17.05.06 – By James Anthony, photo by David M Warr / DKP – An ill-conceived move up in weight? Jet lag? A bad match for Ricky style-wise? Or simply not as good as we’d thought? Different people have different views on the outcome of the Hatton – Collazo bout, but as someone who’s watched a fair few of Hatton’s fights, I suspect the answer is a combination of all of these and one other – Hatton simply had a bad night, above and beyond the reasons put forward by fans and foes alike.
Whilst it is beyond debate that Collazo shut down some of Hatton’s game through superior boxing skills and sheer size, Ricky’s poor performance cannot be excused by that alone. He didn’t work the body as he usually does, even when he had opportunity. He took rounds off when it was poorly advised to do so, and unlike in past performances when he would box clever when getting a breather, the hands remained low and head movement almost non-existent. Most notably, after the first few rounds he often held on the inside even when he had chance to punch, as though mentally he wasn’t up for the bout. We can debate WHY this was the case, and there are certainly plenty of potential reasons, but I suspect this was a matter of an athlete having an off-night.
Maybe Ricky isn’t as good as we hoped, but he has never been the sort of fighter that dominated on skills or power alone. Work rate, fierce body punching, great stamina and his sheer intensity are what have brought him this far, making him – in my opinion at least – more susceptible when he’s not 100% on than many other boxers. Floyd Mayweather, for example, tends to be so superior to his opponents that we may not even notice when he’s having a bad night, such is his dominance.
How good is Hatton? Despite what some American fans think about their often rabid British counterparts, we don’t generally get excited about a fighter unless he really is something special. Hamed, for example, was hard to properly appreciate unless you’d been privy to watching his rise, when he exhibited some truly breathtaking skills. Judging him in his U.S. fights – and Ricky off this one bout – is like judging Tyson on his post jail performances alone. Hatton is beatable, for sure, but whoever beats him will have to dig deep.
What of a rematch? While there is no doubt Collazo was a real handful and boxed well, he could have done better, and seemed to grow in confidence and effectiveness as the fight wore on. Hatton would be foolish to engage in a high-risk, low-reward (financially, compared to the potential superfights out there) rematch with him. That said, I suspect we’d see a very different Hatton second time around, the same Ricky that earned the accolades he enjoys in the UK.
The American jury may still be out on Hatton, and understandably so, but the best is yet to come.