Do you regard Hatton's borderline physical infractions as "cheating"?

[Not Monty]

it may not be cheating, but its technically boring and its starting to be as about as exciting as the next corey spinks bout.

Yeah, I agree in the later rounds it is boring, but like I said, he has two different kinds of grabbing. There is his offensive grabbing and his defensive grabbing. The latter boring kind only comes into play when hes worn down. Out of several Hatton fights, I've only seen it three or fours times. Unfotunately two of those four were his last two.

Rewatch the Kostya Tszyu fight. He does it all over the place, he grabs and moves Tszyu for just a second and then fires. He gets in and then gets off quick enough that the hold-and-move bit (the dirty stuff) is just long enough to get away with. Before most refs (especially pro-Hatton ones) could think of taking notice/making a call, Hatton is firing off.

[Guest]

For people that get upset- Hey, even Ali did dirty head grabbing. There are rules, and there are loopholes.

That's a point... Ali is my all time favourite fighter but I can't deny that the version that came back from exile was one dirty mother****er.

[Guest]

Yeah, I agree in the later rounds it is boring, but like I said, he has two different kinds of grabbing. There is his offensive grabbing and his defensive grabbing. The latter boring kind only comes into play when hes worn down. Out of several Hatton fights, I've only seen it three or fours times. Unfotunately two of those four were his last two.

Rewatch the Kostya Tszyu fight. He does it all over the place, he grabs and moves Tszyu for just a second and then fires. He gets in and then gets off quick enough that the hold-and-move bit (the dirty stuff) is just long enough to get away with. Before most refs (especially pro-Hatton ones) could think of taking notice/making a call, Hatton is firing off.

Before the Collazo/Urango fights, I'd only seen ONE fight where the Paler got tired. And in that one he was demotivated because Frank wouldn't get him a big bout and he appeared to have a cold. It's weird that his stamina seems to have gone recently.

[oldgringo]

It's not cheating...it's just bending the rules of the game (the known rules in some cases and the subtle ones in others) to secure him the win. I didn't get mad or hate Bernard Hopkins for hitting in clinches or for using other dirty tactics either. It's a fight...not a friendship.

Obviously it's nice to honor the rules in fairness to fans and the other people involved, but if you can get an edge by whacking another fighter on the hip when a ref can't see it then more power to you.

I personally can't stand hit and hold fighters (a tactic Hatton sometimes resorts to, like Clottey, Klitschko and the Ruizer have all used). That would be an effective strategy for Hatton to use against Floyd or a slick little guy like that though.

[psychopath]

yeah I think it's cheating, I mean I have never seen a clinch every ten seconds. I was ready to smash my Tele. He doesn't seem to know how to fight any other way though. pure little ricky

When the act is being allowed by the officiating people we can't call it cheating. Hatton is just being smart by exploring and taking very advantage he can have over his opponents.

But then again as I said it's not a very pleasant way of getting a victory.

[bigtime9]

But then again as I said it's not a very pleasant way of getting a victory.

it's unethical to fight this way since the sport was not designed to be fought like this

[Super_Lightweight]

When you break the rules, it is cheating. Period. But this means many fighters have cheated. Some types of cheating are worse than others, bear in mind.

What Hatton did in the last two rounds vs Urango was really bad, but most of the fight it was done in moderation. I am referring to the holding.

[psychopath]

it's unethical to fight this way since the sport was not designed to be fought like this

That's right, that's right. That's why Hatton is being blasted for resorting to this tactics in his fights.

[neils7147933]

They call Ali the greatest and he was a fouling mother****er, at least from some of the bouts I've seen in his post-suspension second career. I guess the only way it matters is if the ref thinks it's cheating...

[Left2body]

Dont think Hatton is a dirty fighter but the Tzu fight was definitely a dirty fight.