Final Prediction: Ricky Hatton vs. Paul Malignaggi

If the American heavyweight hope is that bum Asseola, then thats a sad testament.

 

I say Pauly looks good.. maybe outboxes Hatton for a round or so, over time Hatton will just keep pressure on and break him down.. stopping him in 6-8

 

That's actually a pretty solid prediction. ::

 

I thought it would be a couple rounds earlier but.. artie:

 

I don't think he's a hope more than he's just a rare heavyweight that's actually fun to watch. HBO might've been a little purple in selling next week's fight, but for the most basically admitted to much in their assessment at the end of the night.

The "next great American heavyweight" angle aside (to which Arreola himself doesnt even lend any stock), not sure there's any real reason to hate on dude.

 

Arreola is fighting next weekend? Who against?

 

Travis Walker

 

::::::

 

Arabham and Darchinyan are still solid idols. Moorlignaggi as I've said to all the Cotto groupies who hyped him up, was just a solid example of a 'paper champ', and now I have to agree with Illuminati, this does enhance Cotto's legacy afterall... along with,...what's his name,..?.. I cant remember it at the moment but it was some scrub from Colombia who Im not even sure holds his paper belt anymore, he fought Arnoutis.

 

::

That was signature material. Malignaggi has 5 career KOs, the last one was 5 and a half years ago. Now he's going to stop Hatton (who's become a six rounder.)

::::::

 

It's bizarre, I don't know what's happened to Darrell recently. He almost seems like someone who's only just started to watch boxing.

 

The "NO WAY Calzaghe will be able to pressure RJJ" was pretty daft too. That along with anti-Margarito and pro-AmirKhan bandwagon joinings and you can chalk it up to a REALLY BAD year for that dude. ::

 

:bears:


I don't get why people (even some supposed "fans" on this site) have written Hatton off recently. He's the best 140 lber in the world by a longshot and his only loss was to the p4P king at a higher weight. At 30 he isn't the same fighter he once was but he's still a p4p fighter and the best in his weight. It's good to see at least one other fan who isn't jumping ship yet. :bears:

 

He's obviously still very capable and solid at 140, but you have to admit he looked like shit against Lazcano, he looked borderline shot.

 

Well, I got it wrong, but I'm not disappointed. Paulie held way more than I expected (and I expected lots anyway) but he didn't have the late surge I expected either. That's a recipe for an asswhoopin against Hatton, and that's what happened.

 

I predicted hatton stopping him but DLH would stop Hatton

 

Maybe the curse is broken::

 

Paulie was very disappointing....he seemed resigned to defeat from even before the half-way point....Hatton was hurting him with every clean shot he landed.....by contrast, when Paulie managed to land flush Ricky was able to walk through

I was surprised how much bigger Hatton looked.....Paulie didn't seem any bigger than he looked at the weigh-in....Hatton was a lot more filled out, and that natural size and strength advantage is what retreated Paulie into survival mode...

...against Cotto he stood his ground a lot more, he wasn't willing to do that last night and i am struggling to figure out why....maybe cos doing that against Cotto took more out of him than we realised and he wasn't prepared to put himself on the line like that again......rather, write the fight off as a bad day at the office and ensure no long term damage is dealt

 

Hatton broke the curse and shitted on its chest. War Hatton!

 

it's been broken for over a year Joe.. you keep bringing it up but I have been very close with predictions lately

 

Except for the 10,000 posts you made saying how easily RJJ was going to destroy "Crapzagga" only to tune in and see 11 rounds of seeing ROID getting slapped around the ring like a $2 hoe.

artie:

 

He looked borderline shot because he IS borderline shot. Beating that flashy mook Paulie doesn't change this fact. The Hatton of four or five years ago would have brutally cut Paulie in half inside of six rounds, instead of allowing him to survive to the 11th...

This has nothing to do with 'jumping ship' but is simply the clear observation of someone who has watched perhaps 90% of the guy's pro fights. Hatton has declined and declined quite badly. That is a FACT, regardless of whether or not he beat that no mark last night.

That said, I was fairly impressed and plesantly surprised by Hatton last night. Some important things returned after a long and unwelcome absence. As said by Adam, Hatton's head movement was much, much better; a key feature of his elusiveness back in the day. His recent habit of blocking punches with his face seems to have been partially reversed.

Also, and much more interestingly, his JAB, which was once upon a time one of his key strengths, also came back and with purpose last night. He still threw plenty of lead left hooks, but most of them came from jabs which turned into hooks late, and Paulie had no clue what the hell to do with them.

Tellingly, there was very little of this insane 'charging like a madman' behind wild left hooks and then dry humping people to death. He stalked Paulie from start to finish, but he did so in a much more intelligent and measured way behind a hurtful jab and on feet which looked quicker than in a long time.

How much of this can be attributed to the change to Floyd is open to debate, but some credit should be due, surely?

If he stays at 140, he might just (depsite what I had thought) have another 18 months ahead of him. Based on the evidence of last night, there is still no-one there I'd pick to beat him, and until someone beats him at 140, he remains the best in that division. That said, he's gotta stop fanying around with the idea that he should be up around 147- there is not a single top ten welter you could realistically pick him to beat and even this version of the Golden Tranny would be too big for him.

MTF

 

Yep, you and I have agreed on this for a while now.

I haven't seen the fight yet, I didn't even bother to stay up. The Kirkland - Vera fight was such sloppy shit, I just went to bed, I didn't want to sit through another crap fight.

Do you still have the same opinion then, that Hatton is borderline shot? Last night's fight didn't change your mind?

It probably won't change mine. Hatton's decline is pretty obvious, but as I said before the fight, even a badly declined hatton is a much better fighter than Paulie, who looked like a bum in his last fight.

 

I didn't stay up either- fell asleep during Matthew friggin Hatton and what was left of Tackie, I think, and watched the repeat this afternoon...

Yes, he's still borderline shot IMHO, and last night's fight was never going to change my mind regardless of how it went. He looked much better than he did against Lazcarno, but Paulie's lack of punching power always meant that there was a good chance that Hatton would be able to walk him down and splat him like the flashy no-mark I always thought he was.

The ONLY reason I was a bit concerned for Hatton was because it is difficult to really gauge the speed of his decline, rather than any belief that a guy who arguably lost to Lovemoolie last time out would be able to do much with Ricky.

Hatton just prior to Tszyu would have beaten Paulie into the next millenium. Instead, he beat him handily and without too much trouble, in no small part to the fact that he resorted back to his solid jab, head movement and footspeed of old.

140 is fairly shit really, and the fact that this version of Hatton would be a favourite against anyone there is more a reflection of the division's lack of quality than it is of Ricky's current abilities.

Bottom line is that he's still a top level fighter, but he isn't the fighter he was. Beating the Mafia wannabe gobshite doesn't change that fact.

MTF

 

Hatton is not Shot at all.. IMO..

at 140 I don't know who could beat him?

if he stays away from DLH, FLoyd and the welters he'd be alright

I think after DLH stretches Pac.. we should see a pac-Hatton fight

 

At 140, there is no-one I would pick to beat Hatton- none of Holt, Torres, Bradley, Shitter or Kotelnik would start as favourite vs Hatton.

But that is because they are all B-Level fighters, and Hatton was an elite level fighter; even though he has declined, he has probably now declined to their level.

Oscar would be too big for Hatton, and I wouldn't pick him to beat anyone at 147 ever again. Once bitten, twice shy and all that.

By the same token, I think he's be too big for Manny at 140, but I'll happily revise that opinion if (and we all pray that this miracle happens) Manny somehow punches the very head off that cunt-rags shoulders...


MTF

 

There is a big difference between saying that someone has declined in the last 4-5 years and saying they are "borderline shot."

He's the best fighter at 140 and nowhere near shot. He's not what he once was but he's still at the top of his weight class.

 

He has declined so much that, IMHO, he is borderline shot. Beating Paulie and/or being the best fighter in a terrible division doesn't make that not so.

Recent example: Roy Jones is completely and utterly shot, but he'd still start as favourite against and beat some decent 175lb fighters.

MTF