Ricky Hatton deserves the utmost respect.....

Cos you love boxing. Of course.

 

You don't?

 

I'd say Lacy was about on par w/ Urango, in terms of where they were at in their careers at the time. Lacy came w/ more hype (and yes, I'm one of the many who biasly picked him to win) and was viewed as a "risk" for Joe at the time, or at least enough to where he deserves credit for taking the fight when he did.

Urango wasn't as much of a risk, but still enough to where Hatton deserves credit for easily handling a legit Top 10 140 lb fighter the way he did.

Not sure Hatton has a win over a fighter comparable to what Kessler represented at the time of the fight.

 

Represented? Tszyu represented a lot. Probably more in my books. Inactive or not.

 

There is no shame in losing to PAC and Floyd

 

I used to say Hatton was a typical "euro bum" but in the end he was a good fight, losing only to GREAT fighters

 

and a past it Eubank.

calzaghe isn't all that.

He robbed Reid, struggled against bum Salem , and barely outlast BC Hopkins.

Hatton is definitively a greater fighter in my book. Malignaggi is probably a better fighter than Lacy, and Hatton beat him as easilly as Joe beat Lacy. And ricky had the balls to face the best.

 

:jaw:

MTF

 

::

Calzaghe is/was a wanker, I agree. But he was a damn good fighter too.

MTF :nana:

 

As I said earlier, Hatton for me should be considered 'greater', based upon his results, his performances and his career trajectory. He basically cleaned out 140 and ruled it with an iron fist for four years after the Zoo fight, losing very few rounds (save against Floyd at 147 where he was outclassed) until he was wiped out by Manny. No shame in that- Manny is a top 15 ATG fighter FFS. Calzaghe, on the other hand, dominated a very weak division until late on when he finally challenged himself, unified the division almost completely and then scored a very good win against an ATG at 175. The Jones fight counts for shit.

Watching the two, however, it seems obvious to me that Calzaghe was more naturally talented of the two fighters. Hatton had essentially ONE world class attribute; his footspeed, and relied upon this to get inside opposition where his natural strength allowed him to bully other fighters. That was his plan, and it worked against almost everyone he ever faced. However, when faced with faster fighters (Floyd and Pac), he was outclassed because he never had a Plan-B, no real adaptability nor any other skills he could rely upon.

Calzaghe, on the other hand, had lots of world class attributes. He had very quick hands, threw tons of punches, He had a limitless engine, good power when he chose to use it (even Jones commented upon this after their fight, as did Kessler and Lacy as well as Joe knocking Eubanks over, who had an outstanding chin) and was extremely adaptable; capable of fighting off the front or the back foot depending on the opponent and even capable of switching mid-fight. The Kessler fight is an excellent example of this- I had Kessler 4-2 up after six and Joe looked like he was toast, but in the seventh he completely switched his fight tactics, refusing to come forward and trade anymore but instead making Kessler lead and countering, scoring at will for almost all of the rest of the fight.

This is why IMO Hatton is GREATER, but Calzaghe was BETTER.

MTF

 

That's right, I said it

 

Excellent post

 

Seriously mate, I'm one of Khan's few fans around here but Hatton would have been an absolute stylistic nightmare for Amir. Khan's lineal, back and forth foot movement would have been an open invitation to Hatton to scoot inside where Khan simply cannot fight a lick. he get worn down, pummelled to the body and brutally stopped late. It's just an awful style matchup

MTF

 

I scored calzaghe/kessler 9-3 in favor of Joe.

It was very even after 4. Round 5 was tough to split 'em, but joe edged that round and from round 6 he took complete control of the fight, with kessler winning the 12 round.

Joe was constantly the more aggressive and was picking his shots far better. Kessler missed a great deal, especially in the second half of the fight. He had his moments, but they were in spurts in each round, not doing enough and only landing one clean shot at a time in most cases.

 

I hate arguing with you about Khan because you are one of the few that's ever backed me up in this place ::

But I'll make this short, I think Hatton would have more difficulty with Khans handspeed than Khan would have with Hattons footwork (which even as a Hatton hater I have to admit was very good). I'm by no means saying he has an easy time of it, in fact I think he'll be hanging on a bit at the end, but will have put enough early rounds in the bag to get the decision. Let's not pretend like this is a blowout for Hatton, he's always struggled with handspeed

 

I agree that handspeed is what causes Ricky problems, but a prime Hatton took a hell of a shot (Tsyzu hit him flush with several straight left hands and Hatton barely blinked) and handspeed alone was not enough to deter him (Mallinaggi has very fast hands but Hatton simply walked him down and splattered him).

Khan throws punches fast enough, sure, but I don't think he hits hard enough to make that advantage count. Pacquiao and Mayweather both hit very hard, the latter more than people give credit for IMO, and that, coupled with speed, is what did for Hatton. Those jabs and 1-2's that Amir likes to throw might slow Hatton down a bit, but they aren't enough to stop him for me.

MTF

 

Malignaggi is fast but it's like having a bunch of moths flying at your face, annoying but not really a deterrent. Khan clearly hits alot harder, and certainly hits solid enough to discourage rushing in.

 

:giggle: :giggle:

 

Khan wouldn't have gotten past the third round with Tszyu

 

I'm a big Khan fan as you know, but even I have to admit this is a little far fetched, cdogg. Reel it in a bit, dude.

 

:laughing:

 

Khan struggles greatly with tszyu at his best. Greatly.

 

There is no way Khan could ever beat Tszyu... let's be real here

 

And Slice, I'm not sure it's such a good thing to have the "Irish" in you as a fighter, other than if you'd like to cut easily LOL

 

Khan would ztruugle greatly with tszyu before getting ko'd.

 

:: ::

Fair point!

 

In the same way a felled Impala 'struggles' with a chetah.

 

Quite

MTF ::

 

By the same token, Khan would pose more problems for Floyd than Hatton did. It's a styles thing.

 

Indeed