BoxRec

Terence wrote:

viciousmaussa wrote:I didn't think Castillo looked shot. He wasn't sharp but he went 12 hard rounds & took the final 1/3 quite convincingly. Hopefully that has helped him get his timing back.

No way will Castillo be any good at welter, they should forget all about that if he beats Hatton.

His timing was not great in the final three either though, if he was still near his peak the timing would be back after three or four rounds tops.

I do feel that a lot of this is down to HBO and Showtime themselves for not getting their fighters more dates. More often than not once a fighter gets to the top-level he fades due to the fact he is no longer fighting as often. In fact calling them fighters becomes a misnomer!

I actually find Witter to be a poor mans early-Naz. He is equally obsessed with getting KO's, that is why he only throws 5-6 heavily loaded shots per stanza. He is a puncher who has found that at the high level he carries little power and his unorthodox style is not getting many KO's lately but is producing poor fights.

I think the problem with Witter maybe that at 32 he can nolonger rely on his stamina to go 12 rounds and be throwing 20 plus punches a round, so basically he's pacing himself and picking his punches... the Witter of 3 or 4 years ago was much busier... its also true that when fighters are having 8 or 9 month layoffs then their skills will erode, especially if they rely on their fitness and stamina as fighters like Hatton and Castillo do... theres also little doubt that the wars in the ring and out of it (making the weight) have taken a toll on Castillo... I'd still pick him slightly over Ricky but really this will be a matchup between two faded fighters who are both about 2 years past their best...

Witter had to wait so long to get any meaningful fights, in truth. His prime was wasted, in a way, but he's a focused fit bloke & I have faith in him. I think vs an elite name, he will focus on not getting hit, before darting in to hit them when they're a bit disorientated, before clinching and turning round his back. IMo he'd just make sure to win by staying concentrated.

His fights aren't quality fights, nor clean boxing, but he's effective at not getting hit & hitting. The Corley fight was his most important, and he made sure not to put a foot wrong.


IMO Castillo needed 12 hard rds. He did get the win over a dangerous young fighter who may be a lot hardier than anyone imagined. The body shots looked heavy duty. Hopefully the IBF title and the MGM Grande will bring the best out of him. Might be wishful thinking but I feel there's 1 great effort left in the old soldier.

viciousmaussa wrote:Witter had to wait so long to get any meaningful fights, in truth. His prime was wasted, in a way, but he's a focused fit bloke & I have faith in him. I think vs an elite name, he will focus on not getting hit, before darting in to hit them when they're a bit disorientated, before clinching and turning round his back. IMo he'd just make sure to win by staying concentrated.

His fights aren't quality fights, nor clean boxing, but he's effective at not getting hit & hitting. The Corley fight was his most important, and he made sure not to put a foot wrong.


IMO Castillo needed 12 hard rds. He did get the win over a dangerous young fighter who may be a lot hardier than anyone imagined. The body shots looked heavy duty. Hopefully the IBF title and the MGM Grande will bring the best out of him. Might be wishful thinking but I feel there's 1 great effort left in the old soldier.

Witter is the type of boxer who rises or falls to his opposition, especially now he's older, I think if he gets the big fights he will look better, his peak was probably a few years ago but if he stays active as he seems to be doing he can still have another good 2 or 3 years I think...

rickys lifestyle has blunted one of the main weapons in his armoury.
the later rounds were once the deep water ricky tried to drag the other fighters into where he`d really apply the pressure, now he looks to grab, and i dont even mean catch a breather in the clinches after an exchange, at times on saturday night he was flinging himself 2 yards to initiate a clinch without thought of throwing a shot.
his style has almost turned full circle.
as jim watt said its not as if ricky isnt training hard because shifting all that weight in weeks takes serious effort, but instead of leaving him fighting fit its leaving him drained. he`s a lot nearer 30 than he is 20 and that natural energy you have in your late teens early 20`s is not there no more.
a couple of years ago on these boards i used to say i`d favour hatton against any fighter at 140 simply because of his ability to fight every second of every minute of every round.
the last few fights he couldnt wait to hear the final bell.
i think he`ll probably have too much left for castillo but after that i think ricky shoud hang them up.

After reading all the comments most of you think its his life outside of boxing that is to blame for his problem in the ring.
I still think a different trainer would bring in new ideas, and could help Ricky acheive even more in the ring.

I think Graham was brilliant in the corner - for me he fought tactically spot on to beat Urango. It was either that or "dance" around the slow moving Urango, Ali style. This suited Hatton's style and he did it well.

The problems were mainly Urango's phenominal strength (nothing else), which Graham/Hatton couldn't do anything about and Hatton's slight fade, which it is Ricky's responsibility.

they seem too close to me for ricky to jump ship at this stage of his career.
i think he`d jib boxing before he went to a different trainer.

Maybe a change to the USA permanently isn't such a bad call.