Review of Hatton/Tszyu........

I think the other thread was deleted for posting another website, I apologize about that, forgot. 06/30/05 - Boxing has a reputation of being a corrupt sport, but very rarely is the accusation made of a blatant fix. I am making this accusation after reviewing the fight and after the countless emails regarding this subject. Kostya Tszyu did not throw the fight, but the odds were intentionally stacked against him in more than one way. Hometown decisions are common in boxing and the referees who live in the area will support the local boxer at times…perhaps subconsciously. I contend that Dave Parris, the referee for Tszyu-Hatton title match was working directly with Hatton and I am going to dissect the fight. Kostya Tszyu vs. Ricky Hatton took place on June 4th, 2005 in Manchester, England. Hatton would have the hometown advantage and had the fight gone to the scorecards, he would be the odds on favorite to take the decision. Even with the hometown advantage, most experts picked Tszyu to win the fight, but not too many people figured in the possibility of corruption which would end up costing “The Thunder from Down Under” his championship. Here is the breakdown of the fight: ROUND ONE: The fight begins and it is obvious that the strategy for Hatton is to smother and wrestle Tszyu as much as possible. At 1:43 in round one, Hatton is clearly holding and hitting, and there is no warning given by David Parris. At 1:33, Ricky Hatton spins the champion around and hits him full force in the back of the head. Parris gives him a slight warning and allows it to continue. The entire round Ricky Hatton is leading with his head and fouling Tszyu without any consequence from Parris. The amazing point in this round is at the 30 second mark. You can dismiss every foul without penalty as incompetence on the part of the referee, but at the 30 second point in the fight, Hatton and Tszyu are in a clinch. Ricky Hatton clearly motions to the referee to break them apart and he does. The round concludes with some more head butting by Hatton. ROUND TWO: At the beginning of the round, at the 2:36 mark, Hatton grabs Kostya and throws him into the ropes. David Parris warns both fighters to clean it up, ensuring that the warning would be a wash since he talked to both participants. There was more blatant holding and hitting by Hatton which was once again ignored by Parris. At the 1:22 mark in the round, Hatton has Tszyu pinned against the ropes and is bombing away. There is a lot of wrestling and mauling going on by Hatton as Kostya is pinned against the ropes. At the 45 second mark in the round, Tszyu puts Hatton on the ropes and it is immediately broken up. The round is concluded with more head first un-penalized brawling by the challenger. ROUND THREE: This round is more of the same as Hatton employs his dirty tactics to increase his chances of victory. There is excessive holding and hitting in this round. At the 30 second mark of this round, a clinch is broken after a nod by Hatton to Parris. They seem to be working together. ROUND FOUR: In this round, Hatton continues to head butt, hold and hit, and at the 45 second mark, he blatantly and maliciously low blows Tszyu during the break. Dave Parris doesn’t say a word. With 7 seconds remaining, Hatton lands a sucker punch and lands another one after the bell had rung. No warnings were issued. ROUND FIVE: At the 2:38 mark of the round, Ricky Hatton uses the laces of the gloves to rake the face of the champion, only to get a slight warning. This round resembles the other, as Hatton constantly leads with his head, and grapples at every opportunity. At the end of the round, Hatton hits Tszyu with a shoulder, followed by a punch and Dave Parris once again doesn’t do a thing. ROUND SIX: The foul fest continues as Hatton constantly holds and hits and uses his head as a battering ram against the face of Kostya Tszyu. Finally, Dave Parris gives a warning to Hatton, but it was an incredibly soft one. With 26 seconds remaining in the round, Hatton roughs up the champion…using his elbows as weapons. ROUND SEVEN: Hatton begins the round using more rough house tactics, prompting the referee to warn both fighters! A warning is given to Hatton for more head butting, but no points are taken. A body shot, right on the belt puts Hatton on the canvas. Tszyu goes to the neutral corner and Parris walks over to Hatton to ask if it was a low blow or not. It appeared that he wasn’t making a call…he was asking Hatton what occurred instead and of course, Hatton claims a low blow. ROUND EIGHT: The hug fest, head butt jamboree continues and Dave Parris has decided to assume the role of spectator instead of official. At the 1:49 second mark, Hatton unloads some vicious rabbit punches on the champion and gets away with it. With 48 seconds remaining, Kostya maneuvered the challenger to the ropes. Hatton looks at the referee again to signal a break, and it is obliged. At the end of the round, the two fighters get tangled and Hatton falls to the canvas. Parris immediately warned Tszyu. ROUND NINE: Hatton puts weight on Tszyu’s neck, holding and hitting and putting him in a headlock at the 2:26 mark of the round. With 2:13 seconds remaining, Hatton blatantly hits on the break without penalty. He continues to lead with his head and at the 52 second mark, he once again signals to the referee to break a clinch and Parris obeys. At the end of the round, Tszyu hits Hatton with some punches on the belt line, prompting a warning by the referee. When the action resumes, Hatton unloads a vicious low blow which took everything out of the champion. Another group warning was given and the fight resumed. ROUND TEN: At the 2:47 mark of the round, Hatton hits Kostya Tszyu with another hard rabbit punch. Hatton continues to low blow, head butt, and wrestle his way to the championship. In this round, Hatton continually pushes on the champion’s neck and hits him in the process. With 1:02 remaining, Hatton visibly tries to lace the champion again and proceeds to hit on the break. With 13 seconds remaining, Hatton pushes Tszyu on the back of the head as the referee broke the clinch. ROUND ELEVEN: Round eleven was like many of the others with Dave Parris ignoring all of Ricky Hatton’s illegal tactics. The wrestling, mauling, head butting, rabbit punching, and bias officiating was too much for Tszyu, making this the last round of the fight. Ricky Hatton walks away with the title as Tszyu’s corner doesn’t allow their man out for another round. Ricky Hatton is now the Light Welterweight Champion of the world, but what should happen regarding the events of his title winning effort? I think that Dave Parris needs to be investigated considering his officiating in this fight and his quick stoppage of Calzaghe-Mitchell. There is no question in my mind that Parris favors British fighters and the scary thing is that it may even go farther then that. I hope that the IBF will take another look at the fight between Hatton and Tszyu and draw their own conclusions. Boxing can be a dirty and corrupt sport, but that doesn’t mean that we have to accept it. We have this crime on tape, and that should get Kostya a rematch in a country that will give him a fair shake, with a referee that has actually read the rule book and isn’t prone to subjective officiating. Please dont hate on me for posting this, the whole "stop making excuses you nuthugger...blah blah blah". I never made excuses for my boy KT losing this fight, but read this, and watch the fight.