BoxRec

Ok,so over the last few weeks we've had some serious slagging off going on about our big name boxers fighting 'nobodys'.S N have bore the brunt of it all with the Hatton and Calzaghe opponents saga's..but,if you look at the records of the fighters..surely you'd recognise more names on Hattons record than Witter's,and more names on Calzaghe's than Eastman's.
Now this is not about who would beat who,indeed Joe has or maybe has moved up and Eastman is just festering at middle.Whereas Hatton v Witter aint gonna happen anytime soon me thinks.
My point is,how come everyone monitors Hatton and Calzaghe's opponents quality more than environmental health monitor your local kebab house?..and yet when Junior blows away an african or italian or Eastman at 30+ has fought one name U.S opponent and fights as often as a superstar,no one makes a squeek? If Witter v Hatton is an even money fight,if many think Junior is a far better fighter than Ricky,surely Junior should have to fight the same top ten americans that we're pressuring Hatton to fight? If we all despondant about joe's career..surely we should be applying the same pressure to eastmans management? in fact,i'm sure Witter is older than Hatton,Eastman is older than Calzaghe,so they need moving NOW.If not for the fans sake,for their own because i bet i'm right in saying that for all the criticsism,warren has lodged more quality opponents on his boys records and more money in their bank accounts compared with the other two.
Time's a tickin!

Because Witter and Eastman aren't crammed down our throats all the time. Sky drone on and on about "how proven" they are (hatton + Calz) "at this level" and all the rest. With Witter, Eastman and pretty much everybody else in British boxing for that matter, you can just watch and make up your mind. If the opponent isn't great you watch anyway because it's on and you''ll enjoy it, but Hatton and Slappy are made out to be the best or near the best in their divisions while at the same time being utterly protected. I think the double standard of hype vs protection and endless broken promises simply irritates people into complaining.

A lot of the slagging is to do with disappointment. Hatton and Calzaghe are two gifted fighters who are wasted on their WBU and WBO titles respectively - and on the majority of their opponents. Both men showed world class ability when they were stepped up in the past. We saw Hatton pick off Ben Tackie for 12 rounds - and also revert to smart boxing in his fight with the hard-hitting Eamonn Magee.
We saw Calzaghe bomb out Byron Mitchell in two sensational rounds and outpunch Charles Brewer for 12 one-sided rounds.
So why stop there! Hatton himself is now demanding a big fight from his promoter or he may pursue "other options" as Adam Smith put it. Calzaghe was offered a genuine world title shot at Glen Johnson and failed to come to scratch. He'll probably revert to his WBO super-middleweight title (of which he's already made 14 defences) and continue to pad his bank balance and retire a multi-millionaire. But his legacy will be all the poorer for his lack of a truly big name opponent, his lack of a superfight.
Hatton is in that same boat at present.
As for Witter and Eastman: they're not as good as Hatton and Calzaghe in my opinion - but at least Witter got in the ring with Zab Judah. The same could be said for Eastman when he took on William Joppy for the WBA title. Both men were found wanting - but at least we know they were found wanting at genuine world title level. We don't know how good - or not so good - Hatton and Calzaghe are because they've yet to fight for a genuine world title.
It would be a tragedy if both men retired having never really proved themselves against the big name Americans. But it looks like the tragedy will unfold with Calzaghe.