Witter vs Bradley FINAL PREDICTIONS and official SPOILER THREAD

Possibly - Hatton is a tough sonofabitch. But he hasn't impressed as the level of competition increased. The only thing I took away from his fight with old man Vince Phillips was that he appeared wide open on the inside and Phillips uncorked an uppercut that nearly took his head off.

Since then, he's had two shining moments (Tszyu & Castillo). One was a very close fight heading into the final round, the other was a going-away party. Both were old men. In fact, take out the Castillo fight and ask yourself when was the last time Hatton really impressed you? He's arguably lost two of his last four.

Bradley will probably never get a chance to fight him but at 24, he has plenty of time to carve his own niche. I think he will.

 

Bradley has no stamina problems and is pretty good inside. He sure does have a great chance at beating Hatton.

 

Very close fight? Hmm, even Tszyu and his team acknowledged they were clearly behind, and that's why they quit.

There was nothing close about that fight.

You are a total hatton hater Kenneth, like the way I am a Floyd hater.

But even this version of hatton is too strong and tough for bradley, and bradley doesn't hit hard enough to stop hatton just charging his little arse into the ropes round after round, grappling him around, landing body shots etc.

It wouldn't be pretty, but hatton would win a clear decision.

And to answer your question, the last time Hatton really impressed me was against Tszyu.

He impressed me somewhat against Castillo, that was a helluva shot, and nobody has done that to Castillo, but Hatton didn't look very good until the bone crunching body shot.

 

A Hatton-hater? Because I said Floyd would knock him silly? Because I think Tszyu-Hatton was close? Or because I think Bradley can beat him?

We've already discussed what I thought of Hatton's win over Castillo...he deserves as much credit for that as Floyd for stopping Sharmba Mitchell. In other words...so?

The fact that the last time he impressed was against Tszyu says a lot. And really, it's not crazy to say a skillful, hungry fighter like Bradley can beat Hatton. Louis Collazo did it IMO - and probably would have KHTFO given one or two more rounds--or minutes.

Hatton will have plenty of success on the inside against Bradley, just not enough to win a decision. He'll get hit plenty and - like against Floyd - his weaknesses on the inside will be exposed. On the outside, it's all Bradley - especially if he uses his legs. He doesn't hit hard enough to stop Hatton or slow his charge considerably but he can do it often enough to win.

 

Nothing close about Hatton v Tszyu? Is this where you become one of those internet posters who creates their own history, Mex?

 

It wasn't close Tam, I know you're a Tszyu fan, but Hatton was CLEARLY ahead, and Tszyu and his team knew it, that's why they bottled the last round. Hatton was winning 8 to 3 at that point.

Kenneth - because you said floyd would beat him? Of course not, that was pretty obvious.

More just your general attitude towards hatton, smells of hate a bit. And yes, I would imagine you have to be somewhat of a hater to think Hatton - Tszyu was "very close" and picking bradley to beat him.

If you didn't mind hatton, or liked him, there is no way you would pick Bradley to beat him.

Just like if I didn't hate floyd, the only fighter I really would have picked to beat him - ironically - was Chico.

 

Tszyu was done, thats why he pulled the plug, not because he was so far behind. But I won't argue the point. You have it in your head that I'm some kind of blind Tszyu fan, so I won't waste either of our times.

 

Blind Tszyu fan? No I don't consider you a blind fan of any fighter, but you picked Tszyu to win, and you were surprised and disappointed that he lost. And certainly, you wanted him to win.

I had hatton 8 to 3, what was your score Tam?

By the way, tszyu didn't look done at all. He was losing the fight, but he wasn't taking a brutal, 1 sided pasting.

 

I have to agree with MWS. It wasn't a blowout, but there was absolutley no doubt going into the 12th round that the only way Tszyu was winning the fight was by knockout, and that it was fairly clear that he didn't have it in him at that point. So in putting it in proper perspective, no it wasn't a very close fight. Close but clear, maybe. But not a close fight where you believed Tszyu would come back and win.

 

Thankyou :bears:

Would you also agree that it would be REALLY jumping the gun at this point to pick Bradley over Hatton by clear decision?

 

I posted my thoughts in Xplosive's thread, but yeah, it's jumping the gun to say what Bradley does against any top junior welterweight (aside from Witter, that is :: ).

I'm not ruling out that he beats Ricky - you said it yourself, Hatton's now on the wrong side of his prime. But at the same time, he's not #2 with a bullet based on one win.

 

i really can't see anyway braDLEY CAN BEAT HATTON.

you have to be able to punch a bit to effectively null hattons style.

bradley, irregardless of the knockdown, doesn't seem to have that much power in his hands.

 

I don't disagree. If hatton declined any further than he has, he could certainly lose to a solid, fast, sharp fighter like Bradley.

Right now though, he has enough left to beat the likes of Bradley, and as you've said - this is only 1 win for Bradley.

A good win, where he showed himself to be a solid, skilled fighter - but it was against witter, a style that's begging to be exposed at the top level, against a fighter with solid fundamentals and skill.

 

If Witter would actually fight and not look to hold every time Bradley attacked he would have got knocked out last night. Bradley doesn't have 1 punch KO power but he hits hard enough to keep you in check.

 

:crafty: :tease:

 

I pick Bradley to beat him and I don't look back. It's nothing against Hatton, I've just been impressed by Bradley each time I've seen him. I thought he was a champion-caliber fighter and now he's done it earlier than expected.

Close fight or not, the Tszyu win stands out as far and away the best win on Hatton's ledger. He hasn't looked as good since, losing twice IMO. Why CAN'T Bradley beat him?

 

As long as you don't run and hide if that fight is ever made. I'm going to go see that fight live in Manchester and your wager with me is going to cover my travel expenses. :clap:

 

I don't disagree with that, I said so myself - the last time I was really impressed with Hatton WAS the tszyu fight.

Since then there has been a steady, noticable decline. Partly he has a style that ages quickly, his high energy style historically burns out quick, and certainly favours youth. And partly he is stupid, the way he fucking balloons up and gets pissed all the time between fights. That has to be part of the reason why he simply doesn't have the same physical ability as before.

I thought hatton squeaked past collazo, but even if you think collazo win - bradley is very different to collazo. And one of the reasons collazo did so well, is because hatton just can't fight at 147, there is a big difference between 140 and 147 and for some reason it's a realm beyond hatton's capability.

Bradley is about 5'5, and while he is skilled, and quick, he is aggressive too, it's not like he'll potshot hatton and put on a defensive materclass.

Just like all the other 140 pounders hatton's fought, bradley would just get bullrushed, manhandled, bodyshotted, and yes - grappled - to a decision loss.

You say you've been impressed with Bradley everytime out, were you impressed with him against Rangel?

 

....

In fairness to Bradley that Rangel fight isn't to fair to judge him on. If I remember correctly Rangel got switched for some other opponent. He looked like crap in that fight but looked much better in his fights after that 1.

 

I give him a lot of credit for this fight. I'd seen him a couple of times, against Jaime and against someone else, I can't remember who. He didn't seem that good to me.

Against witter, he looked SIGNIFICANTLY better than he had before.

Which is saying something, seeing as he was stepping up in class by quite a big margin.

Who would you pick out of Bradley and Hatton if it happened soon Val?

 

maybe Witter can go get a job washing dishes in germany:dunno:

 

Or Shoveling SHIT N Sheffield...


REED

 

Really? I was very impressed by his performance against someone named Garnica a year ago. In fact, after watching that fight I walked away thinking, "I better remember this kid's name." Bradley looked incredible that night - actually, far better than he did Saturday (albeit against a lesser opponent).

Caligula - why would I run? Please. You act is if flying overseas to the UK and beating down the favored champ would be something Bradley hasn't done before . I mean seriously, how many US fighters are successful doing that?

It's hard to say how good someone is at this stage - and I'm sure some fighter will soon expose his flaws - but I like what I've seen from him so far. Give him a couple more fights and let's see what he looks like then.

 

See this is the crux for me. He's looked solid against D level guys, and then both he and witter put up a stinker, which Bradley won...

and thus he could beat Hatton?

I'm a firm believer that quality of opposition is a huge measure of a man.

 

Witter is hard to look good against. I think Witter put up a stinker, not Bradley. He made the fight while Witter tried not to. Anyways, it's not like Hatton is some unbeatable fighter. He has struggled with guys like Collazo and Eammon Magee before.

 

Right on. We're talking Ricky Hatton here, not Floyd Mayweather.

 

Val - sure but everyone has struggled. Every elite fighter has struggled with an opponent or 2, it's the nature of boxing.

The only guy hatton struggled with at 140 was Eamon Magee, which is odd, because he has faced far better 140 pounders. Just one of those things.

Just like Bradley struggled with rangel, but actually beat witter pretty easily IMO.

Hatton is not one of the pound for pound best, but don't underestimate him, at his peak he was a brilliant little 140 pounder, and even right now there is nobody at 140 I would pick to beat him.

Within the next year, I would pick hatton to beat bradley by clear decision. Anytime over a year, we'll see. Hatton's decline has been steady since he fought Tszyu. He's probably inhaling pints of guiness and eating pork pies and scotch eggs as we speak.

 

I'm pretty sure that we all knew he'd be where he is today (a non-champion), but we thought it would take someone with a pulse to get it done. ::