Will Hatton....

[rooq]

Maybe it is an English trait to never risk fighting a truly dangerous oppenent.
Looking at the biggest fights of all time,how many have had an Englishman involved?...that would be none.
There's too much money to be made in that part of the world for them,why get exsposed???

lacy was considered a dangerous opponent for calzaghe (ok he's welsh, but i'm assuming you are really referring to all british boxers)

same goes benn facing mclellan, honeyghan facing donald curry, hamed facing barrera etc

such fights don't come along very often due to boxing politics...not many want to take the risk until they are already veterans but that applies to boxers of all nationalities

[Steelhammer86]

Revisionism. No one gave Hatton a chance until after he won, then it was a set-up or an aging Kostya, or "cheating" or some excuse. It's a familiar pattern.

Good Comment

[Hydro]

Why is age 35 so old and past his prime? Lewis peaked in his mid-30's, Maskaev has won 12 fights in a row and is champion at 38. Kostya was well rested and in perfect condition when he fought Hatton - who does Ricky have to beat before you give him credit?

Fighters peak at different ages.

Tszyu peaked in the late 90s and early 00s, but he was still coming off an impressive performances prior to losing to Hatton, and he was the legit 140 lb. champ. He was THE champ at 140, and Hatton beat him.

[Liaison]

Tszyu was p4p Top 3 at the time of the fight, good enough for me.

[Jimmy The Gent]

Typical narrow minded reply. You can't blame Lewis for the Tyson he faced, and the bottom line is that Lewis would have fought anyone during his reign. Also, in hindsight it is easy to say that Lacy is 'crap' but as you say he was the supposed 'next big thing' who was going to knock Joe out and the majority bought into it. Calazghe schooled him and plenty still don't give him praise.

he was being sarcastic, as thats the excuse alot of yanks come up with

[squealpiggy]

Roy Jones has fought better opposition than any active boxer, according to the IBO's website's computerized statistics. He has fought 36 opponents ranked in the top 50, and is 32-4 against these boxers. In contrast, Shannon Briggs has fought only 6 "top 50" opponents, and his record against them is a dismal 2-3-1.

Records against opponents ranked in the top 50:

Hatton: 19-0
Mayweather: 21-0
Calzaghe: 21-0
Castillo: 11-6-1
Hopkins: 23-3-1
De La Hoya: 29-4

Source: IBO website.

This is great info. Although computerised rankings don't necessarily reflect reality (see Boxrec's rankings!) there is at least some science to it based on results.

[adietheforestfa]

The Brits rule the light welter division with Hatton and Witter and the yanks cant take it.

[The Noose]

Is it a trend with British Boxers?

Ask McClellan.

[Left2body]

Fighters in the higher division can stick around and compete at high levels longer than lighter weight fighters. You will often see HW contenders with few fights in there late 20's early 30's because of this. Lower weight classes are different and its very rare to see a fighter still be competitive in there mid and late 30's.

Hatton fought a 34 Tackie who came off of 3 losses, a 40 year old Vernon Pendelton and 35 year old Tzu. Hatton looked spectacular in all those wins.


Was Tzu a good fighter when he fought Hatton yeah, but he was most definitely on the decline. Tzu was still game but only a fraction of his former self and Tzu had a lot of question marks concerning his fighting ability going into the fight. Even Hatton has said this.

I think Hatton will fight some prime fighters after the Castillo fight. If you think about it the jrWW division is depleted of big names so he'll have to fight a top guy. If Hatton steps up to the WW division there is a ton of young WW talent too so it would be almost impossible to avoid a good young fighter.

[Steelhammer86]

Maybe it is an English trait to never risk fighting a truly dangerous oppenent.
Looking at the biggest fights of all time,how many have had an Englishman involved?...that would be none.

Englishmen have been involved in many big fights, for example, Lennox Lewis vs Klitschko, Holyfield, and Tyson. Others include Hatton vs Tszyu and soon, Hatton vs Castillo.

What you wrote about English "traits" seems rather racist, isn't it? It seems to suggest you think Englishmen are cowardly.