BoxRec

After last nights fight, i thought that maybe Hatton would benefit from a change of training personal.
I'm not slagging Billy Graham , as he has done an excellent job with Ricky, but sometimes a boxer just doesn't progress after a certain point with a trainer. Wether its listening to the advice in between rounds, or in the actual pre fight training.

Would a change of trainer help Hatton?
Sometimes its just a change in the structure of the training that can re-spark a boxer into their best form.

i thought last night that hatton took the easy way to win , the first 8 rounds he boxed and won the fight but the last 4 were ugly.

graham looked a bit worried last night and his recent comments about hatton only having 3 more fights before being past his best looks spot on.

hattons last 3 opponents have been awkward though with mausa have a awkward style , colazzo a southpaw and urango a tough durable southpaw. these fighs have been hard for ricky to look good.

urango and tackie boxed the same but i feel hatton was much better against tackie. does this mean that hattons on the slide??? i dont know but he has to be more active before fights.

remember hatton has been a pro for 10 years and nowadays not many fighters stay at the same weight for that amout of time , moving to 147lbs is a no no for hatton as hes too small.

changing trainer....no...but i feel maybe this could be hattons last year of fighting , he has all the money he needs and the way he ending that fight last night got me thinking if he really wanted it anymore


any thoughts?

I don't think Ricky would - he is close to GRaham and is very loyal (forget the Warren thing = Warren' has no loyalty himself.)

I think Jim Watt was spot on - what's really needed is that Ricky at least trains lightly during the year instead of degrading his body as he does.

H ehas never had a stamina problem until his last two fights when he really struggled from Round 9 onwards.

Hatton doesn't seem to be sitting down on his punches any more either...

boxerbob wrote:i thought last night that hatton took the easy way to win , the first 8 rounds he boxed and won the fight but the last 4 were ugly.

graham looked a bit worried last night and his recent comments about hatton only having 3 more fights before being past his best looks spot on.

hattons last 3 opponents have been awkward though with mausa have a awkward style , colazzo a southpaw and urango a tough durable southpaw. these fighs have been hard for ricky to look good.

urango and tackie boxed the same but i feel hatton was much better against tackie. does this mean that hattons on the slide??? i dont know but he has to be more active before fights.

remember hatton has been a pro for 10 years and nowadays not many fighters stay at the same weight for that amout of time , moving to 147lbs is a no no for hatton as hes too small.

changing trainer....no...but i feel maybe this could be hattons last year of fighting , he has all the money he needs and the way he ending that fight last night got me thinking if he really wanted it anymore


any thoughts?

I think Hatton's prime was maybe wasted on WBU fights, but no one can complain because Tszyu was delivered at the right time.

I'd say the the major difference with Tackie & Urango is that the latter looks even stronger and is a southpaw. That right hook cannot miss Hatton. Ricky doesn't seem to know how to get out the way. If his mum stood southpaw and swung her handbag with the right it'd nail him.

I thought this was a really cynical fight. Like take the money and run / grab the ticket and I'll be off sort of thing. In terms of Hatton's showing.

True, but it could be a different approach is needed for Hatton's stamina building, something a new trainer could do.

I was going to make this exact thread. Billy Graham was terrible last night. He sounded like he was panicking. Even his corner work after he had a perfect first round had a negative tone pleading with Ricky to be even more careful. It continued after that. Billys corner work towards the end of the fight consisted of him pleading with Ricky to clinch and stall and at all costs do not get hit. He seemed to actually take Rickys confidence away.

Gone is Rickys pressure style. Now Graham just wants Ricky to do a John Ruiz impression. Towards the end he was leading off with clinches instead of punches.

Ricky is very lucky that the arena was filled with his own fans. The Las Vegas crowd would have boo'ed him to high heaven. He would never have been invited back.

Graham must go.

Although i don't think will happen, maybe Hatton should focus alot more of his training over in the states, i now he's happy getting ready at home, but the better sparring is over there.

The alarm signs are definitely there. Perhaps Graham has seen this coming and doubted what Ricky had in the tank. I hate to say this, absolutely hate to, but Ricky looked like he'd rather be in a different profession last night. Anyone remember the Vilches fight, he was very negative in the corner there and seemed like he wanted to go home.

Ricky must quite the pissing about. Keep his body in shape. He looks to have a very short shelf life though the mega strong Urango might have exaggerated this thought - slightly.

Hatton just needs to stop ballooning in weight between fights so much and keep in reasonable shape between fights even just things like light running or swimming etc. Just to keep the weight under contol and to help his stamina.

He is not 18 anymore and these weight fluxuations seem to be catching up with him.

Rickys Psychodinamics are changing for the worse. Witters for the better

Hatton reminds of McGuigan where Pedroza was delivered at the right time.

Graham has doen wonders for Hatton and told Ricky all the right things last night. URANGO COULD HAVE KNOCKED RICKY OUT IF IT WASN'T FOR GRAHAMS ADVICE!!!!!!! It wasn't like he didn't have him hurt time and again.

Fighting Urango is different to any other fighter, because Urango is the strongest P4P fighter imo hes a beast. Ricky isn't used to boxing on the backfoot hes used to mauling opponents. Against Castillo he would be the stronger man again. Bare in mind Ricky hasn't been in the ring for around 8 months and he may have underestimated Urango

Is it time for Hatton to change trainers?

I heard a rumour that he purchased some new NIKE ones the other week.

To be confirmed.

Think Hatton would retire rather than have a new trainer come on board. Doubt very much that Ricky would let someone come on board and take over from Billy Graham as head trainer.

E wrote:I don't think Ricky would - he is close to GRaham and is very loyal (forget the Warren thing = Warren' has no loyalty himself.)

I think Jim Watt was spot on - what's really needed is that Ricky at least trains lightly during the year instead of degrading his body as he does.

H ehas never had a stamina problem until his last two fights when he really struggled from Round 9 onwards.

Hatton doesn't seem to be sitting down on his punches any more either...

500 people on the internet forums have been saying that about hatton for a few years now, professional sportsmen should be fine athletes, hatton has the in between fight antics of jockey wilson.

KOJOE90 wrote:Hatton just needs to stop ballooning in weight between fights so much and keep in reasonable shape between fights even just things like light running or swimming etc. Just to keep the weight under contol and to help his stamina.

He is not 18 anymore and these weight fluxuations seem to be catching up with him.

Well, he's had 2 slight shocks, so maybe he pulls his effing finger out now. Either that or stay away from the cackhanders.

chris s wrote:Hatton reminds of McGuigan where Pedroza was delivered at the right time.

So very true Chris!

Nah, It's his lifestyle. Graham and Hatton are made for each other when It comes to trainer and boxer.

Kaye's training won't save his workrate for long though, the way Hatton lives.

In Hatton's book I think It said he went the pub In mornings then to his Man City box afterwards!

caster wrote:

chris s wrote:Hatton reminds of McGuigan where Pedroza was delivered at the right time.

So very true Chris!

One thing allegedly is, he is a good matchmaker...

Still Rocky has defeated good opponents all the same....

I think grahams coments were typical of a trainer's worries that the big fight plan might go out of the window with one lucky punch, also indicative that the rub up to the fight was hardly ideal. HJe knew the danger orunds were the later rounds and having executed the plan pretty effectively in the first 8 rounds he had no need to take chances.

Rickys problem is not Graham but his lifestyle outside the ring, and its effects are probably too deepseated to iron out now. He looked drained at 140 I think, he may be better against Castillo with not so much time between fights but at the same time it may take more out of him staying low in weight for a longer time. Rickys biggest hope is that Castillo himself looks only a shadow of the fighter he used to be.
Grahams mistake as a trainer was allowing Ricky to blow up between fights like he did, I dont think someone like George Francis would have tolerated that from one of his fighters, on the other hand Graham seems to genuinely care about Ricky and so to change trainers now would probably do more harm than good...

What can Graham do to stop him from living his lifestyle?

You can't force someone to stay In shape or how they live their life, he can only do something when Hatton's paying him when training for fights.

I don't think it is a case of Hatton changing trainers as Graham getting to the point of refusing to train Hatton

There is patently a real bond there and I think, Graham is showing genuine concern for a person he gives a damn about not just as a fighter.

He says himself that RH only has a number of fights left in him and I suspect that, if he sees a decline ( and these things are relative as RH has still won his last four world title fights ) then he may try and prevail on RH to stop. If that falls on deaf ears, it may be that RH has to find a new trainer through circumstance rather than choice

Slapsie

I think Ricky wouldhave benifited from having a trainer who had more authority over him, being freinds with your trainer is nice but some of the authority is lost if you go out drinking with your trainer etc.... obviously having such authority is difficult when the fighter is earning so much and basically in charge of their own career....

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. I have a feeling that Ricky's face and body will feel those shots more than Ngoudjo did.

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

I like Witter to win the next 2 fights. He's never going to be smooth, but I like that he focuses on the 'impure' boxing. As opposed to Hamed who attached his ego to his punch and forgot his boxing. Piss people off, hit 'em, make them miss and start again. Witter can go a long way with that, though he'll never be liked.