By Cliff Rold
The good news for World Jr. Welterweight champion Ricky Hatton (44-1, 31 KO) of Manchester, England is that he retained his crown in front of a stacked hometown soccer stadium crowd, notching his fourth successful defense of the crown that he wrested from Kostya Tszyu in 2005. A win is always good news, especially a win that saw him weather two tough storms in returning from his first career loss to Welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather last December.
The bad news might be found in the path to victory for Hatton. It’s not that he looked bad; it is that he didn’t look, at age 29, like a fighter long for his title or the sport. 33-year old veteran Juan Lazcano (37-5-1, 27 KO) of Sacramento, California did what he’s always done; he made hell for one of the world’s best while falling just a bit short. Sure, he might have suffered a bit from Hatton going Beatles homage, getting by with a little help in the tenth, but it’s hard to argue that a buzzed Hatton would have been a soon defeated one.
Let’s go to the report card.
Speed: As expected, Hatton held the edge in speed but the edge was not what it might have been even a year ago. In spots, Hatton looked downright slow. Has his body reached a point where making the division limit of 140 lbs. simply asks too much of him? It can’t be denied that he looked sharper against Mayweather where he had an extra seven pounds to play with. He was still quick enough to connect often on Lazcano which, for the night, was enough. It could be a problem with fresher, faster U.S.-based Jr. Welterweight titlists Paulie Malignaggi (25-1, 5 KO, IBF) and Timothy Bradley (22-0, 11 KO, WBC) on the horizon. Lazcano had never been a speed demon before and was not on Saturday, but he did some great work by timing sneaky counter left hooks. Pre-Fight Grades: Hatton B+; Lazcano B/Post Fight: Hatton B; Lazcano B
Power: Lazcano’s sneaky counter hook of course led to some serious cries of foul in the tenth, and it did some damage in the eighth as well. The tenth round incident, where Hatton was clearly hurt and not firing back, led to a break in the action by the referee first to admonish Lazcano for firing at Hatton’s back in the clinch, and then so Hatton could get a new bow his in his show laces. Now, the admonishment was certainly justified, but the duration of it certainly seemed long winded at a time when every second counted. The undone laces were probably just good luck. Beyond that, the power game was about what could be expected. Neither man is or ever was a one-punch bomber. The accumulation of shots told the story with Hatton outlanding and outpunching Lazcano for much of the bout. A sign of Hatton’s lack of serious thunder was the number of times he appeared to have Lazcano woozy from two and three punch salvos but could not plant a finishing touch. Alternately, that was also a mark of Lazcano’s proven and still reliable chin. Pre-Fight Grades: Hatton & Lazcano B/Post-Fight: Same
Defense: There are some who remain appalled at Hatton’s defensive approach, a strategy that regularly relies on clutching, pushing off, and punching. There are even some out there who compare him stylistically to Heavyweight John Ruiz, an exaggeration of epic proportions given the frenetic pace of most Hatton fights. It might be more fair to call it a retro-approach as it resembles often the tapes of the greats from the 1920’s and back. It’s effective however it’s titled. In terms of more stylish defense, subtle head movement, feints, and blocking…yeah, there was less of that from both. Hatton comes in looking wide open but he’s not as easy to hit as it seems; often, Lazcano’s hooks missed as Hatton was dropping his head in a rush. When the rushes were ill-timed, well, that was rounds eight and ten. Lazcano was hit often but did a good job of smothering second and third punches in combination and in out-grappling Hatton at times to slow the champion’s momentum. Ultimately, both took more their share of unhealthy punishment. Pre-Fight Grades: Hatton & Lazcano B/Post-Fight: Hatton B; Lazcano B-
Intangibles : Is Hatton’s chin or body the problem? That’s the question that came to mind as shots that he might formerly have shrugged off were causing him serious problems. Including his shaky Welterweight foray with Luis Collazo in 2006, Hatton has now been seriously wobbled in three of his last six. Chin is one of the ultimate intangibles in Boxing and his is beginning to look like a problem. Moving up and down the scale, and not mitigating his weight gain between fights, might be catching up with a bullet. In round eight though, we saw another intangible: Hatton’s heart. Stunned, he struggled to find his legs and began firing back like the champion he is. Everyone can and should argue with the events in the tenth, but no one can argue that Hatton failed to man up completely on his own the first time the tower was buzzed. Lazcano’s heart was never in doubt; he showed it in coming off the floor to stop Stevie Johnston in 2003 and again in making the final bell against Jose Luis Castillo in 2004. Saturday night, he took some big shots but never quit, never stopped looking for the one shot that could lay an exclamation point on his career. It was unfortunate that his aged body could not produce better punch output in a great number of rounds. Pre-Fight Grades: Hatton & Lazcano B+/Post-Fight: Same
Overall Report Card: Hatton B; Lazcano B
So, at the end, it goes down as a unanimous decision win for Hatton and the world moves on to whatever is next for Hatton. It is assured that it will be big because everything Hatton does is big right now. Even Oscar De La Hoya couldn’t match the sort of gate Hatton did on Saturday in his effort against a similarly perceived wide underdog in Stevie Forbes. Like Frank Bruno at Heavyweight a generation ago, it appears the Brits are more in love with their guy now that he’s lost. Will he be losing again soon?
The jury is out on that. It looks like he’ll be in next with a Malignaggi who struggled to get past Lovemore N’Dou (46-10-1, 31 KO) in their rematch on the undercard. Let’s say he won by a hair, or at least a haircut. Malignaggi’s struggle with a set of ill-advised extensions made Sports Center and would have been grand fodder for 1980s sports folly videos. That doesn’t make Hatton-Malignaggi a laughing matter. If the hand injury claimed by Malignaggi after the fight can heal in time, those two will face off before years end in a fight that looks competitive. Whether that turns out to be the case or not, the crowd it will draw makes it worth Boxing’s time.
Anyone switching the dial to Versus for the Hatton show this weekend saw two entertaining fights in a venue and with fans who made Boxing look big time. Boxing can’t have enough of that as it puts itself forward for increased mainstream attention. What it says about 140 lbs. that such a fight is among the best that can be made in class is a debate for another day.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
