15.01.07 – By John Chavez, Boxingconfidential.com: I’ll admit it; I’m a Ricky Hatton fan. That crowd pleasing, explosive style makes me tired just looking at his physical excursion. He’s not only known as “The Hitman” but also as “The Mad Hatter.” The latter name is more fitting because rather than silently dissecting an opponent from long range, he beats you with his madness. When an opponent fights Ricky Hatton, they might as well request a four foot by four foot ring. He’s in your face, hitting whatever is legal to hit, and sometimes illegal, ask Kostya Tszyu..
Ricky has the odds stacked against him this Saturday.
In boxing today so much emphasis is placed on weight. Ricky has openly stated that he tends to get “thick” between fights. Prior to his fight with Kostya Tszyu there were rumblings within his camp that he was struggling to make the 140 pound weight limit. After his battle with Kostya, he beat up the Columbian ghoul, Carlos Maussa to unify the WBA title.
He then moved up to 147 pounds to face solid welter-weight WBA titlist Luis Collazo. Ricky’s training camp for this fight was well documented. He was looking strong and healthy at the higher weight. No longer were there days of worrying about the strain of dangerous dehydration and sweat suits. Ricky picked up his strength training and worked like a madman. Upon fight night for the battle, Ricky entered the ring at a solid 156 pounds.
There’s no need to go into details about the Collazo fight. The point is that Ricky moved up to welterweight were he built a slightly bigger body than he had at junior welterweight. He now has to move back down to a weight he had originally struggled to make against a strong-bodied, solid puncher in Juan Urango.
Not only is the weight an issue but Ricky apparently sustained an arm injury while in training camp. This not only hindered the amount of rounds he sparred, but it also opens up the possibility for a potential reinjury of the arm during the fight.
Let’s get back to the weighty issue. I’m not comparing Ricky’s weight struggle to Roy Jones Jr’s going back to light-heavyweight after moving up to around the 200 pound mark. I’m simply stating that we’ve seen what happens to fighters that struggle immensely to make weight. It lessens their ability to absorb punishment, weakens their punching power, and drains their stamina.
Juan Urango is exactly the type of fighter that you don’t want to have a weakened body against. He will not fight a slow-paced, cutesy type affair. He’s going to come at you and to make matters worse he’s a southpaw with power. While Urango isn’t necessarily pound for pound material, he is a very solid contender.
I don’t think an emancipated Hatton can beat Urango at this point in his career. As a long-time fan of “the Hitman” aka “the Mad Hatter”, I cross my fingers hoping that it’s his last fight at 140 pounds.
I wish him the best of luck and hope that he’s been able to sweat out the pints of Guinness that he so lovingly enjoys.
PS. Should both Castillo and Hatton win their bouts on Saturday I hope they fight at a catch-weight of say…144 pounds. Real boxing fans could care less about titles or even weight if these two combatants were to meet in June. The focus in this potential blockbuster fight should not be the weight. The focus should be on the fact that it could potentially outdo Castillo-Corrales 1 which is considered one of the best fights of all time.