Rocky Hatton
By PAT SHEEHAN
RICKY HATTON is on a Rocky-style rags-to-riches glory trip after his 11-round destruction of Kostya Tszyu yesterday.
The Hitman lifted the IBF light-welterweight crown in fairytale style and is now lined up for a £2.5million jackpot clash with Diego Corrales at Madison Square Garden.
Hatton, 26, showed “balls of steel” to batter Tszyu into retirement. The fight was shown live in the US and cable firm Showtime want more.
Spokesman Jay Larkin said: “The sky is the limit for Ricky. He’s entered the world stage and entered it with a marching band!
“He is now king of the most exciting division in boxing and that is where the gold is at this moment.
“Fighting in America is the next logical step.
“Ricky could fill any arena there.
“He has to strike while the iron is hot and, right now, it is RED-HOT!”
Insiders insist the deal to fight Corrales in New York is all but done — with the final piece of the jigsaw being Hatton’s stunning win over Russia-born Aussie Tszyu, 35 — who had ruled the light-welterweights for a decade.
Las Vegas star Corrales, 27, who was at ringside for the Hatton showdown, is the current WBC and WBO lightweight champion.
But he has struggled to make the limit and wants to go up a division.
And Hatton admitted: “Corrales is the kind of fight I want.
“He is one of the main men out there and, if it happens, it would be great for everyone.
“Corrales has been fighting at lightweight but I think he is ready to step up as that is what he has been saying to some people while he has been over here.”
The Mancunian hero added: “I’ll fight him anywhere. It is not a problem for me.”
(The Sun newspaper)
This Hatton nuttswinging is hilarious. According to some shitheads Hatton is bes p4p fighter now. Give me a break! The referee allowed a lot of clinching & dirty inside fighting which was right up Hattons alley but played away from Tszyu strength. Tszyu needed to be at a distance to land his straight right (his best punch) & with the way the ref was calling the fight Hatton was able to smother him & not allow it. Corrales is a better all around puncher than Tszyu because he uses both hands effectively. He would not lose power as he probably walks around at a normal weight of around 155lbs. Corrales has fought better fighters in last 2 years than Hatton has in his whole carreer & beat all of them. In MSG a top notch referee would not allow all the bully tactics & if it comes down to pure punching skill Diego eats him alive. CORRALES LANDS LEFT HOOK IN RD 6 TO KO HATTON!! NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.
I agree with most of what you said,except the KO part,i dont know if diego would KO hatton in six, i think he can stop him,maybe,it will be late if it happens tho.
Was it me or at one point did Hatton take a Tszyu right hand straight to the chin and then look at Kostya like "yeah, I'll take those all night"? Hatton has a GREAT chin.
Hes stood there for like a second,maybe he just ate a huge shot and had to swallow.
Corrales will get smashed to bits in 5 rounds of a war
This Hatton nuttswinging is hilarious. According to some shitheads Hatton is bes p4p fighter now. Give me a break! The referee allowed a lot of clinching & dirty inside fighting which was right up Hattons alley but played away from Tszyu strength. Tszyu needed to be at a distance to land his straight right (his best punch) & with the way the ref was calling the fight Hatton was able to smother him & not allow it. Corrales is a better all around puncher than Tszyu because he uses both hands effectively. He would not lose power as he probably walks around at a normal weight of around 155lbs. Corrales has fought better fighters in last 2 years than Hatton has in his whole carreer & beat all of them. In MSG a top notch referee would not allow all the bully tactics & if it comes down to pure punching skill Diego eats him alive. CORRALES LANDS LEFT HOOK IN RD 6 TO KO HATTON!! NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.
I wish you guys would put that Maywether fight to bed, Chico was a damn Etheopean in that fight! That fight is a moot point anyway since he took big shots from Castillo and Frietas, and managed to come out of those fights with the "W". Bringing up Chico fight with Frietas is irrelevant, because Popo has a totally different style than Hatton, that's like comparing apples to oranges. It kills me when people do all this "should of, could of, would of", for example, Chico would have lost to Popo if Popo didn't run out of gas, that's like saying Tszyu would have knocked Hatton's fucking head off, if the ref wouldn't have allowed Hatton to hold and wrestle! Statements like that don't carry weight with me, I am a realist, and the reality of it is that not only did Chico win that fight with Frietas but he made him quit.
Hatton is open for punches, because his style is, "take some to give some", and trying that with a lethal banger like Chico, will get you a slight concussion!
Chico is a better puncher than Tszyu for the simple fact that he punch. Tszyu pretty much throws one shot at a time, and that is with the right hand, to be honest with you, you can almost forget that Tszyu has a left hand, if he didn't use it as a range finder!! Don't be fooled into thinking that Tszyu is some monster puncher, because he is not, and I have been saying this for some time now! How he stops his foes is with accuracy, he hits them with well timed punches that they don't see. Fundamentally, Chico has the better technique, better leverage, better combos, and just flat out throws more punches, so if the first punch don't get you, then the second and third one will, and that is a fact!
I am still not sold on Hatton, and I will say this again, beating Zoo did not change who Hatton is, it was just a bad style match up for Zoo, but Hatton is still the same face first fighter that beat 34 bums before he fought Zoo, and he will be exposed sooner rather than latter!!
Man will you guys get Hattons nuts out of your mouth! I picked Hatton to beat Tszyu also, and that desicion was based totally on styles, plain and simple! I was never sold on Tszyu's inside fighting, it's not in his demeanour, he is way to patient and looks to counter at a distance. Also you have to factor in his long layoff and lack of rounds put in the last few years, and common sense would have told you that if Tszyu didn't get Hatton out of there early, that he more than likely wouldn't be able to keep up with Hatton's pace. Now on to Chico! I hate when I read a thread and people say that boxer A would get murdered by boxer B, or that boxer A don't stand a chace against boxer B, that sounds real rediculous. Most of you guys that are saying that Chico don't stand a chance against Hatton are the same people that were saying that about Hatton chances against Tszyu! To be frank, Chico hits just as hard as Tszyu, and I'm going to do you one better and say that not only do he hit as hard, but he is an all around better puncher textbook wise. He always have maximum leverage on his punches, and they are always short and crisp, not to mention that his combos are quick. Now lets put this matchup into perspective, if Hatton couldn't ko Tszyu with one particular shot, what makes you think he would ko Chico with one. Enough already about Chico's chin and body, he proved in his last fight with Castillo, that questions about his chin are unwarrented. Another thing I noticed posters saying, is that Hatton would break Chico in half with his body-shots, my reply to that is, if a prolific body puncher in Castillo couldn't get Chico out of there with a body then how in the hell will Hatton. Please don't say because he is bigger than Castillo, because that is untrue, Castill is 5'9" and have had a few fights at 147 in which he weighed in at about 153 on fight night. I am going to go out on a limb and say that Castillo is not only bigger that Hatton, but probably hits harder than him too! So before you go saying that Chico don't stand a chance, look at the fight from a style standpoint and not only is Hatton taylor made for chico, but I think that Chico would stop Hatton. Bofore you guys jump down my throat, I would like to point out that Hatton is still the same Hatton that you guys were dogging before he fought Tszyu, his team took a gamble and it payed off, it's like that sometimes. He showed little skill, no power, no speed, just brut aggression, and wresteling.
Peace! :)
Umm...sorry but you're just plain wrong my friend I do believe.
Tszyu is a MUCH better puncher. Accuracy counts for something and while I wouldn't say I'm a big Chico or Tszyu fan, Tszyu definitely has more accuracy.
Chico has a terrible chin. In 3 of his last 4 fights he has been knocked down. The Castillo fight could've easily been stopped when Corrales was down either time. I don't have to tell you that Mayweather knocked him down 5 times in one fight.
I love Mayweather, he's in my top 5 today, but he doesn't punch as hard as Ricky Hatton. Hatton hasn't been dropped so severely, hasn't been stopped, and he's got A LOT of intensity. Freitas had Corrales on his way out up until about the 8th round. Acelito Freitas, for the first time since I've seen him, was actually outboxing an opponent. Not just barely outboxing him, but schooling him. Corrales' jab is NOT that impressive.
Now, I'm not saying it is impossible for Corrales to beat Hatton, obviously that would be foolish. But Corrales would be moving up in weight and you know the fight would most likely happen in England because that would be the smartest place to stage it. Though it could hit Atlantic City or Vegas too.
As for Castillo, even if he does hit harder than Hatton, which I doubt (its not THAT much different either way), Hatton is a HELL of a lot more aggressive than Castillo. He's got better handspeed. And he's not a slow starter. And know what? During the Tszyu fight, I was saying very smuggly "Look at this fool Hatton, he's going to wear himself out by the 3rd or 4th round fighting this hard." 9th and 10th rounds I noticed "Hey, Hatton isn't all that tired." He's got the stamina to go aggressive all night. He's also got youth on his side.
Hatton's chances of beating Corrales are definitely solid, to say the least.
No he didn't. That punch was partially blocked if we are talking about the same punch. The announcers just said it was clean. Hatton does not have a great chin. I have seen him knocked down by a C level fighter without a lot of power...Eamon Mcgee??? Hatton didn't get KOd because of his newly developed defense. He was making Kostya miss or blocking his punches with unbelievable skill compared to his previous fights.
I could be overhyping his chin then, cause I know Tzyu hits as hard as anyone at 140. That was the first time I saw Hatton fight too. He could have the Lennox Lewis chin type, a chin that is good against good fighters but bad against B level fighters, lol.
Was it me or at one point did Hatton take a Tszyu right hand straight to the chin and then look at Kostya like "yeah, I'll take those all night"? Hatton has a GREAT chin.
No he didn't. That punch was partially blocked if we are talking about the same punch. The announcers just said it was clean. Hatton does not have a great chin. I have seen him knocked down by a C level fighter without a lot of power...Eamon Mcgee??? Hatton didn't get KOd because of his newly developed defense. He was making Kostya miss or blocking his punches with unbelievable skill compared to his previous fights.
Was it me or at one point did Hatton take a Tszyu right hand straight to the chin and then look at Kostya like "yeah, I'll take those all night"? Hatton has a GREAT chin.
Hatton's natural strength was always very high, ever since he was a young kid. He always had this bullish strength. Don't underestimate Ricky's punching power, ever.
Give me a reason not to underestimate his power. I give Hatton credit for being a good fighter but his power is way overrated. Look at how long it takes him to KO B and C level fighters if he KOs them. BTW knocking out a guy who has never been KOd before is not an accomplishment when the man is well past his prime. Hatton doesn't have the one punch KO power like Corrales.
Here we go!
Man will you guys get Hattons nuts out of your mouth! I picked Hatton to beat Tszyu also, and that desicion was based totally on styles, plain and simple! I was never sold on Tszyu's inside fighting, it's not in his demeanour, he is way to patient and looks to counter at a distance. Also you have to factor in his long layoff and lack of rounds put in the last few years, and common sense would have told you that if Tszyu didn't get Hatton out of there early, that he more than likely wouldn't be able to keep up with Hatton's pace. Now on to Chico! I hate when I read a thread and people say that boxer A would get murdered by boxer B, or that boxer A don't stand a chace against boxer B, that sounds real rediculous. Most of you guys that are saying that Chico don't stand a chance against Hatton are the same people that were saying that about Hatton chances against Tszyu! To be frank, Chico hits just as hard as Tszyu, and I'm going to do you one better and say that not only do he hit as hard, but he is an all around better puncher textbook wise. He always have maximum leverage on his punches, and they are always short and crisp, not to mention that his combos are quick. Now lets put this matchup into perspective, if Hatton couldn't ko Tszyu with one particular shot, what makes you think he would ko Chico with one. Enough already about Chico's chin and body, he proved in his last fight with Castillo, that questions about his chin are unwarrented. Another thing I noticed posters saying, is that Hatton would break Chico in half with his body-shots, my reply to that is, if a prolific body puncher in Castillo couldn't get Chico out of there with a body then how in the hell will Hatton. Please don't say because he is bigger than Castillo, because that is untrue, Castill is 5'9" and have had a few fights at 147 in which he weighed in at about 153 on fight night. I am going to go out on a limb and say that Castillo is not only bigger that Hatton, but probably hits harder than him too! So before you go saying that Chico don't stand a chance, look at the fight from a style standpoint and not only is Hatton taylor made for chico, but I think that Chico would stop Hatton. Bofore you guys jump down my throat, I would like to point out that Hatton is still the same Hatton that you guys were dogging before he fought Tszyu, his team took a gamble and it payed off, it's like that sometimes. He showed little skill, no power, no speed, just brut aggression, and wresteling.
Peace! :)
I don't think this match'll come off immediately. Corrales will have to sign up then duck out at least twice. It is a logical match up to have. Two guys that made their supposedly unbeatable opponents quit (unbeatable in the public's eye, not mine).
Yes, I would have to go with Hatton on this one. He is naturally heavier, though Corrales is very tall for a former super featherweight competitor. And who is to say Corrales would carry the power to 140 that well? Hatton is young and fiery, a faster starter than Castillo. If Corrales fights inside with him, Corrales will probably lose. But what do I know? I've been on a big losing streak so I will shut up.
Honestly I don't see Corrales taking those ripping body shots from Hatton with his long exposed ribs.
I was thinking the same thing, also when they were talking about pinto match up.
I know its totally different levels of ability but when Hatton fought Pep(who's really tall) he ripped his body apart. I'd expect Hatton to work Corrales body well.
I agree they have unfinished business, but I for one don't want to see them go at it again right away.
Morales and Barrera had unfinished business after their 1st fight, and waited a few years to get it on again.
Asking Chico and Castillo to get it on again this year would see them both kill a part of the other's career. It was too tough a fight.
Let them seperate a while and then rematch later.
An immediate rematch would almost gaurentee neither of them would ever be the same again.
Ya true. I mean they might eventually meet up again at 140lbs!
All has to be done is Catillo win his fucha fights, move up and a rematch may happen. Same goes wit Corrales.
This is bull, Corrales needs to give Castillo the rematch.
I dont want to hear any excuses when he does fight Castillo.
If Hatton ko's him then Castillo wont get the props he deserves.
This fight is gonna be a war also and I dont Corrales can take the same punishment anymore.
Castillo and Corrales need to finish what got started.
I agree they have unfinished business, but I for one don't want to see them go at it again right away.
Morales and Barrera had unfinished business after their 1st fight, and waited a few years to get it on again.
Asking Chico and Castillo to get it on again this year would see them both kill a part of the other's career. It was too tough a fight.
Let them seperate a while and then rematch later.
An immediate rematch would almost gaurentee neither of them would ever be the same again.