BoxRec

jamesmcdonnell wrote:
People thought after he was humiliated by mayweather, that Gatti was overrated - but then look what happened to Hatton. Gatti was clearly intimidated by Mayweather and massively underperformed - he barely threw a punch and tried to outbox the boxer which was madness. Hatton blew his top and got annihilated. What's the difference?

Personally I didnt think Gatti was overrated post Mayweather. I think from 2002 onwards he was very well managed and was being over rated by his performances / opponents (hindsight is wonderful though isnt it). I think Ricky, at this time, had the beating of him in the way (forgive me for saying this) he beat Tackie. i.e, a box move performance as appose to trenches for the full 12.

Micky Ward, top class journeyman / gatekeeper. x 3 blood and guts fights which brought Gatti back to the attention of the world. Fair play though, after the first fight Gatti pretty much had Irish's number, but it never looked easy.

Gatti then fought and beat Branco (struggled with hand trouble if memory serves) on a fairly comfortable but uninspiring UD.

A blown up lightweight in Dorin who had good amateur credentials but folded as soon as he tasted a shot to the body.

Leija, at the end of a long career who again folded when he finally tasted gattis power.

None of these fighters, 2002 onwards, were top 10 LWW's, a division rich at the time with talent. Its a shame Gatti Hatton didnt happen 2004, I honestly think Ricky couldve formulated a plan to beat Thunder, and get massive props for it, really I do.

Can see what your saying Wales, but Leija was in most top 10 at the time of the fight and Dorin was a worthy challenger - not great, but satisfactory.

Gatti's hand damage was also a huge problem - he blew the first Ward fight (IMO) but hand injury was the problem for match 3... match 2 he won decisively.

Wrists wrote:I would not use the word EASILY to describe how Calzaghe beat Kessler as in the first 4 rounds he was nailed with some solid shots, I think HANDILY is a better description.

However, to describe the fight as 'close' is bordering on ridiculous.

Kessler won 2 out of the first 4 rounds and round 12 - thats it.

The Lacy fight was the finest performance from a British fighter in 25 years

If you listen to the HBO commentary of the fight Manny Steward waxes lyrical about Calzaghe's performance and I would take his word over a lot of people on here.

Calzaghe is easily (bar Hamed) the most talented British fighter of the last 30 years and if he had just a bit more 'dog f u c k' he would have been even greater.

For me he is all time top 5 British Pfp easily.

Hatton, less talent but more guts etc etc

Only think I disagree with is your scoring of Kessler vs Joe fight - 118-110?

I've never condemmed the Lacy vs Joe performance - just said it was Joe at 100% - thats not a dig and I agree, amongst the finest performances ever from a British fighter.

Hatton... has a different style to Joe, whether that equals to less talent is up to opinion. Its kind of similar to a question on Floyd Mayweather vs Mike Tyson who had the most talent... to different to really say. Its quite hard to gauge between the two, cause Hatton did fight two of the greatest fighters of the modern era in their pomps... off course he is going to look sloppy against them. Hatton against good, but not great fighters, like Malignaggi and Tackie - looked like a sensational boxer.

stujones wrote:Can see what your saying Wales, but Leija was in most top 10 at the time of the fight and Dorin was a worthy challenger - not great, but satisfactory.

.

Surely when Leija fought Gatti, off the top of ym head, the following were above him in most peoples listings

Tszyu
Mitchell
Hatton
Judah
Cotto
Gatti
Witter
N'dou (??)
Harris (??)
Corley (??)

Damn you, run out of credible names when I got to about 6... you're probably right, I just never had him doing much after TKOing Ward.

Dorin was credible, but as I say, in hindsight he wasnt. An average lightweight stepping up.

stujones wrote:

Wrists wrote:I would not use the word EASILY to describe how Calzaghe beat Kessler as in the first 4 rounds he was nailed with some solid shots, I think HANDILY is a better description.

However, to describe the fight as 'close' is bordering on ridiculous.

Kessler won 2 out of the first 4 rounds and round 12 - thats it.

The Lacy fight was the finest performance from a British fighter in 25 years

If you listen to the HBO commentary of the fight Manny Steward waxes lyrical about Calzaghe's performance and I would take his word over a lot of people on here.

Calzaghe is easily (bar Hamed) the most talented British fighter of the last 30 years and if he had just a bit more 'dog f u c k' he would have been even greater.

For me he is all time top 5 British Pfp easily.

Hatton, less talent but more guts etc etc

Only think I disagree with is your scoring of Kessler vs Joe fight - 118-110?

I've never condemmed the Lacy vs Joe performance - just said it was Joe at 100% - thats not a dig and I agree, amongst the finest performances ever from a British fighter.

Hatton... has a different style to Joe, whether that equals to less talent is up to opinion. Its kind of similar to a question on Floyd Mayweather vs Mike Tyson who had the most talent... to different to really say. Its quite hard to gauge between the two, cause Hatton did fight two of the greatest fighters of the modern era in their pomps... off course he is going to look sloppy against them. Hatton against good, but not great fighters, like Malignaggi and Tackie - looked like a sensational boxer.

Difference is, I think that Calzaghe would have given even Jones Jr a decent argument at 168 during Jones' prime. He'd have lost, no doubt about it, but he'd not have been horribly embarrassed like Hatton.

its ifs, buts and maybe's. I have a different view. Shame we'll never know.

For me a fighter who had a close scare with Robin Reid, and had a competive (lost some rounds) 12 rounder with Brewer isn't in prime Jones' league - but he's undefeated and shame we never really found out how good he was (properly).

Agree with that - as much as I am a Calzghe fan it is a shame his talent was wasted on the likes of Pudwill, Ashira, Salem, McIntyre.

The Kessler, Lacy and Hopkins wins for me more than make up for it.

Woodhall didn't retire as a direct consequence of the Calzaghe fight. He had a WBU fight lined up, but it kept getting postponed due to injury.