1 and had already been stopped 10 or 11 times going in to his fight with Luis. If you recognize Carter’s name, it may be because he was one of Ricky Hatton’s first few opponents. Hatton dispatched of Kevin with a 1st round KO. Collazo was 22-1 before he would attempt the lofty Carter.
This was a weak excuse for a title fight from Hatton. Surely he’s trying to position himself for more of that American green back money he lusts for by picking up the easiest title belt out there, but to me, he’s just wasting his prime fighting lesser opponents.
As a fellow Brit, I find the whole routine a little over done already. I was excited when Hatton beat Kostya Tszyu, but it was all for nothing, since all Ricky has tried to do since then is get low risk title belts from non-deserving “champions”. Ricky is like Roy Jones Jr., in the sense that we may very well watch him ruin his prime just for the sake staying undefeated.
Could he beat Collazo? I should bloody hope so. Could he beat Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather jr. or Antonio Margarito? I used to think maybe, but after seeing Hatton nearly eat himself in to diabetic coma in between all of his fights, and seeing how he cares more about meaningless alphabet title belts and more about his longevity than his legacy.
I’m disappointed in Hatton. Luis Collazo is nowhere near his league. Only Hatton’s thin skin, dirty tactics and unwillingness to take on the top opposition out there can stop him in this fight. But the question still remains. Who cares? Not me. Is Hatton over rated? Yes! Since almost all of his reputation has been created from his victory over Tszyu, and he appears to have no intentions to work off of that.
So hey Americans, I’ll tell you what, if Ricky wants to stuff his face with junk food and fight meaningless, cherry picked fights, please do allow him to do his “American Invasion”. Only, please do keep him for life. Over here in the UK we would much rather trade him for serious fighters that want to fight the best, and who are always in tip top shape. You know the type mate, that Margarito fellow would do just about right.