I just rewatched it and it was clearly typical Hatton. He wrestles and I think that is illegal. People keep talking about the things Floyd did or the ref but none of that wouldve mattered at all if Hatton just fights normal. He doesnt go toe to toe. He goes chest to chest and just tries to rough you up. He's the only guy in boxing who does this non stop and I dont understand how people dont get upset.
I always just think about when Mancini was on FNF's and he says that the boxers today make him sick because when they fight on the inside they just throw one punch & hold or they wrestle. Then they showed some of Mancini's old clips and you can just see him going toe to toe in all his fights without the ref having to step in at all. Hatton is a very good pressure fighter but then he takes it even further and just basically runs right into you and tries to toss you around. Look at the Tszyu fight and most of the Castillo fight. Its not boxing. Just because you mix some punches in dont make it boxing. He basically tries to rag you up.
If you fight like that then it will be ugly always so how can anyone blame Floyd. Lennox Lewis said after the fight that Hatton smothered his own punches and needed to step back to get some room so he could fire. During the fight Manny Steward was saying that Ricky is just running in and he's not landing any clean punches because he's wrestling too much and is too close. Grahm told Hatton atleast 3 times that he needs to give himself some room to get his punches off. How can people blame Floyd or the ref when Floyd's fights are never like that and so many of Hatton's fights are. Its him. People say that Floyd was turning too much but if you step back then you can hit him. Look at the other pressure fighters like Cotto & Margarito. Those guys walk you down, pressure you all day, and throw non stop punches but you hardly ever see them hold or get into a bunch of clinches because they give themselves room to throw.
Hatton couldve applied the same nonstop pressure with a few inches apart and it wouldve been a much better and cleaner fight. However, if he had done that then Floyd wouldve punished him and he knew it. He basically just tries to rag you up so you cant throw back and it worked early in alot of cases. However, just like all of Floyd's fights, they opponent is good for 6 rounds and then they tire out. Everyone said that Ricky wouldnt but he did. After he tired out then he didnt have enough steam to stay on Floyd like he did and there was a little space and thats when you saw Floyd go to work and carve him up. Seriously though Hatton fans, you think its ok for Hatton to do that. Again, what Floyd did or what the ref did wouldnt have mattered at all if Hatton doesnt fight that way. He wrestles and punches. I dont like it because its ugly for the fans. Chico is another guy who loves to go toe to toe and keep the pressure on you but he never holds or wrestles. He gives himself room to punch.
PS- Did anyone else notice that the Brits were in the middle of sanging that Hatton song when he got KO? That was so funny. They were singing the song and they got to the part "your walking in a Hatton wonder...". Before they got to say the "land" part, you hear all of them with the crowd go "Ohhh"
I think PBF did most of the clinching and he used his forearm to push Hatton away. I don't like to nit pick, it was a good fight, hatton gave it all he had but he ran into a fighter who is a freak of nature in PBF.
YES well said. Did you see when he would lower himself down to taunt Hatton his gloves were pretty much touching the ground lol. His arms are ridiculous.
I think PBF did most of the clinching and he used his forearm to push Hatton away. I don't like to nit pick, it was a good fight, hatton gave it all he had but he ran into a fighter who is a freak of nature in PBF.
He didn't do it in this one. He went in close but didn't hold. Floyd held repeatedly.
And we are talking THIS fight, aren't we?
we are talking every single Ricky Hatton fight that most of us have seen.
holding, holding, holding, holding
you do know where the rules of the sport are from, don't you?
the same country that rarely spouts out a world class fighter and when they do, they are overprotected with inflated records. yes, I'm aware
chest to chest is legal, body contact is legal. Clinching is not, and Hatton did little clinching on Sat night whereas Floyd does a fair bit.
Stop criticising Hatton's style. Its his style, its legal and thats that.
every fight he's in he holds. you can say it doesn't look like he's the one doing it, but when it happens in every single Hatton fight constantly and NOT in every fight of the opponent's, then you can say decisively, Ricky Hatton is doing it
it's legal in England if you're British
You can fight dirty all you want in merry old England, but when you come to the States, you learn the rules of the sport or you go back home where you get home cooking. Hatton has no clue how to actually box someone. Holding and hitting is not effective boxing. You can't win a fight doing it because it's illegal. Soon as the holding stopped what happened? Three rounds of nonstop punishment and fight over. So anybody predicted a 3rd-4th round KO can technically say they were correct. When Hatton actually had to fight, he got murdered.