Pacquiao will tear Hatton apart...

My statement in this case is down to the individual and how they react to a fight once it's over. I'm sure Double L saw the Castillo-Ngoudjo fight and yet he still felt in his heart strong enough that castillo would whip Hatton. Enough to post about it several times, argue about it with hatton fans, etc. Then the fight happens and Hatton stops him in four. NO CREDIT is given. The fight should not even be considered an accomplishment, etc. If that's the case, why do these jokers even bother with predictions.

 

If I've ever been guilty of jumping on a bandwagon it was that of Joe Calzaghe's. I was quite unfamiliar with a lot of his early career and i rooted against him a few times when i saw him fight Sheika dn Woodhall, thinking he might be an overghyped, protected fighter. I also thought his style was slightly amateurish. I thought the lacy fight would be a 50/50 thing. That's when he won me over. His style seemed to become more effective as the fight went on along with the volume punching. Instead of people breaking his stule down over the fight and solving it (as Barrera did to Hamed, Lopez did to Gamache, etc) Calzaghe's style seemed to overwhelm the opponent as the fight went on. Hopkins looked in control early and it was a close fight but by the end of the fight there was a reason why he was only throwing a handful of punches per round.

 

Hatton is too much for Pac. He has enough speed left to deal with Pac's lunging in and out and enough strength to rough him up on the inside. He still has the stamina to deal with a guy like Pac. Should be a good fight but hatton is going to break him down and stop him in the 9th round.

 

Pacquiao will stop Hatton, mid rounds.

I will wait and see who the ref is though, if hatton is allowed to foul and hump/hold, it could be more interesting. But a fight on the merits will be torturous for Ricky.

 

Im still not a big believer in Calzaghe... though I give him credit because a win over even an old Hopkins is still a damn good win (Hopkins proved he was still dangerous when he thrashed Pavlik soon after) and he beat the hell out of Lacy, dominated him from start to finish in a fight that was really a make or break for him... But I think overall people have started to overrate him, maybe as an antidote to underrating him for a long time

 

The only way Hatton wins this fight is if he proceeds as if he were tossing dog shit into the audience and the referee allows it to continue. If the rules of the sport are enforced, however, Hatton's extreme defensive liabilities will make him a sitting duck for Pacquiao and he'll be torn apart.

Hell, he had to throw dog shit into the audience to beat Tackie and Urango.

Bottom line is Hatton can't fight inside and he can't fight outside. He's a holding and hitting swarmer who can't fight with any continuity, and contrary to popular belief, doesn't have the stamina to maintain the punch count he needs unless he's allowed to rest for 2 minutes of every round humping his opponent.

If this is a fair fight, Pacquiaio stops Hatton brutally. Otherwise, Hatton could potentially soil the score cards with the shit he'll be throwing into the audience.

 

I agree. Lacy's proven himself to be over-rated since the Sloppy fight, and Sloppy's work-rate was the perfect recipe to beat an over-the-hill Hopkins. His win over RJJ doesn't count for shit.

Actually, IMO, the only real win Calzaghe has to hang his hat on was against Kessler who was no doubt a credible opponent.

A lot of people are content with the idea with that Calzaghe has nothing left to prove but I disagree completely.

I think under close scrutiny his resume leaves a lot to be desired.

 

Fast Fwd to May 3rd:

"Hatton just beat a flyweight for god's sake and he needed the ref's help just to do that!" -Double L

:boohoo::boohoo::boohoo:

Same old song and dance.

 

what are you talking about? whatever.

 

Definitley... Lacy si a scrub, but Calzaghe beat him like he was even less than that, so its a good performance and a good win and Kessler was legitimiately dangerous... and Hopkins was still viable enough to be a nice win... but other than that, Calzaghe's resume isnt any better than Sven Ottke's

 

extreme?....so what would that make Arturo Gatti?.....extremely extreme?.....Hatton aint Pernell, but at times has shown decent defence for such an aggressive fighter (see Tszyu fight).....it was neglected somewhat in his last few fights with Graham (as shown up vs Collazo and Floyd)....but i think we saw a return of the head movement and catching punches on gloves vs Mallignaggi

 

I have 40 to win 80 on Hatton, but to be honest I am not really sold on Hatton winning, but I think he has a really good chance to overpower Manny and the +200 was worth the bet.

Manny is looking better and better as he gets older. Even though he did not drop Oscar he was close to doing it IMO. It was the body shots that were breaking Oscar down the most. Manny looked pretty damned solid physically at 147, so at 140 he should be pretty healthy.


I am leaning toward Hatton winning, but I also could easily see Manny winning on cuts.

 

his leaping left jab is brilliant as long as he's not being knocked on his azz by a counter left-hook.

Pacquiao WILL fight Hatton. And Hatton won't like it. So he'll resort to dog-shitting his way through. But if we're lucky he'll get stopped. But he won't trade with Pacquiao. He won't trade with anyone. He's a stink-bomb of a fighter. He's a hack.

 

The more i think of this fight the more and more unexcited i am for it. This fight shouldn't be happening. There are much better fighters out there for Manny to fight.

 

Hey

I can see Hatton really hurting Manny in this fight, I think pacman may have bitten off, more than he can chew with Ricky. Ricky is not going to be weight drained like DLH, he will be fighting at his natural weight, a weight that he is already one of the strongest at, he is going to bully manny all round that ring and probally take him out with a body shot after he has completly battered him. :hammert:.

 

I like this guy...

MTF

 

Eubanks, Reid, Brewer, Mitchell, Bika, Lacy, Kessler and Hopkins

Whilst hardly glistening, that's not a bad collection of wins for any guy. And you have to factor into an analysis that 168lb was a complete dead zone from 1999-2004 (ish).

The wins over Kessler and Hopkins are both particularly impressive- the latter given greater credance by Hopkins' schooling of Pavlik shortly afterwards.

The only guy missing from that list of credible opponents is Ottke, and he was too scared to move outta Germany for fear of his opponents not being deducted points for throwing jabs at him (ala Reid)

I'm not saying that Calzaghe's resume is glistening- it isn't. But is it really THAT much worse than most top guys nowadays? I mean, really, how many truly huge wins do most of today's top guys have?

MTF

 

::

That's how it works with a lot of people unfortunately.
I don't know what to think about this fight, but I can guarantee it will seem as though it should have been obvious to me all along when it's over.

 

But you make a good point. Hindsight IS 20/20 which is why regardless of the fighter someone picks to win a fight, his impression of the fight afterwards and the significance of the win can and should be reevaluated independent of the person's prediction. Why shouldn't he leverage the benefit of hindsight in assessing the fight?

I'm on the record as saying that if Hatton is allowed to hump and hit and hold like he's been allowed to do in everyone of his victories, that he probably can beat Pacquiao. In fact, it's why my signature says Hatton TKO by stink @140. It's because with his illegal tactics, strength and the apparent refusal of referees to do their jobs, it really is difficult to imagine Hatton losing at 140.

But if the rules are enforced? Hatton will be like a fish out of water. The guy just doesn't know how to box - at all. He has no defense and can't win if he can't control the pace. And he can't control the pace if he can't hump his opponent on the ropes and set them up for big punches by holding them in place.

I'm looking forward to Hthe vanishing of Hatton's frequent appearances on U.S. televised boxing. I hope to hll Pacquiao beats him into anonymity.

 

Despite being 'unable to box', Hatton has won 40-odd fights and has stopped Castillo, Tszyu and Mallinaggi. Strange that...

MTF :atu:

 

Fighters have always got away with stuff. Although it does seem worse now.
Ali is my favourite fighter, & one of the cleanset fighters ever but part of his (defensive) "style" was illegal.
Most of PBF's "style" is illegal.
That illegal stuff must have some advantages for those guys otherwise they would not do it.
Some guys choose to dislike a fighter as a result of the illegal stuff, but mostly, to what extent a fighters illegal tactics contaminates their victories in a fans eyes usually depends on how much the fan in question already likes the fighter regardles.

 

Well it isnt just the resume, its the performances therein. He was hardly impressive against Mitchell, who was a scrub and hurt him badly... Im not even that sure how good Eubanks ever was, but I know he was well past his best days when Calzaghe beat him... Charles Brewer had already lost many times and had a very shaky chin, and yet Calzaghe was never able to stop him despite hitting him at will... I dont see Robin Reid as much of a conquest, as I think he was pretty much shit to begin with...

To me the overall resumes of Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather, Pacquaio, Marquez, Barrera and the performances therein are clearly superior to Calzaghe... I think he was a good fighter, but I dont see him as a great one by any means

 

How can you NOT think Calzaghe is a great fighter?

I've never even liked the guy, mainly because of his matchmaking, and he wasted a huge portion of his career, but he absolutely proved to be a great fighter.

He's retired undefeated, with decisive wins over Lacy, Kessler and Hopkins. All three fights where many thought he would lose, or be "exposed".

Hindsight is hindsight, but so many people thought Lacy would KO Joe. Joe made him look like a bum, in a complete 1 sided thrashing.

Kessler is a very solid fighter, again many people thought Kessler would beat Joe, Joe figured him out an won a decisive decision.

Same with Hopkins. After 3 rounds I thought Joe had no chance, but as always, he adapted and arguably swept the rest of the rounds. This win looks even better after Nard's fight against Pavlik.

His resume is not the greatest, he's not the most likeable fighter or person, but to think he is anything but a great fighter is ignorance.

He even has a pretty ugly style, but he's a winner. He's also one of the most adaptable fighters of modern times, and has a completely unique style, that's incredibly hard to beat.

Also in regards to some of his performances, it's clear that Joe was the definition of someone who fought to the level of his opposition. Against the best opponents of his career, he looked better than ever. The opposite of most fighters.

 

because I think the word "great" is vastly overused

A guy beating (at times BARELY beating) a bunch of nobodies for 10 years and then outworking a 44 year old man in his 20th professional year for his career defining fight is not "GREAT" to me... And the fight itself was fairly close, hardly a whitewashing

yes, he hammered Lacy... and Lacy was favored to beat him by many, something that I think speaks less to people's opinions of Lacy and more to their total lack of belief in Calzaghe's "greatness" ...

How can a fighter be GREAT when the majority of his career is spent with Sven Ottke being considered the more credible "champion"?

This is Super Middleweight we are talking about, isnt it?

honestly, I think a younger Hopkins beats him easily... the fact that Hopkins went on to hammer Pavlik says more about Pavlik than it does about Bernard Hopkins... and, god, nevermind what a prime Roy Jones would have done to him

Calzaghe is not that good... he just had the right type of high volume slap attack to beat two old men he was in no hurry to fight when they were younger

 

Calzaghe was a great champion; there is no questioning that to my mind.

I followed Joe from even before he won his bauble against Eubanks and, for the most part, I dislike the guy. He has zero personality and spend years fighting scrubs- I even had the misfortune of seeing his 'fight' with Tocker Pudwill at Newcastle Arena in 2001 and couldn't believe such a mark was anywhere near a title fight.

However, it is all well and good hindsight saying otherwise, but the FACT of the matter remains that Lacy was expected to rip Joe's head off. He was the betting favourite and most 'experts' were sure Joe was about to be exposed but instead Calzaghe completely ruined Lacy in one of the most brutal, one-sided beatdowns of this century.

Then he fought Kessler, currently most people's clear top dog in a busy 168lb division, who had beaten Mudine, Andrade and Beyer for the loss of a couple of rounds, and figured him out by halfway en route to a comprehensive victory.

Hopkins' age is much less of a factor than it would be for anyone else- the FACTS are that he is in almost any credible top ten pound-for-pound list even at 44, just schooled the best 160lb-er in the world and had Joe down in the first and in serious trouble. By the end of that fight, Hopkins was deliberately trying to get Calzaghe disqualified so much had Joe assumed control of that fight.

I agree that 'great' is overused nowadays, but 20-odd defences of a recognised world title, unifying a division by destroying one champ and outclassing another, becoming champion in two weights by beating another top ten lb-4-lb champion and retiring undefeated after near fifty fights is 'great'. By any definition.

MTF

 

I think Hatton will KO Pacman

 

Why do you bother with predictions? You just pick the guy you like more.

You picked Hatton to beat Mayweather. :atu:

 

It will be a great fight, no doubt, but I think Pacquiao has the tools to beat Hatton even at his own style of fight. Pacquiao via stoppage (unless Pac gets a headbutt cut over his eye and the ref calls it caused by a punch and Pac loses via TKO!:doh:)