Ricky Hatton tribute

Put Ricky Hatton's WBU days aside, Hatton has actually had a very good career and is someone who is seriously underrated.

His first big superfight came against Tszyu in 2005. Let's not forget that Tszyu was the lineal champion at jr. welter from November 2001 to June 2005 when he lost to Hatton. During these years, he was ranked as a top-10 pound-for-pound fighter and in '04 he was ranked no.3 behind (1) Hopkins and (2) Mayweather.

He then unified against Maussa who was a top-10 ranked light-welter at the time.

He then moved to welterweight and beat Collazo for the WBA championship. Collazo was a top-5 ranked welterweight at the time.

He returned to jr.welter and won another championship (against Urango).

He made a name for himself in America and proactively chased a fight with the best fighter in the world who was a weight above him. Fair enough, he was outclassed - but Hatton showed great heart to pursuit the fight against Mayweather. It seems the fight took a lot of Hatton.

He then returned to jr. welter and beat another top-10 ranked contender in Lazcano before his destruction against Pacquiao. But once again, he actively took on the biggest fight and went over to the States to make it happen.

A 2-weight world champion and lineal champion at 140 from June 2005 to May 2009. Let's not forget Ricky Hatton.

Most overrated British fighter in history

missed. malignaggi. imo his 2nd best win

Top bloke, top boxer.

One of the best body punchers in the history of the sport

Top bloke, top boxer.

Top bloke? I'm sure he snorts coke, what a role model he is.

Is some of the critisism that Hatton recives these days undeserved? Probably. Should we salute his career and admire his achievements? Definitely, and I find it a shame that so many are reluctant to.

Let's get the negatives out of the way. He should have fought Witter at some stage, that much to me is inescapable. He had more or less only one style (although he did show some notable discipline and boxing skills in his wins over Urango and Malignaggi). And of course, he looked woefully out of his depth in the two biggest fights of his career.

But we have to remember that when Hatton turned professional in 1997, not many would have even tipped him to reach fights at such a level in the first place. Praise should be given to anyone who maximizes their at times limited potential the way that Hatton did. Time is a funny phnomenon; in 2005, virtually everyone was hailing Hatton's win over Tszyu as one of the great performances by a British boxer in the last twenty years, and claiming it was a wonderful victory for Hatton against a genuine pound for pound superstar. Six years on, most of the time we now hear that Tszyu was in fact a decrepit old man, that Hatton got a shed load of help from the referee and that he may in fact have been knocked out had Tszyu been able to answer the bell in the final round.

I remain firmly in the first camp, however. Forget that Tszyu was thirty-five; he had comfortably beaten Mitchell a few months before, was the big betting favourite and was still featuring in the top five of most people's pound for pound lists. As the old saying goes, you're only as good as your list fight - and Tszyu was very, very good.

The truth is that Hatton never scaled those heights again, but in fairness as the Ring Magazine champion he kept the defences ticking over against names which featured pretty highly in the division. Was 140 lb as strong then as it is now? No. But that's not Hatton's fault and, the avoidance of Witter aside, I can't really find much wrong with his reign at Light-Welterweight.

As for his personal life, well it's called a personal life for a reason. Let's stick to boxing, gents. He's usually carried himself with humour and dignity in the ring, has done a lot to raise the profile of the sport in Britain (or at least help keep it in the public eye) and, say what you like, but he wasn't involved in a boring fight very often. Hatton would reside at the low end of an all-time top twenty Brit list, but he certainly deserves to be included in it.

Hatton done great for a guy of limited ability. He took on the 2 best fighters of his generation he might have come up short but so do most. As for the coke taking not every 1 is perfect some people make mistakes. The only thing that annoys me about Hatton is the way he blew up between fights if he was better dedicated he could have achieved even more. Or could still be going he is only 32

Game but limited fighter. Think he benefited from being able to come in big and strong at 140lb post weigh in, and used his physical strength and tenacity to out-hustle some pretty decent opponents. Add to that his likeable personality and it all blended to make for a career that became greater than the sum of it's parts. IMO his best wins came against very faded opponents (tszyu and castillo), and he was way out of his depth against a fighter as quick and skilful as floyd mayweather. That defeat damaged him irreparably psychologically as it showed him he was a level below where he thought he was. The decline of his personal circumstances and lacklustre showing against lazcano only highlight this further. Because of his style he was a physically 'old' fighter for the manny fight and fought a stupid game - with manny speed, power and southpaw stance which Ricky was poor against, the beating he got was inevitable.

A good but not great fighter who over-achieved but brought joy to many and who I don't begrudge any success.

How can the clown who made this write one article so positive about Hatton and one so negative about Calzaghe? Their careers that were not to different and yet two horrifically biased opinions from the same person.

Put Ricky Hatton's WBU days aside, Hatton has actually had a very good career and is someone who is seriously underrated.
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Hatton had his share of rubbish fights so did Calzaghe

His first big superfight came against Tszyu in 2005. Let's not forget that Tszyu was the lineal champion at jr. welter from November 2001 to June 2005 when he lost to Hatton.
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Calzaghe's first super fight came in 2006 against Lacy who was IBF champion and betting favourite.

He then unified against Maussa who was a top-10 ranked light-welter at the time.
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Calzaghe then unified against Kessler who was the number 2 in the division

He then moved to welterweight and beat Collazo for the WBA championship. Collazo was a top-5 ranked welterweight at the time.
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Calzaghe moved to Light heavyweight and beat Hopkins, a much better win.

I rate Hatton over Calzaghe.

Calzaghe fought poor fighters for a long time. Got a good win over Kessler got a lucky decision over BHOP and beat a well past it RJJ. An in prime RJJ would have destroyed JC. He also dodged Carl Froch to preserve his 0. Hatton took on the best of his time when they were at their prime can Calzaghe say the same? Don't think so.

hatton was the most popular boxer in the world for a time, was the number one LWW for years, made tens of millions of pounds, won numerous world titles and became a household name - which for a boxer is very rare.

give the man some credit. in the time when we have james degale and audley harrison who are a complete turn off, a charasmatic working class boy from manchester who liked a pint and a fry up with the lads while remaining the biggest boxing star the country has had for years - it needs commending.

since his flirtation with coke, people have really turned against him. calzaghe did the same and no one batted an eye lid.

The fact Hatton liked a pint and a fry up as you put it did not help him in the ring because of the way he used to blow up between fights. I was a Hatton fan and agree about the coke Hatton got slated and Calzaghe went unnoticed but it was like that when they were fighters. Hatton was the more popular fighter so he was always going to get more stick if he stepped out of line.

i agree completely, the weight changes had a massive toll on his body, resulting i his retirement at an early age.

and it also got him stick, people thinking of him as ricky fatton etc, but the people on the street seemed to like the fact he acted like an average joe.

us boxing fans would love him to be like haye or froch and not drink or eat anything other than organic natural food, maybe we'd see a different fighter in hatton then.

but the lifestyle away from the ring was what kept him sane, he saw it as a well deserved treat - he trained very hard, never came in overweight to my knowledge. he simply wouldnt have been able to continue if he lived a quiet alcohol and fatty food free life.

he's got his very nice gym, he puts on decent shows as a promoter and even his grand children would never have to work again with the amount hes earned, for that, when all is said and done, he's been a massive success story.

hitmansam wrote:I rate Hatton over Calzaghe.

There's a shock

Has he died then?

The difference between Hatton and calzaghe is that Hatton pushed for the big fights, against fighters in their prime when there were a lot more easier options available.
Yeah Hatton had his fair share of easy fights, but not whilst he was a genuine world champ.