Marvin Hagler believes Ricky Hatton can beat Mayweather

HAGLER: HATTON'S A MARVEL David Anderson In Boston HE was known simply in these parts as 'Marvelous' - and Marvin Hagler believes Ricky Hatton can be just as awesome as he sets about cracking America. Hagler is delighted to welcome Hatton to his old Boston stomping ground where the former undisputed world middleweight champ was in the last big title fight in the city's famous Garden back in 1981. Hagler, 51, was raised in nearby Brockton - home of heavyweight legend Rocky Marciano - and he can only see Hatton triumphing over WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo on Saturday. He has followed Hatton's career closely as he splits his time between Milan and the United States, dabbling in acting and counting his millions, and he is even backing the Hitman to go on and beat 'Pretty Boy' himself, Floyd Mayweather. "I saw Ricky beat Kostya Tszyu to win the IBF light-welterweight title last year and for me the kid's got everything," said Hagler. "I don't know that much about Collazo, but I know enough about Hatton to know he's going to win and keep winning - and I include Floyd Mayweather in that. "He's got the lot and he's a hungry fighter. He's also got that streak of nastiness in the ring and bags of talent and that makes a winning combination. I don't think there's any limit to what he can achieve." Although the Garden, now known as the TD Banknorth Garden, has hosted greats like Joe Louis, local hero Rocky Marciano and Sugar Ray Robinson, it has been overlooked for big fights in recent years. Hagler's win over Vito Antuofermo 25 years ago was the Garden's last major world title fight and the American, champion from 1980 until he controversially lost to Sugar Ray Leonard in 1987, is pleased Hatton, 27, is putting Boston back on the map. "I couldn't think of a better person than Ricky to bring big-time boxing back. It's been a long time coming," he said. "You have to go back to my clash with Antuofermo to find anything that compares. That finally confirmed me as the world's best middleweight after I had beaten Alan Minter to take the title." Legendary trainer Manny Steward agrees Hatton can crack America - in the same way his former champs Lennox Lewis and Naseem Hamed did. And the explosive Mancunian reminds him of his old pupil Tommy Hearns - the original Hitman. Steward said: "It won't take too many fights for America to adopt him - he's an everyday, blue collar, working-type guy."

Comments (20)

wow pretty funny thread i will be sure to up this thread again when hatton loses

18y ago

uppercut_84

3 word titles fight in a row Hatton beat Kostya Tszyu in June 2005 for the IBF world title, then he beat Carlos Maussa in November 2005 for the WBA title. Now he fights Luis Collazo for the WBA welterwight world title, and maybe he could end up fighting for another world title against Mayweather at the end of the year. That would be 4 world title fights in 18 months.

20y ago

Left2body

if your reading the articles properly youl find out its ray hatton insisting on tune-ups but ricky (you know the person who does all the fighting) and hes trainer billy graham have always insisted theyl take mayweather anytime and anwhere. also a certain amount of americans (id say americans cause they evedetly have never watched hatton pre tszyu) always discredit ricky for dirty tactics and 1 dimensional fighting wll heres my suggestions. go dload hes fights with magee , tackee and phillips and im sure your views on this guy will change 120%. if anything hes footwork and boxing abillitys is under rated and he is certainly not a dirty fighter also this morning on teletext he had an interview on there and they pressed on about mayweather and hatton said after the way mayweather tried to treat him at the hopkins fight changed hes plans at jr welter and thats why he is more set on to getting mayweather in the ring so he can be #1p4p. he said if he stands of mayweather like every1 seems to do hes commiting suicide and the only person to handle him in the right way was castillo It doesn't matter who says it, the fact is that fights are a "Team Decision"...trainer, manager, promoter and fighter decide on fights.....unless your Roy Jones or ODLH then you can pretty much call all the shots. So its fair to say that THEY WANTED 2 warm up fights...."I personally translate that as bringing up Hatton's name recognition in American in order to squeeze the maximum profit out of the fight with PBF" I'm also sick and tired of every Brit claiming that any American who says anything about Hatton losing hasn't seen him fight. Yes I've seen him fight.....even have friend who has sparred with Hatton and so we have to see Hatton's fights. Yes, I still believe that PBF will win based on the fact that he is elusive, experienced, physically talented, always focused, always trains and has seen and adapted to a pressure fighter who is p4p as good as Hatton (Castillo). Hatton can win, has the stamina, style, size and ferocity to do I just wouldn't bet on him I would bet on PBF. However if Hatton did win I wouldn't see it as a HUGE upset. Hatton's camp recently stated they would like two tune-up fights in America before facing Mayweather, so any match is likely to take place in the winter. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/4601680.stm

20y ago

iron_mike_tyson

In terms of your three fight deal with HBO what do you see as fights two and three after the Collazo fight? It purely depends what fights are offered to me at 140 or 147 pounds, and that is what my team will be trying to arrange after the Collazo fight. It seems like HBO are building towards a Mayweather fight and that would be outstanding. The game plan is to have a few fights in the States so the American fans can see me in the flesh, and on HBO, and hopefully then the Mayweather match can be made. A couple of fights should give me that exposure. Here is the link. I've also read in some articles that he wanted "tune-ups" but can't find those articles right now but if pressed I would. http://www.fightnews.com/watt150.htm if your reading the articles properly youl find out its ray hatton insisting on tune-ups but ricky (you know the person who does all the fighting) and hes trainer billy graham have always insisted theyl take mayweather anytime and anwhere. also a certain amount of americans (id say americans cause they evedetly have never watched hatton pre tszyu) always discredit ricky for dirty tactics and 1 dimensional fighting wll heres my suggestions. go dload hes fights with magee , tackee and phillips and im sure your views on this guy will change 120%. if anything hes footwork and boxing abillitys is under rated and he is certainly not a dirty fighter also this morning on teletext he had an interview on there and they pressed on about mayweather and hatton said after the way mayweather tried to treat him at the hopkins fight changed hes plans at jr welter and thats why he is more set on to getting mayweather in the ring so he can be #1p4p. he said if he stands of mayweather like every1 seems to do hes commiting suicide and the only person to handle him in the right way was castillo

20y ago

EasyE

hatton attacks till u cry like a bitch. if you saw the ZOO fight. u will understand that zoo was a spent force. Zoo could have fought on, but he quit.

20y ago

Deeznuts

Castillo shitty style? Castillo has an action packed style, he hunts you down till you're down. Castillo had two chances to beat Floyd but couldn't do it. Mayweather is to fast and accurate for Hatton.

20y ago

Left2body

I keep hearing people keep saying Hatton wants tuneup fights..I've never heard him say that, only his camp and they weren't even direct about it. I've only heard him call MW Pinnochio in front of a camera and say MW is the target, what are you afraid of etc. Notice you haven't heard any return fire from MW. And he has a right to say that, because floyd ducked him first. Floyd's scared, it's pretty easy to formulate that opinion. It makes the most logical sense at this point to say that the only reason the fight hasn't happen is because Mayweather is afraid of fighting Hatton. Really.. You can argue all the points you like but cannot deny that is the most logical reason. How can the facts be denied? Just weeks after Hatton beats Tszyu, Floyd moves up to 147..(knowing he needs to avoid fighting this guy) floyd is offered 15 million to fight hatton in manchester, rejects it and comes home claiming hatton priced himself out when hatton receives 15mil also.. And, yeah, of course Hatton is now saying he needs tuneup fights according to all Mayweather nuthuggers, and that's cool..just funny I never heard him say it. In terms of your three fight deal with HBO what do you see as fights two and three after the Collazo fight? It purely depends what fights are offered to me at 140 or 147 pounds, and that is what my team will be trying to arrange after the Collazo fight. It seems like HBO are building towards a Mayweather fight and that would be outstanding. The game plan is to have a few fights in the States so the American fans can see me in the flesh, and on HBO, and hopefully then the Mayweather match can be made. A couple of fights should give me that exposure. Here is the link. I've also read in some articles that he wanted "tune-ups" but can't find those articles right now but if pressed I would. http://www.fightnews.com/watt150.htm

20y ago

chawkins

I agree with beezy 14. Hatton is a good fighter, but PBF is just better. Can't wait it will be a great fight!!!

20y ago

chawkins

I say that because Collazo was his third choice, right??? mick66

20y ago

mick66

Anyone who says Hatton is just a come forward swarming fighter ..is talking out of there ares and has only seen him fight Tszyu.. He's a tecnically brilliant fighter..Go watch some of his fights and see why everyone raves about Hatton..Hatton fought a certain way gaainst Tszyu for tactical reaasons..Saying he can't baox and is just a dirty fighter..shows you really don't know what your talking about..

20y ago

Left2body

correctemundo! :cool: castillo proved the best way to fight floyd was with constant pressure hatton does this ten fold for the full 12 :cool: I agree that constant pressure was somewhat succesful against PBF but to say that Hatton does it 10x better than Castillo just isn't true. Castillo has better defence and is a more polished fighter than Hatton, with P4P probably equal power. The only advantage that Hatton has over Castillo is that Hatton will be naturally bigger due to PBF likely fighting at 147lbs. Castillo fought PBF at 135lbs. I'm not saying PBF will demolish Hatton but PBF has faced someone similar and equal level to Hatton.......the opposite can not be said for Hatton. Hatton might pull it off and has a good chance but you can't say that Castillo was some what succesful and Hatton is 10x better than Castillo therefore Hattons gonna win.

20y ago

SMC

Hatton's swarming style may be a bit too much for PBF. Personally I hate the dirty tactics and rabbit punching that Hatton seems to employ on a regular basis, but I take my hats off to the guy. Anyone who can take kostya's punches head-on and doesn't even blink is one tough bastard. Hattons got good speed and strong punches but what sets him apart may probably be his ability to take a punch and just keep coming. He kept coming and rammed straight against Kostya for like 11 rounds and didn't even stop for a breather. If anyone can beat PBF, its definitely Hatton. here we go again, i say this alot but i'll say it again..how many Hatton fights have you seen? you say ' Personally I hate the dirty tactics and rabbit punching that Hatton seems to employ on a regular basis ' you mean in the Kostya Tszyu fight don't you? because if you had seen more of Hatton you would see he doesn't do that on a regular basis, idiot.

20y ago

beezy_14

He's good I'm not denying that but yall have to admit when your best win is against a great fighter past his prime in Manchester like most of his fights. I here people leaning on Tarver all the time because he fights older fighters and his other wins aren't all that, but with Hatton he's better then PBF the P4P king? You just gotta show me!

20y ago

beezy_14

Square circle, I don't know how to post links he's said that on two occasions I've seen I know one of these guys would post it. He said something about having a tough year leaving his promoter, and lawsuits etc. but that fight would get done in 2007 probably. And to those who said that PBF struggled with top opponents you could only say that about the 1 castillo fight. Which was his 1 at that weight, and you said Hatton dominated 140 because of the aging Tszyu? Let's be serious his resumee aint seeing PBF's and he was gonna have to come to the U.S. at some point, so why would PBF go to Manchester anyway so the judges and refs can let Hatton wrestle nobody in there right mind would go there. The bottom line is that he said on several occasions that he wasn't ready for the fight!

20y ago

mick66

Looking at the fights they have had....not just results on paper..as we all know they can be very misleading..hatton has not fought quite as many top oppenents but those he has fought he has totally dominated everyone..Mayweather has not..infact he's been lucky and scraped through some fights by getting on his bike and running away..Something Hatton would never do... He's go down with his boots on...

20y ago

mick66

Chawkins... Sorry buddy..I just don't get your point. Hattons dominated 140 and is now moving up to 147 as well as saying he will fight at 140 if required..He's chasing the big fish..and changing weight to do it..He is the one doing the chasing..he'aint asking anyone to come down to his weight..thats obviouse...

20y ago

chawkins

Look at Hatton's resume and look at PBF's. Who would you hire???

20y ago

chawkins

Let's say that is all true, you never heard it or seen it. How many times have you heard or seen Hatton say that he wants PBF next. When he was talking about fighting in the US, he was looking to fight everyone that fought at 135. He wanted all those guys to move up to his weight. There are plenty of fighters 140 thathe could have fought. Hatton (mgmt) opted out. Why??? Please help me to understand, who is really scared???

20y ago

mick66

PBF is the most over rated fighter in boxing.. When was the last decent opponet he had... He's already got one loss on his acrd in my book. He's good but he aint No1 PFP fact. I'm getting bored of hearing about this guy.. He's had some shit fights and some lucky decisions... I drate his boxing skills..but he aint going to win against Hatton No way..

20y ago

Cletus_Funk

That's fair enough but I just don't see Hatton missing that much unless he goes headhunting. He's actually been very accurate in his career so far, 40%+ in most of his fights, which is pretty amazing given the volume of punches that he throws. Admittedly not against defensive wizards, but impressive none the less. I think PBF will be the one to tire first if Hatton can concentrate his early work on Floyd's body, chest and even his back if he to goes too side-on with his defence. I'd agree the ref will be important which is why I'd be amazed if Hatton ever agreed to the Nadys of this world handling the fight. I hear you, but Hatton will be missing his target more than usual because PBF does have good defense. It's more tiring to miss than hit. If Hatton fights in a storm, he will tire and lose. I like his chances better if he walks down PBF and goes to the body when in close. But for some reason, I don't see the fight going that way. Plus, if the fight is in the US as is most likely if it ever happens, the ref will quickly break up the fighters when they get close which is a big advantage to PBF. Hatton can win, but I see PBF executing a better flight plan and winning in the late rounds on cuts.

20y ago