In the old days, fighters stuck to fighting within their division. Eventually they moved up, when their bodies prevented them from losing the weight any longer, but that was the exception, rather than the rule. Nowadays, it seems as if everybody wants to skip 3 or 4 divisions. The latest superstar to do it is Pac.
When he was preparing to fight DLH, my opinion, which I stated every chance I got, was that DLH should not get too much credit if he were to beat Pac, 'cause he was brazenly going after the smaller man, while avoiding welters his own size, such as Margarito and Cotto. Well, as it turns out, Pac threw a monkey wrench into DLH's plans by beating the stuffing out of him (heh-heh). Pac gets credit, 'cause even though DLH was way past his prime, he was still the much bigger man.
For example: One thing that makes Ivan Calderon such a strong p4p fighter is that he's gone up in weight to beat champions such as Hugo Cazares. Had Cazares beaten Ivan, he would've gotten credit 'cause Ivan was and still is undefeated, but not nearly as much credit as Ivan gets for beating him.
Now it's Pac vs Hatton, and the Hatton fans are making a huge deal over it. Well, IMO... it's Pac-DLH all over again. Except that Hatton is not as much over-the-hill as DLH was. And Hatton's style is to muscle and bully his way over his opponent. Hatton is a natural 140-pounder, whereas for all of Pac's skills, his natural weight is 130. (Not to mention he started his career at 105). So tell me... how much credit should Hatton get for beating Pac? Not much, I think.
Bookmarks