BoxRec

So Ricky Hatton was in a tough fight and just squeaked by on a tight decision against Luis Collazo, so why are alot of people now saying that Hatton isn't the top class fighter that he thought he was?

This is boxing and every great fighter has tough nights, they are seen as the top guys, this can have a great effect on their opponents who have the fight of their lives and almost pull out the win.
Looking back at recent history Floyd Mayweather had a similar experience against Jose Luis Castillo, in their 1st fight Mayweather won a tight decision and everyone was saying that Floyd was obviously over rated, he has since gone on the win 2 more titles and is rated No1 in the world.

I'm just surprised at the amount of crititism directed at Hatton at the moment, the fight on Saturday was tough for him, but he came through, and i believe that he has many more great fights in him.

because Hatton arguably got beaten by a guy who was KO'd in 3 rounds by Casini.

Because Hatton has avoided any good slick fighters. (Collazo is not in the same league as Corley, Mitchell, Witter, Mayweather and Judah in terms of slickness).

Because Hatton was ONE DIMENSIONAL and couldn't do anything other than bullrush forward throwing punches. Jab? Boxing? Nothing.

Castillo was stopped in the second by Cesar Soto...


One stoppage loss a few years ago doesn't make you the village idiot.


Collazo, fair play to him, had the style and the size to give Hatton everything he wanted and more. But I absolutely agree with the central issue in this thread, that Hatton fought what was always going to be a difficult fight and sqeaked through. So fair play to him too.

The fact that Collazo was a relative unknown could be an disadvantage as well as an advantage to Hatton. Although evidently from the number of Collazo experts popping up all over the net everyone seems to have downloaded his entire back catalogue on Sunday...

Styles make fights, that is all this proves. Collazo is not just slick, he's a big guy as well, bigger than any of the names mentioned by Lirva.

Every fighter has a style of opponent that doesn't suit them, and Hatton deserves credit for taking on a banana skin opponent at the higher weight for his debut in America.

Of course, no point in expecting Lirva who adores Witter to accept the fact that Witter has done nothing lately to suggest he would have fared as well against Collazo.

It wasn't a great performance by Ricky, he came close to losing (as Witter did against Kotelnik Lynes, and N'dou), and will have to do better if he wants to remain at Welterweight, or against the likes of Mayweather, but he won, remains unbeaten, and is still within spitting distance of a shot at Floyd.

lirva33 wrote:because Hatton arguably got beaten by a guy who was KO'd in 3 rounds by Casini.

Because Hatton has avoided any good slick fighters. (Collazo is not in the same league as Corley, Mitchell, Witter, Mayweather and Judah in terms of slickness).

Because Hatton was ONE DIMENSIONAL and couldn't do anything other than bullrush forward throwing punches. Jab? Boxing? Nothing.

If you watched that stoppage you would see that Collazo was on top and then got caught with a great uppercut from a guy who carries power but still stayed on his feet. He was backed onto the ropes and Cassini barely threw any punches before the ref stepped in. Colazo wasn't given a chance to throw anything back despite the fact he was winning the fight and it was a pre-mature stoppage.

Cannibal wrote:

lirva33 wrote:because Hatton arguably got beaten by a guy who was KO'd in 3 rounds by Casini.

Because Hatton has avoided any good slick fighters. (Collazo is not in the same league as Corley, Mitchell, Witter, Mayweather and Judah in terms of slickness).

Because Hatton was ONE DIMENSIONAL and couldn't do anything other than bullrush forward throwing punches. Jab? Boxing? Nothing.

If you watched that stoppage you would see that Collazo was on top and then got caught with a great uppercut from a guy who carries power but still stayed on his feet. He was backed onto the ropes and Cassini barely threw any punches before the ref stepped in. Colazo wasn't given a chance to throw anything back despite the fact he was winning the fight and it was a pre-mature stoppage.

Collazo said before the hatton fight that it was a very bad stoppage

It was tight, but he got the job done - I've only seen a very small minority of people pluck Collazo as a points winner.

It will be intersting to see what Collazo goes on to achieve.

As for Hatton, he has sliped in regards his boxing technique and i'm not so sure that those 15 round body bag sessions are really of much benefit - I reckon it is teaching him too many bad habits.

Still, the fact remains he is one our best fighters and one bad day at the office doesn't suddenly make him a bad fighter.

Twinkle Toes wrote: As for Hatton, he has sliped in regards his boxing technique and i'm not so sure that those 15 round body bag sessions are really of much benefit - I reckon it is teaching him too many bad habits.

Was thinking the same thing. So good point.

Excellent fitness but maybe more fight-specific training might be appropriate. That said, I don't doubt that he did plenty of southpaw sparring.

Coconut wrote:

Twinkle Toes wrote: As for Hatton, he has sliped in regards his boxing technique and i'm not so sure that those 15 round body bag sessions are really of much benefit - I reckon it is teaching him too many bad habits.

Was thinking the same thing. So good point.

Excellent fitness but maybe more fight-specific training might be appropriate. That said, I don't doubt that he did plenty of southpaw sparring.

True, i think that this fight will be a bit of a wake up call for him, maybe he got a bit caught up in the build up to the fight, next time he fights in the US i'd like him to set up his complete training camp there.
Not so sure he will though

Coconut wrote:

Twinkle Toes wrote: As for Hatton, he has sliped in regards his boxing technique and i'm not so sure that those 15 round body bag sessions are really of much benefit - I reckon it is teaching him too many bad habits.

Was thinking the same thing. So good point.

Excellent fitness but maybe more fight-specific training might be appropriate. That said, I don't doubt that he did plenty of southpaw sparring.

Didn't Graham say in the interview on BBN that he doesn't agree with the amount of sparring going on in most camps and that he doesn't see a lot of it being important?

The difference I see though was the Mayweather had a fair few personal and physical (hand) problems going into and during the Castillo fight. Castillo is also an elite fighter of the highest order, Collazo - despite the good effort, isn't.

Does anybody give Collazo a chance vs Margarito, Judah, and Mayweather.

Does anybody not give him a chance in a Hatton rematch.

Also, there is another concern that hasn't been mentioned - in Hatton's two outings at peak world class (Magee and Maussa are fringe, Tackie and Phillips were faded) he has fought very recklessly, none of the skill he had at the lower level - the head movement, the jab, being the faster guy has been shown.

Yes, for Tszyu he needed to be reckless to win, but against Collazo (and to some degree Maussa) it is concerning how he takes so many shots and gets beaten to the punch... Is he being reckless, or can he not slip the shots against these faster guys.

He has struggled in two of his last 3 fights (the first of which was more than expected) and he wasn't that impressive in the other.

So yes, it is worth the fuss - he hasn't managed a Calzaghe esque masterclass yet - and most his Welterweight and P4P rivals have at some stage.

I've heard (I don't know how true it is) that Collazo planned to be a stablemate of Hatton back in the day.... Apparently, (and I'm sure Boxingchat will confirm or deny) that it was before the Cassini fight. That fight was promoted by Warren and it was Collazo that they were interested in... Collazo lost.

topper123 wrote:So Ricky Hatton was in a tough fight and just squeaked by on a tight decision against Luis Collazo, so why are alot of people now saying that Hatton isn't the top class fighter that he thought he was?

This is boxing and every great fighter has tough nights, they are seen as the top guys, this can have a great effect on their opponents who have the fight of their lives and almost pull out the win.
Looking back at recent history Floyd Mayweather had a similar experience against Jose Luis Castillo, in their 1st fight Mayweather won a tight decision and everyone was saying that Floyd was obviously over rated, he has since gone on the win 2 more titles and is rated No1 in the world.

I'm just surprised at the amount of crititism directed at Hatton at the moment, the fight on Saturday was tough for him, but he came through, and i believe that he has many more great fights in him.

fair enough!! then i dont think it's too much to ask for ricky to follow mayweather's lead, give collazo a rematch & win it convincingly enough to erase the doubts, just as floyd did with castillo!!

stujones wrote:The difference I see though was the Mayweather had a fair few personal and physical (hand) problems going into and during the Castillo fight. Castillo is also an elite fighter of the highest order, Collazo - despite the good effort, isn't.

Does anybody give Collazo a chance vs Margarito, Judah, and Mayweather.

Does anybody not give him a chance in a Hatton rematch.

Also, there is another concern that hasn't been mentioned - in Hatton's two outings at peak world class (Magee and Maussa are fringe, Tackie and Phillips were faded) he has fought very recklessly, none of the skill he had at the lower level - the head movement, the jab, being the faster guy has been shown.

Yes, for Tszyu he needed to be reckless to win, but against Collazo (and to some degree Maussa) it is concerning how he takes so many shots and gets beaten to the punch... Is he being reckless, or can he not slip the shots against these faster guys.

He has struggled in two of his last 3 fights (the first of which was more than expected) and he wasn't that impressive in the other.

So yes, it is worth the fuss - he hasn't managed a Calzaghe esque masterclass yet - and most his Welterweight and P4P rivals have at some stage.

collazo's proved he's elite with strong showings against rivera and hatton. much more difficult that castillo, though not as menacing and brutal. sadly, castillo wasn't seen as an excellent fighter at the time of the mayweather fights, though he should have been considering his fights with johnston and bazan

still, i think mayweather definitely struggled in his 1st move up in weight. despite the hand troubles, i think he found a bigger, stronger guy hard to cope with, i bet the experience was a bit of a shock for him...as shootout says, ricky could rematch collazo as mayweather did castillo, but a) it's bad, very bad for his career and b) politics are against it (WBA legend Urkal)

johnswan1 wrote:

Coconut wrote:

Twinkle Toes wrote: As for Hatton, he has sliped in regards his boxing technique and i'm not so sure that those 15 round body bag sessions are really of much benefit - I reckon it is teaching him too many bad habits.

Was thinking the same thing. So good point.

Excellent fitness but maybe more fight-specific training might be appropriate. That said, I don't doubt that he did plenty of southpaw sparring.

Didn't Graham say in the interview on BBN that he doesn't agree with the amount of sparring going on in most camps and that he doesn't see a lot of it being important?

He's not alone in that. There is a big argument regarding sparring. It's not just the punches in the ring that cause brian trauma, and those big sparring gloves apparently spread the impact of the blow and jar the brain in the skull. With Ricky's style he is going to get hit a lot at top level, who compound it with more in sparring. It's technique he needs to work on, there's nothing wrong with his fighting heart.

viciousmaussa wrote:.[collazo's proved he's elite with strong showings against rivera and hatton. much more difficult that castillo, though not as menacing and brutal. sadly, castillo wasn't seen as an excellent fighter at the time of the mayweather fights, though he should have been considering his fights with johnston and bazan

still, i think mayweather definitely struggled in his 1st move up in weight. despite the hand troubles, i think he found a bigger, stronger guy hard to cope with, i bet the experience was a bit of a shock for him...as shootout says, ricky could rematch collazo as mayweather did castillo, but a) it's bad, very bad for his career and b) politics are against it (WBA legend Urkal)

I suppose I wasn't clear on my definition of elite... Yes, Collazo is an elite Welter - but Castillo is now on many peoples P4P top ten list and in reality always should have been. He ISN'T (IMO) an improved fighter to the one who lost to Mayweather and he should have been seen as an excellent fighter (perhaps even P4P) BEFORE the Mayweather fight... Stevie Johnston especially is far and away better than anything Collazo has beaten at Welter.

Yes, Castillo was rediculously underated prior to Mayweather fight - but was still generally considered the #1 Lightweight at the time of the fight. I have seen many rankings were Collazo isn't even top 10.

I still fail to see how the first match with Castillo was controvesial... I know lots of people who thought the Mexican won it. I thought it was a clear, but closeish, Mayweather win - it certainly wasn't the life and death struggle that Hatton had on Saturday.

My main concern though for "fussing" about the Hatton performance, is the fact that he hasn't been technically impressive in any of his 3 major title fights. Of course, as I explained before, getting the W of Tszyu was all that matter - any type of win was a great performance and a great achievement, cause he was fighting a legend who just made Shamba Mitchell look like a bum. However, he isn't slipping the shots at this level (it would appear) and is taking alot of shot... He has also gone alot of rounds in these three big fights - so concerns over the effectiveness of his power (especially the body shots) must start to be discussed.

Yes, I am sure he will bed into Welterweight (if thats where he wants to stay) and improve - no doubt. However, when will he be slipping the shots and putting on a spectacle ala Mayweather vs Gatti, or Calzaghe vs Lacy.

Collazo is good, but no faster and hits considerably less harder than all of the three other champions and Judah (thats if Gatti beats Baldomir).