Ricky Comes Clean About Graham's Sacking

[Rocky Balboa]

Of course there's more to this than what's in the papers. Personally, I would have like to have seen Ricky remain a bit more quiet about the whole situation. I mean, Billy has stated that he cares for Ricky & that he will not get into a slanging match with Ricky. That shows class.

Knowledge is power, & like someone already stated, the late, great Eddie Futch was still at the highest level & he was much older than Graham. I can remember Riddick Bowe calling Futch "papa smurf". Futch was an amazing trainer!

Anyway, Ricky's full training camp commences in a few weeks, so he needs to concentrate on building a good understanding with whoever comes in as trainer.

[HPI]

Just a quick question Terry, what colour are Billys bed sheets?

and Rickys HPI?

You are hardly in a position to make jokes like that when you and acenabox have some kind of gay tag-team going on. Luckily I've got a thick skin. You need that around boxing.

There are better ways for you to defend your mate.

Gay tag team? i dont even know this acenabox character, he seems to know a fair bit of inside knowledge though unless he is talking out his arse. Same as you really, is Billy on your speed dial?

[WildWaylon]

I dont suppose we will get to know the truth unless someone on the inside speaks out or leaks information which is highly unlikely. I am pretty certain in my own mind Graham did nothing off his own bat, and Hatton and co sacked him because they no longer got on. There were rumours of unrest between Hatton and Graham after Hatton lost to Mayweather and if true Grahams sacking has come because they were unable to resolve their differences. As others have pointed out, you dont have to be young and fit to be a trainer and Billys knowledge and expertise were an essential part of Hattons success. If the new man had been given equal status with Graham, I can understand Billy being upset and feeling he was being pushed out. Obviously I dont know the facts but it seems to me the relationship between Hatton and Graham has been detiorating for quite a while. Was Graham made the scapegoat for Hattons first loss?

[dbf]

Ps Now sure how things stand but Floyd Mayweather Senior is not the man for the job. He got Oscar flurrying with a straight back and trying to block and parry. Hatton with his chin up letting shots go is a recipie for disaster.

Ideally the should get Roach but imagine it, they get rid of Graham due to ill-health and bring in a guy who is suffering from Parkinson's, and getting worse with it by all accounts.

[dbf]

Ps Now sure how things stand but Floyd Mayweather Senior is not the man for the job. He got Oscar flurrying with a straight back and trying to block and parry. Hatton with his chin up letting shots go is a recipie for disaster.

Ideally the should get Roach but imagine it, they get rid of Graham due to ill-health and bring in a guy who is suffering from Parkinson's, and getting worse with it by all accounts.

It seems that whenever the concept of an American coach is brought up, only Roach, Mayweather Sr and McGirt's names are mentioned. The celebrity trainers of the 00's.

Roach is probably too busy to dedicate enough time to Hatton and the Mayweather style is all wrong for Hatton.

Someone like Joe Goosen who could get Ricky back to using a jab, and tightening up his defence. Joe had great success with Coralles (in the Casamayor rematch, and Castillo1) and got Moseley very close to beating Wright (second fight).

[acenabox]

Terry D wrote : "Luckily I've got a thick skin. You need that around boxing"
You're not wrong there mate !
"gay tag-team"

[Chambers2]

Good point well made, pal.

This all doesn't make team hatton look good at all .....

It's been a very bad PR year for team Hatton, first the Witter dodging debacle (with an assortment of excuses) and now he gets rid of his mentor (with an assortment of excuses)

Fair is fair. Witter brought only negatives to the table and was then defeated by a novice. They in different leagues, still.

I'm not going to go down this age old argument again, but Witter hadn't been beat by Bradley when Hatton was arranging his fights with Lazcano and Paulie. Witter brought plenty of positives to the British public, fans, writers and pundits, Hatton just couldn't stand the thought of taking his whooping from Junior. That was the point when Hatton plummeted in my estimations

[HPI]

Gay
tag team? i dont even know this acenabox character, he seems to know a
fair bit of inside knowledge though unless he is talking out his arse.
Same as you really, is Billy on your speed dial?

I have more than a fair idea. The laptop jibe could only have been made by one of two people. Then again who knows, might be one of those things.

As for speed dial. Don't know how to set one up. You are taking this all very personally. Duvet jokes, now the phone gag. You admit you have an agenda in all this as it involves your mate, so I assume you are having the odd pop because Graham is getting decent support in all of this, a lifetime spent in boxing, flawed or not, will have that impact.

id just like to see a more balanced view on the whole situation other than posts and reports being manufactured to belittle Hatton. Billy Graham was no doubt a very good trainer and would Hatton have reached the heights he did without him? who knows? possibly not. It would appear that all wasnt Rosy in the Phoenix camp for a while for one reason or another and this has now come to a head.

ps. whats the laptop jibe? i havent made a jibe about a laptop

[Poncey]

Part of the Team (onus on Team) Hatton negative feeling/reaction has been brought on by themselves though, HPI. They shouldn't make odd announcements without any logic ("Vegas is cheaper than NY") or change their stories on "Grahamgate".

I just think that the PR they've performed has been really bad, and none of them have come across well.

For the record, I'm not a Hatton hater. I was there for Tszyu, I was there for Mayweather (I could go into that little saga of tickets, but I won't), I was there 4 weeks ago meeting him in Bournemouth, I even have a signed photo of him against Kostya in my lounge, but I won't ever see him fight again.

Just really disappointed.

[EddieShredder]

Part of the Team (onus on Team) Hatton negative feeling/reaction has been brought on by themselves though, HPI. They shouldn't make odd announcements without any logic ("Vegas is cheaper than NY") or change their stories on "Grahamgate".

I just think that the PR they've performed has been really bad, and none of them have come across well.

For the record, I'm not a Hatton hater. I was there for Tszyu, I was there for Mayweather (I could go into that little saga of tickets, but I won't), I was there 4 weeks ago meeting him in Bournemouth, I even have a signed photo of him against Kostya in my lounge, but I won't ever see him fight again.

Just really disappointed.

^^
He's not angry, he's just upset.

[WildWaylon]

Part of the Team (onus on Team) Hatton negative feeling/reaction has been brought on by themselves though, HPI. They shouldn't make odd announcements without any logic ("Vegas is cheaper than NY") or change their stories on "Grahamgate".

I just think that the PR they've performed has been really bad, and none of them have come across well.

For the record, I'm not a Hatton hater. I was there for Tszyu, I was there for Mayweather (I could go into that little saga of tickets, but I won't), I was there 4 weeks ago meeting him in Bournemouth, I even have a signed photo of him against Kostya in my lounge, but I won't ever see him fight again.

Just really disappointed.

Grahamgate
brilliant.

[WildWaylon]

id just like to see a more balanced
view on the whole situation other than posts and reports being
manufactured to belittle Hatton. Billy Graham was no doubt a very good
trainer and would Hatton have reached the heights he did without him?
who knows? possibly not. It would appear that all wasnt Rosy in the
Phoenix camp for a while for one reason or another and this has now
come to a head.

ps. whats the laptop jibe? i havent made a jibe about a laptop

I'm not belittling Hatton though mate, F-me he defeated my hero Tszyu in a performance that made Kostya into an old man, Kostya was in the form of his life pre-fight and people who say he got old overnight are playing the fight down. I've also said over and again on here that all his post-Kostya fights were working towards an objective, fighting Floyd, and that calls for a Witter fight were not realistic. It is hardly doing Hatton down.

No one is manufacturing reports, someone at the Hatton end made a right arse of this situation in the opinion of a few people. I would not do Hatton down or belittle him. All I will say is that it could have been handled better and that is what I said above. On the PR side of things Hatton is a lion led by donkies, he should have come out and said he was firing Billy for the reasons outlined, just has he should have come out from the start and said he would not give Witter the satisfaction of getting a payday by fighting him. He did in the end but by then had tried to joke Witter off for years, he should have been blunt from the start and said "I won't fight him for love nor money".

Laptop thing was an in-joke that might not even count for anything, nothing major and not a dig at you.

Hatton PR has been dreadful. He made excuse after excuse for not fighting Witter even when Witter won the WBC belt. A fight then was legitimate and what the British fans wanted but Hatton ignored the fans completely. Bradley then got Hatton out of the mess by beating Witter. Then Graham gets sacked and Ricky makes a statement saying he was no longer fit enough to do the job. It may satisfy the average Sun reader but the true fans of boxing are wanting to know more. Are Hatton and Graham exchanging Christmas cards this year, somhow I think not.

[Happy Slapper]

id just like to see a more balanced
view on the whole situation other than posts and reports being
manufactured to belittle Hatton. Billy Graham was no doubt a very good
trainer and would Hatton have reached the heights he did without him?
who knows? possibly not. It would appear that all wasnt Rosy in the
Phoenix camp for a while for one reason or another and this has now
come to a head.

ps. whats the laptop jibe? i havent made a jibe about a laptop

I'm not belittling Hatton though mate, F-me he defeated my hero Tszyu in a performance that made Kostya into an old man, Kostya was in the form of his life pre-fight and people who say he got old overnight are playing the fight down. I've also said over and again on here that all his post-Kostya fights were working towards an objective, fighting Floyd, and that calls for a Witter fight were not realistic. It is hardly doing Hatton down.

No one is manufacturing reports, someone at the Hatton end made a right arse of this situation in the opinion of a few people. I would not do Hatton down or belittle him. All I will say is that it could have been handled better and that is what I said above. On the PR side of things Hatton is a lion led by donkies, he should have come out and said he was firing Billy for the reasons outlined, just has he should have come out from the start and said he would not give Witter the satisfaction of getting a payday by fighting him. He did in the end but by then had tried to joke Witter off for years, he should have been blunt from the start and said "I won't fight him for love nor money".

Laptop thing was an in-joke that might not even count for anything, nothing major and not a dig at you.

Hatton PR has been dreadful. He made excuse after excuse for not fighting Witter even when Witter won the WBC belt. A fight then was legitimate and what the British fans wanted but Hatton ignored the fans completely. Bradley then got Hatton out of the mess by beating Witter. Then Graham gets sacked and Ricky makes a statement saying he was no longer fit enough to do the job. It may satisfy the average Sun reader but the true fans of boxing are wanting to know more. Are Hatton and Graham exchanging Christmas cards this year, somhow I think not.

Did Bradley 'get Hatton out of the mess' or simply back up what a lot of people thought - that Witter was/is never on Hatton's level in the first place and Hatton is totally justified in not giving him the payday?

[Pugilist-specialist]

I'm not taking sides here - I keep seeing Lee Beard described as an amateur trainer.
Has he had much success in the amateurs?
If so , who has he trained ?
Did he box Naz in the amateurs as a post on another thread suggested ?
Thanks

[WildWaylon]

Happy Slapper Had Witter won the fight against Bradley the call for Hatton to face Witter would have been stronger and louder. As things turned out Witter lost and the arguement died there and then. Hattons prayers had been answered. Maybe Witter never was in Hattons league I wouldnt dispute that, but come on Hattons excuses for not facing him just got stupid.

[Scrap]

Whats wrong with being an Amatuer coach, most of us were at some time. Plus the qualification is much Harder than the Pros. In the Pros it who you know not what you know

[WildWaylon]

Whats wrong with being an Amatuer coach, most of us were at some time. Plus the qualification is much Harder than the Pros. In the Pros it who you know not what you know

Well you should know. I think he could have learned a lot about the pro game working with Graham.

[Scrap]

Agreed

[observer1]

lol @ Hatton.

Lol @ Hatton Fans.

[Khaosai-Galaxy]

What a load of bollocks, you don't need to be super fit or even that physically able to be a trainer.

Eddie Futch was still a top trainer in his 80's.

Good point well made, pal.

This all doesn't make team hatton look good at all .....

It's been a very bad PR year for team Hatton, first the Witter dodging debacle (with an assortment of excuses) and now he gets rid of his mentor (with an assortment of excuses)

mmmmmm what?

[Chambers2]

Ricky Hatton the 'Man Of The People' refused to fight Witter despite the whole of British Boxing wanting the fight (bar the Hatton nuthuggers). Hatton preferred to line up the Lazcano formality followed by the Pigeon Punching Paulie who's looked shit and is vstylistically suited for Ricky IMO

It's upto Ricky who he fights, but if he's claiming to be a fans fighter then does the opposite of what a fans fighter does, then he deserves and has to expect some criticsm

[Khaosai-Galaxy]

Ricky Hatton the 'Man Of The People' refused to fight Witter despite the whole of British Boxing wanting the fight (bar the Hatton nuthuggers). Hatton preferred to line up the Lazcano formality followed by the Pigeon Punching Paulie who's looked shit and is vstylistically suited for Ricky IMO

It's upto Ricky who he fights, but if he's claiming to be a fans fighter then does the opposite of what a fans fighter does, then he deserves and has to expect some criticsm

You are spending WAY too much time on this forum if you think Hatton fighting Witter is some sort of big deal that people outside of this bizarre little world are desperate to see

Look at Witters TV ratings and ticket sales if you don't believe me....

Heads out of arses gentlemen, heads out of arses.....

[Max Molyneux]

So boxing Is more about money and ticket sales to guys like Hatton despite being so loaded already?

No point fighting Junior now but years ago would of been good or when he was WBC champ.

He did shine a few times to be fair but he had some stinkers too.

[hitman_hatton1]

witter had a chance to make a name for himself again.

he'd turn in a promising showing and then fight like he did against corley.

malignaggi is rated no 1 in latest ring ratings.

it's not just a money fight.

this is about beating up a cocky yank.

[hitman_hatton1]

Junior has to now comeback and make the best of what he can from boxing, fighting some time this year would be a nice start.

tick tock tick tock tick tock.

we only got 40 seconds to change the world.

tick tock tick tock tick tock.