Ricky Hatton.

[Stephist]

Saturday night will be the first time I have really seen him so is he the real deal? I know he blew up an old Kostya Tszyu but I haven't really seen that much of him so it will be interesting to see what he has. Any thoughts?

[Robbie Michaels]

1. I saw him once

He's a pretty good fighter, but I haven't watched him enough to say he's legit.

[H2O Man]

2. I've seen him

about a dozen times. Very impressive fighter. He is a lot of fun to watch. I think that he has a tough fight coming up. He can be cut, which can be a problem both in the immediae fight and for the future.

[dr.zoidberg]

3. He's tough.

I mean it, he's really tough. Of course, with his pressure style he would need to be. Luis Collazo simply does not have the ability to keep Hatton off of him. Hatton will win. Hell, Hatton won't just win, he'll skullfuck Collazo by the 5th round.

[H2O Man]

4. Interesting.

I think Hatton is one of the best things in boxing today. He is tough, and he has the physical strength to make it almost impossible for anyone to hold him at bay. Once he has anyone near the ropes, he has a wonderful delivery.

Collazo is a pretty good fighter. Do you think Ricky will maul him from the first 2-3 rounds on? Or do you think it could be competitive for a few rounds?

Also, I think many people view a Hatton v Mayweather match-up as one of the best in the sport today. It could, potentially, be one of the great fights (or series!) in this era. I'm interested in hearing your opinion of what might happen, based on their recent fights.

[dr.zoidberg]

5. My prediction.

I think that Hatton will jump on Collazo right from the start. I feel that Collazo will try to to keep it competitive, but I think that by round 3, Hatton's superior talent will take over.

Hatton/Mayweather could and should be considered a superfight. If any fight deserves to be on PPV, it would be this one. This fight will not be easily to predict. Hatton has been in the ring with one elite boxer, Kostya Tszyu(I would not necessarily hold Hatton's resume against him because Frank Warren was reluctant to put Hatton in those kind of high risk/high reward fights.). Granted, Tzsyu was old, but Hatton still beat Tzsyu, and impressively at that. Hatton is a relentless, all pressure fighter. He also loves to throw to the body, which is one of the reasons that I like him so much. I think that Hatton's strategy in the fight would be to trap Mayweather against the ropes and pound his body. Floyd Mayweather has faced numerous solid to good opponents in his career: Jesus Chavez(twice), Emmanuel Augustus, Angel Manfredy, Sharmba Mitchell, Demarcus Corely, Genaro Hernandez, and Zab Judah. He has also faced elite competition in Diego Corrales, and Jose Luis Castillo(twice). In fact, the Corrales fight was a one-sided ass-kicking by Floyd. Keep in mind, the fight against Corrales had a 50/50 split among boxing writers. I think that Floyd's strategy would be to hit and move and to not get trapped against the ropes. This fight to me is 50/50, easily. If I have to make a choice, I would pick Mayweather for his big-fight experience.

[H2O Man]

6. While I would give

Mayweather a slight edge, I am not sure that he hits hard enough to hold Hatton off. He might have to fight in a way that he would prefer not to.

Tzsyu was old, but still one of the top two in his division. He put up a heck of a fight, considering the extreme punishment he took.

Corrales is an exciting fighter, and I really like him. But he doesn't have the best chin.

On paper, a Hatton v Mayweather fight would be one of the most interesting events in sports. I think that the casual fans would be buying it on PPV.

I'm hoping Hatton doesn't get cut in any of his fights before a Mayweather match can happen.

[Stephist]

7. Don King Is All Class

:sarcasm: Just as they are about to have the moment of silence and the ten count for Floyd Patterson...King yells out. "Americans don't quit" What will it take to rid the sport of this cancer?

[H2O Man]

8. Don is gross

and evil.

Hatton's win was highly questionable.

[MessiahRp]

19. I don't think it was questionable at all..

I watched the fight... it was close but Hatton did enough to pull out a 2 point squeaker in my book. Collazzo would have helped himself a little by not hopping around so much and setting his feet. That's how Hatton caught him off guard with the knock down and nearly caught him 2 more times.

It was close but Hatton won, IMO.

I think Hatton needs to build more strength if he wants to stay at this weight. He found that the power he has at Jr. Welterweight isn't the same against bigger opponents and he found it more of a struggle to take the punishment he usually does against a stronger opponent.

I know he dominated Jr. Welterweight but I question whether him moving up is wise. Sure he might get Mayweather or De La Hoya (though I doubt that) and get big money, but he's overmatched by a marginal opponent at this weight. I'd hate to see what the cream of the crop could do to him at that weight.

Rp

[H2O Man]

20. Interesting.

I thought that the discussion on Friday Night Fights on ESPN last night was right on target. It depends upon what people prefer. As they said last night, if you go for the harder, cleaner punches, which they described as the "more professional" punching, Hatton came in a clear second place. If you give more points for hitting someone off balance than for actually hurting the other person, Hatton wins. It doesn't rank with any of the really bad decisions in boxing, of course. I think it reflects the HBO investment in Hatton more than anything else.

[dr.zoidberg]

12. No surprise here.

This man makes Mike Tyson look like a class act. That takes a lot of doing.

[Stephist]

9. Great Fight

Ricky Hatton won a close unanimous decision. I thought callazo won 115-114 but I don't have much of a problem with the decision. Great fight. Don King is an ass.

Hatton gets hit too much.

[H2O Man]

10. Hit and hurt

by a guy that isn't a big puncher. It may have been an "off" fight for Hatton.

[dr.zoidberg]

11. A very close fight.

I had it 115-113 for Hatton. I'll give Collazo all the credit in the world, he fought very well. Hell, he fought much better than I anticipated. The rounds he won were dominated by him. The problem was that he could not put together more of those rounds when needed. He was too susceptible to Hatton's smothering style. Even so, I wouldn't mind seeing more of Collazo. As for Hatton, I agree that he gets hit too much. Hatton like to get in close an smother his opponent and he was able to do that effectively throughout the fight. I think that Hatton will learn from this experience and become better from it. If it sounds like I am a Hatton fan, it's only because I am. :)

[H2O Man]

13. I like Hatton.

He is definitely good for the sport. I thought the HBO announcers were rather quick to turn on him.

The truth is that it is not possible to look great in every fight. If we look at the very best fighters in history, including Robinson, Louis, and Ali, they did not fight at 100% in every fight -- not even in their prime. It just doesn't happen.

A few things likely came into play: the different atmosphere, including the change in time zones; the higher weight class; and, perhaps most of all, the match-up of styles. Collozo is young, strong, and was in very good shape. His southpaw stance and ability to take a hard shot were big factors. Also, he was able to push Hatton back -- something KT couldn't do -- and was able to avoid being hit with combinations. The times Hatton landed 2 shots, the 3rd and 4th didn't land effectively.

I still think Hatton vs Mayweather is the biggest fight in boxing right now. I'd increase the odds on Mayweather, but not by a large amount, based on this fight. The thing that concerned me the most, as a fan who would love to see Hatton win, is that he was hurt in four rounds, two of them seriously. Collozo, on the other hand, never appeared hurt.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

14. My problem with the fight game now are the judges

I frankly do not like Ricky Hatton at all. I think his style is almost a form of wrestling, depending on tiring the other fighters with his shoulders, elbows, arms, legs, and leaning on them with his chest as much as with punches themselves. I've now seen three of his fights and I'm convinced that I truly dislike his style. Hatton landed a few good body shots on Collozo but not too many clean shots to the head (although a lot of punches were bouncing off Collozo's head and gloves). Collozo by far landed the cleaner shots, although fewer of them. But that's my personal taste regarding the sweet science. I agree with you completely that Ricky Hatton is probably good for the sport, as he is popular with others (although I dislike his style enormously - I admit though that it could make for a great match-up with the right fighter).

My main problem is with the judging I'm now seeing. The judging tends to always be slanted towards the fighter who is supposed to win, which has always been a factor, I know. I think Hatton might have won last night and don't dispute the fact that Collozo didn't exploit every opportunity to use his best skills as a boxer. But I think one of the Judge's cards in the decision that I heard gave Hatton nearly every round. It's that kind of very poor, erratic, and uneven judging that is hurting boxing in my opinion. I don't know how anyone could have heavily slanted that fight for Hatton, even though I concede that he probably won in a close contest.

In the Freitas/Raheen fight, the judges were clearly leaning too much towards Freitas in a very close fight. I think they wanted the darling to win, the guy who supposedly is the money-maker, the guy who needs to go on and make an even big fighter if he wins, and the fighter who is good for the sport. In the Perez/Kirilov fight recently on TV, Perez lost, at least in my opinion, yet one of the Judges gave nearly every round to the champion. In the Lyell/Taylor fight I saw on Friday, I think the decision should have been given to Lyell (and don't argue with it), but I have a real problem with one of the Judges who gave nearly every round in an extremely close fight to Lyell, the darling.

I'm not suggesting that money is being exchanged under the table, but it wouldn't surprise me. What I am saying is that some judges are being chosen to judge major fights (like one of the Judges in the Hatton fight) with no major fight experience. And it shows on their scorecards. I could almost call a better fight with my eyes closed than some of these guys.

THAT to me is what is really hurting the sport. In fight-after-fight, we are seeing very uneven scoring from the judges and the fans are aware of this.

[H2O Man]

15. As my son said

after the decision was announced, "Well, HBO made a gib investment by taking Ricky from Showtime. They had to protect it."

If we take away the judges, most people -- no matter if they think one guy won, or the other -- would agree it was a close fight round-wise. So two rounds stick out: the 1st and 12th. Does Ricky get a 10-8 round for a flash knockdown, scored a split second after Hatton released the opponent's head, but not lose the 12th by 10-8, when he was staggered and clearly hurt? But for that, it would be difficult for me to see Hatton getting more than a draw.

[dr.zoidberg]

17. In round 12...

one could make the argument that Hatton fought back well enough around the 1 minute mark to prevent a 10-8 round. That's how i felt, that Hatton did just barely enough to keep it a 10-9 round. Incidentally, I have re-watched the fight, and I scored it a 114-114 draw. It feels that time that I was giving Hatton the benefit of the doubt in some of those rounds though and I don't like that feeling one bit. :(

[H2O Man]

18. Another thing I keep

in mind is that we were watching it on tv. It can, and often does, look different at ringside.

My son felt it was a draw. He made both rounds 1 and 12 each 10-8 rounds. He said that a 1 point victory, either way, is fair. The scoring that was by a wider margin seems less objective to me, as neither man fully imposed his will on the other. My son noted that Collozo lost the fight by taking round 11 off.

All good fighters have "down" fights. I remember in October '73, Ali looked like crap against Rudi Lubbers in Jakarta. A number of my friends felt this fight, especially coming after the first two Ken Norten fights, showed that Ali was done. Thus, I made a substantial amount of money by betting on Ali in his next two fights. Those two, both in '74, were the 2nd Frazier match, and the Rumble in the Jungle.

Two things really concerned me in this match, though. The first was that Hatton was too easy to hit, and a relatively light puncher was able to use Ricky's forward motion to increase the impact. His right hooks ( two of them) in round 4 hurt Hatton, and he never fully recovered from those two shots.

Second, he didn't have the side-to-side movement .... Hatton bobbed without weaving. Bobbing alone does not work against an accurate puncher. Hatton dipped his knees some, but very little side-to-side. (A good example of the difference of these related tactics was found in Mike Tyson's career: Cus and his guys Rooney and Atlas demanded side-to-side. When Mike lost that, and just bobbed, he became a target.) More than being less effective defensively, it cuts back the ability to deliver combinations. Ricky didn't deliver the 3 and 4 punch combinations he can throw. If he faces either Mayweather or De La Hoya, he has to be better.

[dr.zoidberg]

16. About Freitas/Raheem...

Hey, at least Duane Ford or Eugenia Williams wasn't judging the fight. ;)

If HBO were pulling for their favorite fighter, then I think that Raheem would have gotten the nod. Looks like the judges didn't do their job well, now did they? ;) Although Kellerman did his part by scoring the fight for Raheem. Personally, neither man deserved to win that fight.

If you think the judging last night was bad, you should check out Germany. The quality, or lack thereof, of the judging is simply awful. Ask John Ruiz or anybody that fought Sven Ottke, at the twilight of Ottke's career, about that.