Bunce`s boxing hour

[forcefraser]

Old Buncey said what I have been saying for a few days now. Hatton`s next fight could well be De La Hoya. This is the state of modern boxing today. De La Hoya performs like a turd warmed up, but money may dictate that he fights Hatton, most likley at Wembley.

What the hell sort of fight would that be? Pointless and Hatton would do much damage to his credibility if he took such a fight.

De la Hoya should retire and Hatton should fight a top light welterweight (perhaps the unbeaten Bradley).

[Poncey]

If I was Pacman, I'd choose Floyd too.

[forcefraser]

So would I, but Hatton needs to to show a bit of class and fight a genuine fighter, not a guy who is past it and was destroyed in his last fight.

I think Witter at Manchester would be a great fight. If Carlos Maussa got a shot at him and a washed up castillo, then Witter deserves a shot

[Poncey]

I honestly don't think it's Ricky's choice. Pacman is in the driving seat now for whom he chooses. Both options for Manny will make big money, and one would definitely be in the US.

From the sounds of Top Rank, things will become clearer in Jan.

[BAMBI]

oscar needs to quit or have a fair well do with chavez jnr!

hatton v marquez, if pacman does not face him next yr?

Im hearing that zab judah is getting a shot at pacman?

[Chambers2]

What the hell sort of fight would that be? Pointless and Hatton would do much damage to his credibility if he took such a fight.

I don't think Hattons credibility can get any worse than it already is, so I wouldn't imagine HE will be too arsed, but I totally agree that Hatton-DLH is a cynically made match and pointless to everyone other than Hatton and his accountants

[CheckHook]

Some of you guys are talking like Hatton De La Hoya has already been made when its just an idea thrown out by Steve Bunce, like 1000's of other dumb ideas that'll never come off. Hatton has already made it clear he wants Pacquiao, the only person to stop that fight happening now is Floyd. If Floyd comes out of retirment Pac will fight Floyd and Hatton will most likley fight Marquez... De La Hoya is not in the picture right now, he looked terrible in his last fight and if he continues it'll be at 154, making a Hatton bout all the more difficult to sell. De La Hoya will most likley now fight an easy career ending fight or wait to see what happens with Mosley Margarito and maybe we might end up with Mosley De La Hoya next summer at 154.

[slapbangwhallop]

What the hell sort of fight would that be? Pointless and Hatton would do much damage to his credibility if he took such a fight.

I don't think Hattons credibility can get any worse than it already is, so I wouldn't imagine HE will be too arsed, but I totally agree that Hatton-DLH is a cynically made match and pointless to everyone other than Hatton and his accountants

whats wrong with hattons credibility?

Juan Lazcano!

[Poncey]

He ducked Junior Witter to fight some guy called Floyd Mayweather. Terrible isn't it.

Floyd who?

[Chambers2]

What the hell sort of fight would that be? Pointless and Hatton would do much damage to his credibility if he took such a fight.

I don't think Hattons credibility can get any worse than it already is, so I wouldn't imagine HE will be too arsed, but I totally agree that Hatton-DLH is a cynically made match and pointless to everyone other than Hatton and his accountants

whats wrong with hattons credibility?

He repeatedly ducked his arch-rival Junior Witter over an 8 year period in favour of fighting Rios, Tackie, Hutchinson,washed up Phillips, Smith, Pedersen, Vilches, Stewart, washed up Oliveira, Maussa, Urango, Washed-up Castillo, Lazcano, Paulie.......

[Coco]

Hatton does not like Witter, he does not want to give him a payday, Junior has also failed shoved himself to the front of the queue either.

[Chambers2]

Hatton does not like Witter, he does not want to give him a payday, Junior has also failed shoved himself to the front of the queue either.

I'm not going to go on about this as I've done it to death and I'm boring myself with it, BUT at the time Hatton was lining up his fights with Lazcano and Paulie, Witter was at the front of the queue. He was the WBC champ at Hattons preferred weight of 140, he was coming off a spectacular and impressive KO of Harris, Hatton and Witter were #1 and #2 in the division and the majority of British Boxing (i.e. fans, journos and pundits) were calling for the fight.

Witter had the style to cause Hatton BIG problems and Hatton bottled the fight under a barrage of excuses, "I don't like him", "Iwas going to fight him, but he said something nasty to me at sports personality of the year awards", "I'll fight him when he's won a World title" Juniors wins a World title and Hatton finds another excuse

This fight not happening was a travesty for British Boxing and it's only down to Ricky

[Chambers2]

He repeatedly ducked his arch-rival Junior Witter over an 8 year period in favour of fighting Rios, Tackie, Hutchinson,washed up Phillips, Smith, Pedersen, Vilches, Stewart, washed up Oliveira, Maussa, Urango, Washed-up Castillo, Lazcano, Paulie.......

Stu, take a seat, put the drugs down, listen. Sure Hatton had a window to fight Junior around the time of the Smith fight but it never happened. Instead Hatton took a sequence of fights that led to Tszyu.

With the packed MEN crowds and the Tszyu win Hatton then set-out to pursue a fight with Floyd, going to the US in the process (where Witter is about as welcome as an Islamic dog afflicted with rabies). Floyd moved to welter, they took on Collazo, a welter (even if it was a mistake). Then they dipped back down to take the title from Urango prior to the Castillo fight (a fight that I assume HBO wanted more than one with Witter). Then Floyd came along. After the Floyd loss not even Witter cared about talking up a fight, as he was soon to be sans title. Instead we got another story about them meeting at a show (BBC awards I think) and Hatton not making eye-contact. Hold the back page.

Whatever the permeations, whatever you think about the matchmaking process, Hatton worked hard on his persona to get fans into the MEN, he then defeated a legend, HBO picked him up and do you really think the executives there were saying, "Ricky, forget fighting on these shores and making a US profile, we really want to see you in a domestic scrap with a person who is as TV friendly as a fat naked lezza. That would really get us going."

Most of those names you listed, even the ones you consider poor such as Urango and Lazcano, got the US TV blood pumping more than Witter.

We get it, you were upset when Glenn Close missed out on an Academy Award for 'Fatal Attraction' but feck me, mounting a tribute to her on every thread is not the way to go, boycott the Academy.

Take off the Union Jacks, you can lump in the Froch post earlier in this answer. You seriously think that Froch defeating Pascal here in Nottingham means that Taylor must now fight Froch, preferably here, or be labelled a 'ducker'.

To make the big US fights the Brits have to go to the US, Witter did, and no one cared. Thus Witter fights TBA at some point, Hatton either Manny or Oscar. Froch may be exciting but he has no world pulling power, not yet.

Ricky had 8 years to fit Junior into his plans and prove himself to be the best in Britain, you telling me that he couldn't fit Junior in at any time?

Ricky's only concern was making money despite being Britains active richest boxer, which solely involved keep ing the Yanks happy and as a British Boxuing fan I think he deserves some stick over it. Granted I may have gone abit OTT and I'm going to STFU after this post, but I'm passionate about British Boxing and his actions go against everything I admire about the sport. Fighters like Haye and Froch treat boxing as a sport first and a business second, Hatton treats the game solely as a business IMO

THE END

[forcefraser]

Gotta agree with Old Chambers2 here. Hatton did avoid Witter, he could and should have fought him long ago.

Witter may not be the most popular fighter out there, but he would give Hatton a good run for his money in the ring. Probably knock him out in the late rounds.

[whicker]

I love it when Bunce comes on to give his opinions as part of a live fight show- the perfect chance to nip to the kitchen to make a drink!

[Coco]

Witter did deserve a shot and would have made it a decent fight. However Ricky chose not to give him the payday, and if you look at each of the fighters records, in retrospect Hatton has achieved far more, and beaten better fighters so this choice has not tainted Ricky's legacy

[banjo]

As a boxing fan I'm disappointed the Hatton v Witter fight didn't take place BUT from a business perspective I can see why he didn't fight him. Like it or not boxing is as much a business as it is a sport, just like any other form of sport, for example are Formula 1 and Nascar drivers better than rally drivers? No, but the crowd and the money is in F1 and Nascar hence why the top drivers go there.

The money in boxing is in America and if you want to make big bucks then you have to do as the yanks tell you it's as simple as that. A washed up Castillo is worth more money than a prime Witter so that's the route that he(and any sane person) would take.

It's the number of titles which have made the sport the way it is today because if there was only one world title in each division then you'd only be able to "duck" for so long before you got stripped.

[EddieShredder]

For whatever reason, Hatton avoided Witter. Personally, I think it's more that he doesn't like him, than was worried about losing to him.

Either way, it's been and gone, and certainly isn't going to have a massive effect on his legacy.

On Pacmans plans, this is from an interview with Bob Arum on Btalk..

GL: Where does Manny go from here? I've been talking to Zab Judah, and he tells me him and his people have spoken to you having preliminary discussions about a fight. What's next for Manny, and what's the deal with the Judah situation?

The Bobfather: I talked to Joel and I talked to John Wirt. I like the Judah's, they've always been very cooperative with me, good to do a promotion with. I'm going to the Phillipines on Monday to attend Manny's birthday party, and we'll have some preliminary discussions. The question is does Manny want a mega-fight in his next fight, or does he want a really good big fight. There's only two guys to do a mega-fight with: Hatton and Mayweather. There are a number of guys who you could do big fights with, but aren't quite the status of a mega-fight. One is Zab Judah, and of course down the line Holt is fighting Demetrius Hopkins, the winner fights Bradley. Whoever comes out of those fights would certainly be a good opponent for Manny. One thing is for sure, Manny is going to be fighting at 140 pounds from now on.

GL: So he won't compete at 147?

The Bobfather: He will not compete at 147.

[My T Sharp]

A couple of prick teases

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Yoo_PEFb0Vg

[tonyevs]

Oh no - not all this Hatton v Witter rubbish again

On the subject of ODLH against Hatton..
If pacman does get mayweather, then I`m not sure Oscar would want to risk trying to get down to 147 again .. he so messed the weight up that I never see him trying that again, and I can`t see hatton going anywhere higher than that .. so for that reason I just don`t see that fight happening.

[rhino222]

buncey is on setanta right now

[McCannW14]

Buncey's Boxing Hour is the best show on TV

Steve Bunce is a legend!

Adios!

[The Law]

I love watching the show, whether I agree with him or not. I'm glad we've got a show like this for boxing, it can only be a good thing for the sport. Plus he mentions Boxrec quite often