14.09.07 – By Derek Cowan: Okay, I’ll admit it right of the bat, I am a huge Ricky Hatton boxing fan. I like his fighting style, his attitude, and I think he’s funny! There is really no other reason that I can think of. I have no allegiance to Great Britain. I actually live in Texas, and have never even visited the UK. It all started a few years back as I was getting back into following boxing when I happened to stumble across a bout between Hatton and Vince Phillips. I had never seen Hatton fight before, and knew nothing of his record or previous opposition.
What I saw was a kid with an unbelievable workrate staying busy for nearly every minute of every round, and throwing punches with bad intentions while being completely respectful and humble following his lopsided decision over an old fighter.
I became an immediate fan and have followed him up until now with the biggest fight of his career less than three months away, against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Having said that, I’ll be equally honest in admitting that I don’t care too much for Floyd Mayweather. I think he is cocky, arrogant, and disrespectful. I think he runs too much. I get tired of hearing how he wants to be considered as one of the all-time greats while watching him set up fights with lesser opponents when much better one’s could be made. As a fan, I really want to see Hatton beat him up bad.
So how, you may ask, can I possibly write an objective article on this upcoming bout? Well it’s simple. I believe you can be a fan of a fighter, player, or team without losing a sense of reality. I pick football games every week, college and pro, and I have no problem picking against my personal favorite. Bottom line: I like to be right, and when prognosticating, you leave your heart at the door and rely on the brains God gave you, period. To prove my point I admit that I picked Kostya Tszyu to beat Hatton back in 2005. I simply thought that Tszyu’s power would be too much, and that Ricky’s level of competition at that time was lacking. I really didn’t think Hatton had much of a shot, and because I like being right I predicted that Hatton would suffer his first loss. Whoops!
So, to the question: Does Ricky Hatton have a legitimate chance of winning this fight. Relying on brains alone, I say yes, and here are 5 reasons why.
1.) Style’s make fights. We have all heard this before, haven’t we? This fights pit two opposites against one another. We have seen it many times in Boxing’s history. The fluid, speedy boxer, against the straight ahead, aggresive slugger. To be fair we have seen both sides come out on the winning end over the years. It is my opinion that the only type fighter that can beat Mayweather in his prime is a fighter that possesses Ricky’s style. Sure there will be a day when Mayweather will grow old and venture a little too far up in weight and be defeated by several younger, stronger foes if he chooses to hang around too long (and most do), but until then, no one will come close to out-boxing PBF while he remains at weights between 140 and 154 pounds. Floyd is simply too gifted and too poised in the ring. Many have predicted a Hatton fight with Mayweather to look something like the Mayweather/Gatti match. I think that is silly.
First of all, Gatti has always been overrated on boxing skill. He has become a fan favorite based on his courage alone with his greatest fights coming against average fighters, and any time we saw him in the ring against a truly skilled fighter he was easily beaten. Gatti was also way past his prime, although Mayweather would have easily beaten Gatti at any age. And finally, Gatti, under the strange instruction of Buddy McGirt, deployed a horrible strategy in that bout by attempting to box from the outside, and got cut to ribbons for his troubles. To be fair to Mayweather, he capitalized on that mistake a beat Gatti as badly as anyone ever has. However, Hatton comes at you non-stop, cuts off the ring with the best, and then manages to stay close with speed and clinching. Like it or not, it is a style that will make it much more difficult for Mayweather to find the space he needs to land flurries of unanswered combinations with pinpoint accuracy like we saw against Gatti. Jose Luis Castillo had as much success against PBF as we have seen with a similar style, but Ricky’s is even faster paced and more relentless.
2.) Ricky rises to the level of his competition. Unlike some potentially good fighters who shrink in the face of truly high level competition, Hatton has proved otherwise. First against Ben Tackie, his best level of opposition at the time, many believed Tackie’s tough beard and equally relentless style would undo the young and unaccomplished Hatton. Instead, Ricky showed up in the best shape of his life and actually boxed his way to a relatively easy decision. Several fights later, Hatton rose to the occasion against Kostya Tszyu, one of the best ever at 140 who had come off a thorough beating of a very skilled Sharmba Mitchell. Many including myself believed Hatton had maybe bitten off more that he could chew. However, Ricky showed up confident and prepared and took Tszyu’s power for 11 rounds before Kostya quit on his school. And most recently, after a couple of lack luster fights, Hatton showed up in prime condition against Jose Luis Castillo and knocked him out in the 4th round. Yes, Castillo was shot, but most already knew this prior to their fight and thought Ricky would be in a tough fight with many on this very web-site (East Side Boxing) predicting Hatton would be knocked out by the powerful punching Castillo. Ricky won as I predicted he would against an older, battle worn fighter, but I never could have guessed he would win in such an easy and devastating fashion.
3.) Ricky truly respects Floyd Mayweather. Despite Hatton’s most recent comments following the Castillo bout in regard to Mayweather’s lack of excitement, Ricky Hatton KNOWS that Floyd is the most gifted fighter on planet earth. In fact, I believe those comments were made to lure Mayweather into a fight, and arguably they seem to have worked. In most of his comments about Floyd in the past, Ricky has made it clear that he truly respects PBF stating that Floyd is simply the best. Why is this important? It will ensure that Hatton sticks to a game plan that works. One of Hatton’s best traits is his humble while confident approach to every match.
He doesn’t let the bravado that nearly all great fighters have stop him from fighting the correct fight. Hatton would rather bang every time, but against guys like Tackie and Urango, Ricky’s respect for their power and chin lead him to correctly choose to box more and slug less. This may have made for a less exciting fight, but in both cases it was simply the best recipe for a win and possibly avoided disaster. On the flip side of this point, I don’t think Mayweather respects Hatton at all, and that is always unhealthy for proper preparation, yes, even for the great Floyd Mayweather.
4.) Hatton’s combination of Stamina and Heart. This point is closely related to point #1. Ricky is a former soccer player. What does that mean? Well, as much as I hate watching the sport, those guys are in unbelievable condition. When I played small college football, we would go to practice and on the way to the field we would see our soccer team already conditioning. Those guys ran and ran. Three hour later as we were leaving the practice field, there those soccer players would be…..STILL running. I hardly ever saw those guys kick a ball. Always running.
I am convinced that soccer, or football as the Brits would prefer I say, is the foundation to Ricky’s relentless style. To complete the objective necessary to beat Mayweather, in my opinion, you must not take a break. Mayweather is always in top condition himself and if you will analyze his fights, especially those that go the distance, his opponent always seem to tire first. The best example of this was Floyd’s match against Zab Judah. Zab seemed to have the edge in energy and maybe even speed for the first four rounds and then he ran out of gas. Yes, I’ll admit that Mayweather figured him out as he always seems to patiently do, but it also helped greatly that Zab took his foot off the accelerator.
Hatton should come in the normal great physical condition if not even better, and his ability to relentlessly attack with mot much rest will possibly enable him to maintain his game plan. I thought that Castillo seemed to slow a bit in the final rounds of both fights against Floyd, and because he did he may have lost crucial rounds that cost him the fight in both cases. Hatton’s stamina will allow him to reach down and show the heart necessary to be competitive in a fight with Mayweather, where most others have been overcome.
5.) No one is invincible. This point is admittedly less scientific. I read the posts on East Side Boxing frequently, and it always amazes me how Floyd fans seem to think that he is unbeatable. You can go down the list of the all time greats in every weight class, and outside of a few exceptions (i.e. Marciano, who got out just in time), everyone can and does lose. My father, a huge boxing fan while he was alive, used to tell me, “Son, no matter how good you are, there is always someone out there who can whip you.” I believe this to be true. Now, in all his brash arrogance, I don’t know if Floyd believes this theory or not, but it is always someone’s day to fall. I’m not sure if December 9th will be that day for Floyd or not.
In closing, I have not yet made a prediction as to the outcome of this fight. Again, though I will be pulling for my favorite fighter in Hatton, I also like to pick fights correctly. It is kind of a consolation if my guy loses. I will continue to analyze for a couple of more months while staying tuned in to training camp activities and of course, Dancing with the Stars. However, to those who say Hatton has no chance, I submit that you may be thinking with your heart or maybe I’m just full of it. Either way, I’m just glad to know that this fight is going to happen and look forward to what I believe will be a very competitive fight.