How Good could Ricky Hatton have Been Under a Top Trainer?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Ricky Hatton was the greatest best piece of luck his trainer Billy Graham ever had, let’s be honest. Hatton had a natural aggression and a certain amount of athleticism and in all probability would have done well with any trainer. But I wonder how good he might have been if he had been with someone who taught the basic fundamentals of boxing from the start?

The career is over now for Hatton but I often wonder how good he might have been if he had have gone to a modern great like say, Nacho Beristáin or Freddie Roach, trainers both also famed for schooling great body punchers like Miguel Cotto and Juan Marquez but with tight defensive skills in tandem. Both of these old school disciplinarians wouldn’t have tolerated poor lifestyle choices in a young, upcoming fighter and would have surely put him on a better path to maintaining weight between fights and as for drinking, well, forget it!
It’s a shame neither we-nor Hatton will ever know what might have been.

[IKSRTFO]

Ricky Hatton was the greatest best piece of luck his trainer Billy Graham ever had, let’s be honest. Hatton had a natural aggression and a certain amount of athleticism and in all probability would have done well with any trainer. But I wonder how good he might have been if he had been with someone who taught the basic fundamentals of boxing from the start?

The career is over now for Hatton but I often wonder how good he might have been if he had have gone to a modern great like say, Nacho Beristáin or Freddie Roach, trainers both also famed for schooling great body punchers like Miguel Cotto and Juan Marquez but with tight defensive skills in tandem. Both of these old school disciplinarians wouldn’t have tolerated poor lifestyle choices in a young, upcoming fighter and would have surely put him on a better path to maintaining weight between fights and as for drinking, well, forget it!
It’s a shame neither we-nor Hatton will ever know what might have been.

Unless that trainer could be on him between fights, it would be the same Hatton. He was better technically than he gets credit for but I believe the in between stuff between fights shortened his career.

[Bodyshot3]

Unless that trainer could be on him between fights, it would be the same Hatton. He was better technically than he gets credit for but I believe the in between stuff between fights shortened his career.

Agreed

A seriously lousy diet, a big 'bromance' with pints of beer and having a giggle with his pals was Ricky's biggest issue by far.
Some hard-living in-between fights and especially for a fighter with his attritional style meant he ultimately came up short against the elite guys.

It would have probably taken someone decidely old-school like the late, great George Francis to have 'run' Ricky outside of a training camp. But whether he would have accepted a Francis-like 'martinet' trainer keeping constant tabs on him is highly debatable.

Hatton was not someone like Bruno who lived to train and almost wanted a disciplinarian like Francis by his side. And I actually wonder whether the eventual fall-out with Billy Graham was due to Billy attempting to read the riot act to Ricky?

Maybe Graham knew that Ricky needed to be a monk to carry on fighting like he did and to raise it another notch for the elite fighters?

Ricky could really, really fight and I think he had found his optimum/most effective style...the issue was his overall ability to execute this style 'too the maximum' was held back by those bad habits and at precisely the wrong time...namely when he began to mix it with Mayweather-Pacman.

[Kalan]

You're not just a boxer during training camp... You're a boxer 24/7 and that includes maintenance when you're not in camp... You still do strength training.. You still maintain cardio conditioning.. You still eat right.. You still sleep right.. Hatton didn't have that part down -- and he didn't have the technical skills part down.

Hatton realized after the Collazo fight that he lacked important skills... He knew he had problems... He eventually switched to Floyd Mayweather Sr, and after 7 weeks with him he out-boxed Paulie Malignaggi.. A few fights at the Paulie level are what Hatton needed then -- but not the Pacquiao fight before he learned anything well enough to make it stick without thinking about it.. When you get hit real good you forget everything you learned over the past few months because it's not instinctive yet.. It's not part of you.. Paulie gives you time to think and set everything up.. Hatton looked great from the 2nd round on vs Paulie.. He jabbed very nice.. He kept his distance.. He didn't crowd Malignaggi.. He countered jabs like he never did before.. But Pacquiao gives you no time to think or set anything up.. Everything has to be on automatic so Pac chewed Hatton up quickly.. He's many levels above Malignaggi.

Mayweather is one of those trainers who sees everything you're doing wrong. Your feet are wrong.. Your head needs to be back a tad.. you need your left shoulder a bit forward by moving just your clavicle a hair.. You're ducking wrong or you're slipping wrong.. You're standing wrong or you're stepping wrong.. You're not getting optimum range for your height and reach.. You're starting the punch wrong.. You're driving the punch wrong.. You're following through with the punch wrong.. You're defending the counter wrong.. That's why when Cotto was cracking Floyd with jabs he got his father back for his next fight.. If that was Pacquiao it could have been problems ... Hatton had Mayweather for only 2 fights which is not long enough.

Unless you have massive physical and athletic advantages over all your opponents it takes years to learn how to outbox everybody out there.. You have to out-jab taller guys.. out-maneuver faster guys.. out-defend quicker guys.. out-punch stronger guys.. and out-slick smarter guys.. You can't learn to do that in 2 fights or 10 fights.. You almost need a great trainer from the time you're 3 -- and to have him there for your whole career.. But you can find a real good trainer mid-career and it will work, because a career can last for 20 years.

[ClivePatrickLyons]

You're not just a boxer during training camp... You're a boxer 24/7 and that includes maintenance when you're not in camp... You still do strength training.. You still maintain cardio conditioning.. You still eat right.. You still sleep right.. Hatton didn't have that part down -- and he didn't have the technical skills part down.

Hatton realized after the Collazo fight that he lacked important skills... He knew he had problems... He eventually switched to Floyd Mayweather Sr, and after 7 weeks with him he out-boxed Paulie Malignaggi.. A few fights at the Paulie level are what Hatton needed then -- but not the Pacquiao fight before he learned anything well enough to make it stick without thinking about it.. When you get hit real good you forget everything you learned over the past few months because it's not instinctive yet.. It's not part of you.. Paulie gives you time to think and set everything up.. Hatton looked great from the 2nd round on vs Paulie.. He jabbed very nice.. He kept his distance.. He didn't crowd Malignaggi.. He countered jabs like he never did before.. But Pacquiao gives you no time to think or set anything up.. Everything has to be on automatic so Pac chewed Hatton up quickly.. He's many levels above Malignaggi.

Mayweather is one of those trainers who sees everything you're doing wrong. Your feet are wrong.. Your head needs to be back a tad.. you need your left shoulder a bit forward by moving just your clavicle a hair.. You're ducking wrong or you're slipping wrong.. You're standing wrong or you're stepping wrong.. You're not getting optimum range for your height and reach.. You're starting the punch wrong.. You're driving the punch wrong.. You're following through with the punch wrong.. You're defending the counter wrong.. That's why when Cotto was cracking Floyd with jabs he got his father back for his next fight.. If that was Pacquiao it could have been problems ... Hatton had Mayweather for only 2 fights which is not long enough.

Unless you have massive physical and athletic advantages over all your opponents it takes years to learn how to outbox everybody out there.. You have to out-jab taller guys.. out-maneuver faster guys.. out-defend quicker guys.. out-punch stronger guys.. and out-slick smarter guys.. You can't learn to do that in 2 fights or 10 fights.. You almost need a great trainer from the time you're 3 -- and to have him there for your whole career.. But you can find a real good trainer mid-career and it will work, because a career can last for 20 years.

What rubbish

[Syntax Error]

No difference whatsoever.

Hatton's mindset between fights was what let him down.

Ricky had a style which meant his prime would have been fairly short anyway, but couple that with the fact that he shared a walk-in fridge with Riddick Bowe & had his on special pint glass at his local pub is what led to his downfall.

[J]

I disagree with the opening post, the relationship between them was special and actually the sum of their parts made them better then when they were separated.

[Kalan]

You're not just a boxer during training camp... You're a boxer 24/7 and that includes maintenance when you're not in camp... You still do strength training.. You still maintain cardio conditioning.. You still eat right.. You still sleep right.. Hatton didn't have that part down -- and he didn't have the technical skills part down.

Hatton realized after the Collazo fight that he lacked important skills... He knew he had problems... He eventually switched to Floyd Mayweather Sr, and after 7 weeks with him he out-boxed Paulie Malignaggi.. A few fights at the Paulie level are what Hatton needed then -- but not the Pacquiao fight before he learned anything well enough to make it stick without thinking about it.. When you get hit real good you forget everything you learned over the past few months because it's not instinctive yet.. It's not part of you.. Paulie gives you time to think and set everything up.. Hatton looked great from the 2nd round on vs Paulie.. He jabbed very nice.. He kept his distance.. He didn't crowd Malignaggi.. He countered jabs like he never did before.. But Pacquiao gives you no time to think or set anything up.. Everything has to be on automatic so Pac chewed Hatton up quickly.. He's many levels above Malignaggi.

Mayweather is one of those trainers who sees everything you're doing wrong. Your feet are wrong.. Your head needs to be back a tad.. you need your left shoulder a bit forward by moving just your clavicle a hair.. You're ducking wrong or you're slipping wrong.. You're standing wrong or you're stepping wrong.. You're not getting optimum range for your height and reach.. You're starting the punch wrong.. You're driving the punch wrong.. You're following through with the punch wrong.. You're defending the counter wrong.. That's why when Cotto was cracking Floyd with jabs he got his father back for his next fight.. If that was Pacquiao it could have been problems ... Hatton had Mayweather for only 2 fights which is not long enough.

Unless you have massive physical and athletic advantages over all your opponents it takes years to learn how to outbox everybody out there.. You have to out-jab taller guys.. out-maneuver faster guys.. out-defend quicker guys.. out-punch stronger guys.. and out-slick smarter guys.. You can't learn to do that in 2 fights or 10 fights.. You almost need a great trainer from the time you're 3 -- and to have him there for your whole career.. But you can find a real good trainer mid-career and it will work, because a career can last for 20 years.

What rubbish

What a tiny brain you have. Hatton switched to Mayweather for the same reasons Wlad switched to Steward. He needed help.

[ClivePatrickLyons]

You're not just a boxer during training camp... You're a boxer 24/7 and that includes maintenance when you're not in camp... You still do strength training.. You still maintain cardio conditioning.. You still eat right.. You still sleep right.. Hatton didn't have that part down -- and he didn't have the technical skills part down.

Hatton realized after the Collazo fight that he lacked important skills... He knew he had problems... He eventually switched to Floyd Mayweather Sr, and after 7 weeks with him he out-boxed Paulie Malignaggi.. A few fights at the Paulie level are what Hatton needed then -- but not the Pacquiao fight before he learned anything well enough to make it stick without thinking about it.. When you get hit real good you forget everything you learned over the past few months because it's not instinctive yet.. It's not part of you.. Paulie gives you time to think and set everything up.. Hatton looked great from the 2nd round on vs Paulie.. He jabbed very nice.. He kept his distance.. He didn't crowd Malignaggi.. He countered jabs like he never did before.. But Pacquiao gives you no time to think or set anything up.. Everything has to be on automatic so Pac chewed Hatton up quickly.. He's many levels above Malignaggi.

Mayweather is one of those trainers who sees everything you're doing wrong. Your feet are wrong.. Your head needs to be back a tad.. you need your left shoulder a bit forward by moving just your clavicle a hair.. You're ducking wrong or you're slipping wrong.. You're standing wrong or you're stepping wrong.. You're not getting optimum range for your height and reach.. You're starting the punch wrong.. You're driving the punch wrong.. You're following through with the punch wrong.. You're defending the counter wrong.. That's why when Cotto was cracking Floyd with jabs he got his father back for his next fight.. If that was Pacquiao it could have been problems ... Hatton had Mayweather for only 2 fights which is not long enough.

Unless you have massive physical and athletic advantages over all your opponents it takes years to learn how to outbox everybody out there.. You have to out-jab taller guys.. out-maneuver faster guys.. out-defend quicker guys.. out-punch stronger guys.. and out-slick smarter guys.. You can't learn to do that in 2 fights or 10 fights.. You almost need a great trainer from the time you're 3 -- and to have him there for your whole career.. But you can find a real good trainer mid-career and it will work, because a career can last for 20 years.

What rubbish

What a tiny brain you have. Hatton switched to Mayweather for the same reasons Wlad switched to Steward. He needed help.

I think we all need help especially you

[davie]

Ricky, any version of Ricky, would never have beaten Pacquiao

I did think he had a style that could have given Mayweather a bit of trouble.... and he did. But could he have beaten him? Probably not.

I admittedly followed his career through extremely biased eyes, as a massive fan.

Hatton could have done a variety of things better but for me the only improvement it would have made in his career would have to been to improve his longevity.

He came up short, twice, against the number one pound for pound fighter on the planet. He could have been better but he was never good enough to be the number one fighter on the planet.
He achieved a lot but other than to extend that success I don't see what else he could have achieved in the time scale he did

[bbjc]

Honestly think graham was perfect for ricky. Grahams a good trainer especially offensive trainer. The only problem hes really got is he uses his fighters offence as their defence to an extent. But because his fighters usually have excellent stamina they mostly get away with it. I dont think anyone would have got much more out of hatton tbh.

We talk about his shortfalls but his strengths were very very good. His workrate. His relentlesness. His body punching at angles. His footspeed. He had half decent accumulative power. All things billy graham does work on in the gym.

He gave his opponents too much to think about to concentrate on their offence. I actually think if he concentrated on his defence more he d have turned into a lesser fighter for it.

Also think his lifestyle is overplayed a bit in terms of his downfall. He d have always struggled against mayweather and pacman regardless. For one he had a pretty short reach for the weight and couldnt match their hand speed. Ricky trained harder than most tho...his workrate was also as good as anyones...it needed to be. Only time it really played a part was the senchenko fight when he really went to town with his body.

I ve always felt that a graham trained hatton would have caused pacman problems or a lot more problems than he did and yet a mayweather senior trained hatton would have done better against mayweather junior.

[T w_savage]

It's a funny one this as although Ricky could get his head jabbed off on his way in and seemed to binge on every vice out there in between fights I still think of him as a over achiever..