Hatton the next Ruiz?

**Toddy** · 08-15-2006, 08:54 AM

Originally posted by Dr_Cynical

I just watched the Hatton/Tszyu fight again and Hatton was hugging a lot.

He also did a fair share of hugging in the Collazo fight.

Is that part of his fighting style or just what he did in those two fights?

no thats part of hattons fighting style. he wears them down by hugging a lot then he somtimes go to the body immediatley after being broke up by the ref

**GreatestIam** · 08-15-2006, 08:55 AM

those are th eonly two fights of his ive seen, ive also seen highlights but ya da dude is a hugger just like john

**blockhead** · 08-15-2006, 08:56 AM

the clinching is relatively new to hattons offense. in the tzyu fight he wasnt just clinching though. he was disabling kostya's arms and dismantling him on the inside. it was a brilliant strategy for that fight but it didnt work as well with collazo.

**Castillofan** · 08-15-2006, 09:22 AM

It's not a fundamental part of Hatton's offense at all. Before Tszyu it was certainly no more evident in Hatton's style than any other fighter. He did it with Tszyu because he knew that Tszyu's power was in his long shots; he needed to smother the straight right hand and make opportunities inside. Against Collazo, I believe Hatton fought like that because he was affected by the difference in weight and the power of Collazo. Even though Collazo is not known as a puncher, he is a full-blown welterweight and Hatton had never been hit like that before.

I have no idea why Hatton doesn't fight with his natural ability. It seems as if he has Gatti syndrome in that he just wants to provide the knockout and have done with it. Hatton is a decorated amateur and has shown on many occasions a mastery of many technical aspects of the game. I think he just realizes that he has a short shelf life because he cuts a lot, so to hell with it. Go to war and make a legacy while he's young!

**BuddyChacon** · 08-15-2006, 09:36 AM

It definately started in the Koysta fight. He is more of a mauling fighter by nature not a clincher like ruiz. If he moves back down to 140 you'll see less than in the Collazo fight.

**iron mike tyson** · 08-15-2006, 11:15 AM

like larry merchant says hugging is a great tactic to wear out your opponents
plus watch the fight again kostya was doing hes fair share of holding

**Del Coqui** · 08-15-2006, 12:25 PM

Originally posted by iron mike tyson

like larry merchant says hugging is a great tactic to wear out your opponents
plus watch the fight again kostya was doing hes fair share of holding

I liked his other tactic of wearing opponents down, throwing over 100 punches per rd and landing hard shots to the body! Hope we see that Hatton again.

**Kball15** · 08-15-2006, 12:58 PM

Originally posted by gerardofpr

I liked his other tactic of wearing opponents down, throwing over 100 punches per rd and landing hard shots to the body! Hope we see that Hatton again.

i am almost certain u will see the old hatton against URANGO and probably even castillo if the fight is at 140.

And he doesnt HUG his opponents like ruiz, he sorta raps his arms around his opponents arms. THe clinch is very easy for him to get out of, but not his opponent. AND hatton stays so close to his opponent that a lot of the time the opponent will clinch. Collazo did a lot of clinching against hatton, so did tszyu.

And ruiz's clinching style is horrendously boring. Ruiz is an excellent fighter, but i, like many other fans, hate watching him fight. i root for him and hope he wins his fights, i would consider myself a small ruiz fan, but i will never watch the man fight live, ever.

Hattons clinching style is somehow very exciting. i loved the collazo fight and thought it was very entertaining. i think its because both fighters, collazo and hatton, both hit during the clinch. And as soon as they were seperated hatton would charge back in and attack, keeping the action at a steady and fluent pace.

**JuicyJuice** · 08-15-2006, 10:01 PM

The first time I ever saw Hatton clinch was in the Tackie fight, and I've been watching him since January 1995. I saw the clinching as added tools to his armoury and good tactics!

Hatton is an extremely talented boxer but prefers to excite fans by taking risks and throwing body shots. Whenever he needs to use his exceptional boxing skills, he will, he just hasn't needed to use them outside of the Tackie fight (although in the Magee fight we saw more educated pressure than relentless pressure).

He has lightning fast hands and hardly ever misses (if you check out the Tackie, Stewart and Oliveira fights, for example). He needs to stay at 140.

Hatton the next Ruiz?