Ant Evans wrote:First off my views posting here are my own, for good or ill. I'm not representing Fight Academy, SecondsOut, Boxing Monthly, Eurosport, UFC or anyone else I freelance for. I just like the debates here - as opposed to the slanging matches at DogHouse - and want to join in.
My personal view is that Hatton/Witter is not a big fight on the level of say Calzaghe v Woods. Witter is deathly boring to watch, hasn't beaten anyone of real note and does not bring a fan base. I am sure die-hard Ricky Hatton fans would love to see their hero KO Witter, but then again they'll buy tickets to see Ricky anyway, so, again, my view is Witter adds nothing to ticket sales.
The Collazo fight was a close one. Watching live, I had one point in it (and two on repeat views). However, Ricky landed more power shots, more jabs, had a better punch percentage plus scored the only knockdown of the fight. Like I say, I've been a Collazo fan since I met him in 2004 and watched him train and I am 100% sure he'll beat the 2007 version of Shane Mosley.
Mr Phenomenal-Nutrition: if you really think Hatton v Witter is a bigger fight than Hatton v Castillo then I doubt I can change your mind. I don't mean to be rude, but surely you are joking?
I gave Witter rounds 1-5 and Kotelnik 6-12, for what it is worth.
"5. Other than the Tyszu win Hattons CV is equal or below Witters/ Yes Witters whole achievement is living in the same country as Witter. A WBC belt and 3 top 10 JWW victories arent as important as that are they"
So struggling with Lynes and Kotelnik and beating Ndou a shot to bits Corley is better than wins over Magee, Tackie, Maussa, and Collazo? C'mon...
The reference to how much Witter is probably going to make for his next ho-hum fight was to illustrate just how far adrift Witter is from Hatton in terms of popularity, earning power and drawing power. It wasn't a subtle point I was making. He is the only 'world champion' in the UK getting sub six figures for 'world title' fights.
And, from speaking to Ricky, Ray and the other Team Hatton members, their beef with Witter started when he gate-crashed the post-fight TV interview when Hatton had just beat Jon Thaxton. If you recall, Hatton had come through a hard fight, with blood all over him, and was talking about what the British title win meant for him, and Witter shoved his face in the camera and started BSing about “Give the title up for fight me” etc. Witter has no career other than to badmouth Hatton and hope Hatton turns round to give him scraps from his table.
As it some of your other points:
1) Explain why you think the "British gate would be huge" - if you add Hatton's gate to Witter's gate you get about 70 more people than a normal Hatton gate. It's my 30th birthday in a few months, and I'll get more people to my party than Witter can get to his fights. Witter is not a star, he is not popular and that's because instead of talking up his own career, he's spent more than half a decade rubbishing Hatton's. The British public don't like it, it is boring and when Witter says things like he'd had KO'd Tszyu in four rounds and then can't beat domestic opposition in style he makes himself look a clown. Shame, that, because he's actually a nice enough fella who can give a good interview which isn't based around Hatton.
Benn v Eubank were big fights because they both sold tickets. Hatton is the lone ticket seller in any Hatton v Witter fight.
And yes, Urango DOES make Hatton more because he's had several exciting fights (you may not know what they are, as you're a Witter fan) on ESPN and thus HBO approved him. HBO will not approve Witter, and that won't change as long as Witter continues to give crappy, half-arsed performances like he did against Chop Chop.
2) I agree with you that HBO have double standards (Winky isn't exactly exciting to watch, I know, but I've never seen him stand perfectly still for 30seconds, either) but that's their perogitive. Like I said before, if Witter was a Yank I'm sure they'd love Witter v Hatton. But this is the world we live in and Witter is doing NOTHING to impress anyone with his boring, shakey and phoned-in performances. Serious, what three fights would you send to HBO with a letter headed "Get this guy Witter on HBO before Showtime snap him up?"
3) Witter can't KO Colin Lynes, who was KTFO in his next fight by Lenny Daws, but he'd KO Hatton? OK...
4) You'd probably be interested to know that Dennis Hobson was in talks to make the Mayweather fight for 2007 but then Mayweather accepted the Oscar fight. Mayweather v Oscar is the biggest fight in boxing by some way and it is perfectly sane of Mayweather to go after Oscar. That doesn't mean Floyd is "afraid" of Ricky, though, does it? Sometimes fights just don't happen at a particular time.
Now Ricky has a greater deal of control over his career, he's fighting as good a level of opposition as anyone in boxing, in my view. Maybe Jermain Taylor's run gets the nod, but some people think he's 1-3 in his last four (not me, though).
You're going OTT in order to rip on Hatton and you're clearly not a fan. But I wonder, if Ricky had fought Corley, not Collazo, and was now in camp for Morua. I think you'd be going nuts about it. And you'd be right to.
James - Ricky feels that Witter is way below him and that not giving Witter a pay day is the best revenge for all the badmouthing. It is down to Witter to fight good opposition (why isn't he fighting all those names listed above instead of a nothing fight against Morua?) and get himself into the big league he is so far adrift of.
And Billy Graham is on record in saying that he'd love Ricky to fight Cotto at 140lbs, but wouldn't jump right up to 147lbs to fight Cotto, so you're on the same page.