Ricky Hatton

[Spud]

What is your assessment of Ricky Hatton as a boxer and in addition how highly do you rate his achievements?

I ask because I think many of us have criticised either Ricky or members of his team - And I honestly believe these judgements concerning the personalities of Ricky or his team are clouding what Hatton has done for boxing both in general terms and his personal achievements.

I will give you some simplistic and easy answers:

Hatton is about to fight yet another P4P Number 1 fighter.

Hatton has won regardless of validity of opponents a number of world titles.

Hatton has amassed one hell of a lot of money due to his achievements in boxing.

Hatton is very well known by "Joe Public" - unusual for a boxer!!!!!

Name other "British" boxers who have done everything Hatton has???

I ask because a lass at work who doesn't have a f*cking clue about boxing asked me the same question - and she asked me to be honest rather than let prejudice and a certain amount of bitterness get in the way

Be interested in the honest and genuine replies.

[Cannibal]

I predict 5 pages of answers that are already in multiple other threads.

[BundiniBrown.]

I don't see what Hatton has done for boxing, For me British boxing has been uninspiring post Benn, Eubank, Hamed and Hatton should count himself lucky to have been around at the right time.

Boxing will be better off when Hatton and his "Nuts Magazine" fanbase are gone.

Can't wait to see Pac-man retire this c^nt.

[Wax On]

I'm going to go for 6 pages. Can we add this to this weeks prediction thread?

If DG get's really into it and posts a few pointless pictures it may stretch to 7?

[stujones]

Don't really care what him or his team have done.... good, bad or indifferent - thats completely secondary.

He is one of the finest boxers in the world P4P (note I said One of).... he gave it a good old go against the P4P #1, in his own backyard, at a weight that didn't suit him when both at their prime... take my hat off - there have been a few other brits who tried that, but none who people gave an actual chance at winning against, and he gave Floyd one of his hardest nights.

Floyd is special, a one off - Hatton belongs in the elite...... Shame Joe didn't have his balls. People say Joe was more naturally gifted, and cause Hatton doesn't have a completely straight nose it must mean Joe is better.... I say, they are just different styles.

One of the finest fighters this country has produced..... so he offended Billy Graham and ditched Kerry Kayes - he could see he was going stale.

On a side issue - if people recognise Hatton as a Welterweight world champion, I hope they give Khan the same credit if he beats Kotelnik (as a Light Welter obviously). Collazo was every inch, if not more, a paper champion than Kotelnik.

[Spud]

I predict 5 pages of answers that are already in multiple other threads.

So why not have your input?

[MR T]

I think Ricky Hatton is a world class fighter, but just short of elite (Mayweather, JMM etc). He proved a lot to me when he beat Kostya Tsyzu and has gone on to beat decent operators at world level. He has rarely been dominated in a fight, Mayweather aside and has often beat good fighters quite comfortably. He is decent in every department without being outstanding, decent chin, decent punch etc. I feel his main asset is his strength and I think he is fully aware of that and the added advantage it gives him in wearing the opponent down by mauling and infighting. Its quite apparent that this asset is not so advantageous at WW and thats perhaps why he has not performed too well on his forays into the higher weight. I fancy him to beat Manny P if he does not get cut, I think his strength/size will be a big factor.

Couple of things that irritate me about him on a personal level are the fact he refers to himself in the third person and he always goes on about being a "normal lad".....It begins to sound insincere and contrived to appeal to the masses, maybe thats just me being a cynical git though!

[n1ebf]

anyone that's spent 2 weeks as a boxrec poster knows you type Ricky Hatton and it's a free for all for a load of knockers to come on and slag him off.

when someone asks me a question like that I just give them an answer I don't run it by boxrec. Are you going to surmise all of the 7 (yes put me down for 7 pages in the prediction league for this thread) pages for this lass and present them to her? And why come on a put another individual under the microscope after the utter fiasco that that Jeffries thread descended into?

For my money Hatton has a lot of natural strength and guts and although he's talked himself up to the point I probably would turn over the channel if he was talking on tele he has probably as someone pointed out last week got a load of youngsters into he sport too.

Telling for me was Billy Graham in BM this month when he said "if I was Freddie (Roach), and it had been my call, I would have avoided Ricky Hatton like the plague........" for me that said a lot about the Hattons' camp approach over the years. Minimal risk for maximum reward.
Mayweather will be cited as the exception but I would have fought him for 20 million dollars wouldn't most people?

[ERIC GUY]

and she asked me to be honest rather than let prejudice and a certain amount of bitterness get in the way

prejudice and bitterness!!! towards whom this time, not by some one else who dont like you , geez, your running out of friends there spud,

[DG.]

I predict 5 pages of answers that are already in multiple other threads.

[DG.]

I'm going to go for 6 pages. Can we add this to this weeks prediction thread?

If DG get's really into it and posts a few pointless pictures it may stretch to 7?

How dare you suggest I would do that!

[stujones]

Telling for me was Billy Graham in BM this month when he said "if I was Freddie (Roach), and it had been my call, I would have avoided Ricky Hatton like the plague........" for me that said a lot about the Hattons' camp approach over the years. Minimal risk for maximum reward.
Mayweather will be cited as the exception but I would have fought him for 20 million dollars wouldn't most people?

How did you read the quote like that? I read as just Graham merely stating his former fighter is one hell of a fighter and not "this is how we operated when I was incharge avoiding all the danger fight... oh yeah if I was Floyd I would tell him to avoid Manny also".

[MecnunK]

its a great British tradition to knock our own. :P we like losers like eddiethefuvkingeagle ..I may not like a lot of things about Hatton but he has made a contribution to boxing in Britain and that should be lauded as it is an achievement beyond the titles he has won and people he has beaten. Part of popularity of the sport amongst the general public is cause of high profile people like Hatton, Hamed, JC and to some degree Khan .Kids watch em and see successes and hopefully want to box and parents want their kids to box. For me these guys are catalysts that can bring it mainstream because of their personality & profiles. On the way they make a lot of money too and probably talk a lot of crap as well but I do not begrudge em that.. Hatton has only lost to PBF who may just be one of the greatest boxers of this generation, he has won against everyone else and that is what you gotta judge him on so that is major success as I see it and world class achievement. A legend ? No. One of our best boxers post Eubank/benn era, Yes. I backed Pacman to beat him as I do not think Ricky will deal with speed and movement but part of me wants hatton to pull a fast one on him and win even though I am manny fan.

[n1ebf]

Telling for me was Billy Graham in BM this month when he said "if I was Freddie (Roach), and it had been my call, I would have avoided Ricky Hatton like the plague........" for me that said a lot about the Hattons' camp approach over the years. Minimal risk for maximum reward.
Mayweather will be cited as the exception but I would have fought him for 20 million dollars wouldn't most people?

How did you read the quote like that? I read as just Graham merely stating his former fighter is one hell of a fighter and not "this is how we operated when I was incharge avoiding all the danger fight... oh yeah if I was Floyd I would tell him to avoid Manny also".

I'm just reading between the lines and off my own impressions of Team Hatton opponent selection criteria. Graham's inadvertent admission seems to support what I thought.
I realise he's bigging up Hatton at the same time, but I could equally ask you how you could take only this from BG's comments.

[stujones]

Because I'm not reading between the lines, just reading the quote. The man fought the number #1 P4P fighter in the land, in his prime, not at his best weight (Ricky's)... he also fought and beat the long standing, clear, #1 at Light Welter.... do you seriously think Billy Graham felt Ricky would have lost to the likes of Junior Witter, Pinto and whoever else people have claimed Ricky avoided.... he fought the two best. Billy thought Ricky was going to beat Mayweather, not provado, not selling tickets - he's had plenty of opportunities now (with the split and retirement) to state otherwise.... Billy thinks Ricky is the best 140 fighter in the world, so who would he fear?

[n1ebf]

Because I'm not reading between the lines, just reading the quote. The man fought the number #1 P4P fighter in the land, in his prime, not at his best weight (Ricky's)... he also fought and beat the long standing, clear, #1 at Light Welter.... do you seriously think Billy Graham felt Ricky would have lost to the likes of Junior Witter, Pinto and whoever else people have claimed Ricky avoided.... he fought the two best. Billy thought Ricky was going to beat Mayweather, not provado, not selling tickets - he's had plenty of opportunities now (with the split and retirement) to state otherwise.... Billy thinks Ricky is the best 140 fighter in the world, so who would he fear?

I think Hatton's win over Thaxton was first rate - can't hardly remember it - just respect for a young lad climbing to the top of the domestic tree I watched couple try at close hand.
Hatton even admitted once he's surpassed his expectations and was just delighted to be boxing for the British - so factor in 50 million quid and that's fcking impressive.
Tyszu was probably not quite the fighter he was, but I'm not disrespectful enough to try to detract from that excellent win.

I remember listening to Hatton on Talksport as it was then known, they were interviewing him and the interviewer kept saying, well thank you ever so much Ricky for taking the time out to talk to us, and Hatton was like..."I've just had me tea, I'm only sat on the couch bored, it's fine lol"...so they ended up having him on for like 25 minutes it was quite funny, think he just genuinely was enjoying himself, not being arrogant or anything, the opposite more like. Course he's gone on a bit more since then.....

And I said Stu, I thought indicative of the way Team Hatton chose opponents, not just for Ricky Hatton's fights. He has a brother you know who's had 104 fights but as yet has been pipped to shots at the British by "lesser" opponents - eg. just about anyone that gets a shot before him, which is his right apparently.

I honestly don't know if anyone avoided anyone with Witter and Hatton, but Witter definintely seemed more cheesed off by it not happening and as it happens I would have picked him to win at one point. And I find that strange considering one doesn't know how to promote himself and the other is better at promoting himself than any other British fighter in history. That's my view.

[brian13]

Hatton is a great boxer but the old saying is applying "to be the best you have to beat the best", if he beats Pacquiao he should be the P4P in theory but if he wins, people are going to look at JMM and Hopkins aswell but he would definitely be top 3 P4P with a victory against Pacquiao.

[HughJohnson]

I'm going to go for 6 pages. Can we add this to this weeks prediction thread?

If DG get's really into it and posts a few pointless pictures it may stretch to 7?

How dare you suggest I would do that!

[HughJohnson]

[metropol]

Hatton is a great boxer but the old saying is applying "to be the best you have to beat the best", if he beats Pacquiao he should be the P4P in theory but if he wins, people are going to look at JMM and Hopkins aswell but he would definitely be top 3 P4P with a victory against Pacquiao.

I agree that he must take on and beat the best. To be honest i think this fight will have a major bearing on his legacy. Where was tzyu ranked when he beat him was he the best lww in the world at that time? I give a lot of credit for hatton wanting to fight the best and i hope he wins this fight and goes on to fight jmm

[Poncey]

I predict 5 pages of answers that are already in multiple other threads.

x2

[DavidPayne]

Perhaps a darts analogy would be good here....he's Bobby George to Mayweather's Phil Taylor.

Not perfect...but.

[Gazmac81]

Hatton is one of the best British boxers of all Time in my opinion
he blasted his way through british class , beat alot of tough guys without hardly losing a round while defending his WBU title
hes one of the only boxers about that Non dedicated Boxing fans would gather at a house to watch his fights.

Hes done wonders for British boxing so deserves alot of credit

The one thing i wouldnt agree with is that he thinks by beating Pacquio that he becomes PFP no 1
im of the opinion that you need to move through a few divisons or win your fights very convincinly at the top level to be considered .

[teddy007]

The thing that lets Hatton down are his idiotic fans who know next to f*ck all about boxing, you only have to go on his website to see how cringeworthy they are. This has worked for Hatton though as it has made him a well known fighter to a wider audiance and earnt him loads of money. His fans are only the 2nd worst fans at the moment the title goes to Amir Khans fans, simply terrible. Other than that he is good for British Boxing. I cant comment on the way he has treated Bill Graham but it don't sound too good.

[jim wright1]

I must admit that I have done a full 360 on Ricky Hatton.

I saw alot of his early fights on undercards across Yorkshire and Lancs and I loved his style and attitude. I then lost patience with him regarding avoiding Witter and hand picking opponents - although he had some very meaningful fights along the way. Also I was turned off by his every growing fanbase and his ever ridiculous media persona.

For me the Mayweather fight was a watershed moment. As was said previously, he gave it a real go and came out with some credit. It kind of stripped him of all the bullshit and I kind of fancy his chances against pacman.