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the past,present and future of ricky hatton
these are my views on rickys carreer so far and what he needs to achieve to cement his legacy as a world class fighter and all time great.
Ricky hatton made his prodebut in 1997 colin mcAuley, ricky won the fight by TKO after McAuleys corner retired him after just the first round. Ricky then went on to take the domestic scene by storm and in his 11th fight he won the Vacant British Boxing Board of Control Central Area Light Welterweight Title, althogth this was a title that beared very little importance in the sport it took hatton just two more fights to win a more recognised title , the WBO inter-contenental light welterweight title in a bout against Dilion Carew for the vacant crown. From the 13 fights which it took Ricky to win the inter-contenental belt he stopped 10 of his oppenants within the distance, his explosive style combined with seemingly never ending stamina helped propel Ricky up the light welterweight rankings. By september 2000 Ricky had built up an undefeated record of 21 fights with 17 stoppages and added the WBA inter-contenental crown to the WBO title he had won the previous year.
In 2001 Hatton stopped Tony pep, a fighter who had taken the now p4p king floyd mayweather jr the distance 3 years earlier to win the vacant WBU title for the 140lb division. However the title was regarded by many to have very little importance in the sport and viewed it as a marketing tool for Frank warren. Ricky however went to defend the title 16 times against some strong opposistion such as he likes of ray oliveria, Vince Phillips and Ben Tackie. Then however Rickys big break came in 2005, he was matched up to fight IBF light welterweight champ Kosta Tszyu who had ruled the divison for years and losing only once before the fight with Hatton. At approximatley 3 am on 4th june 2005 Ricky hatton enetered the ring in front of 22,000 screaming, excited fans who had filled the MEN arean in Rickys hometown of Manchester. Ricky had become a local hero and his fans cheered him to victory as he battled and pressured Tsyzu for 11 rounds untill his corner decided he had enough and called an end to proceedings. Ricky had shown his boxing intelligance and not allowed Tszyu to get any leverage in his shots by staying close, Many questioned Hattons tactics and methods and branded him a dirty fighter, however he was crowned IBF light-welterweight champion of the world and Tszyu himself claimed he had lost to a brilliant fighter.
Rickys first defence of his new title was against Carlos Maussa an akward Columbian fighter who had beaten Vivian Harris to claim the WBA crown. Between the fights with tyszu and maussa however ricky was ingaged in a legal battle with Frank Warren and left the promoter and signed with Dennis Hobsons fight academy. Rickys first fight under Hobson started in a frustrating manner as he struggled to work out the style of the gangly Columbian, But eventually Rickys class showed and Maussa was dispatched by a perfectly placed left hook in the 9th round. After having won two world titles at 140lb Ricky decided that the big fights were no longer available at that weight for him and decided he would move up to welterweight following the lead of Floyd Mayweather. Rickys first and last fight at 147 lb was against Luis Collazo a tall,rangy southpaw who was believed to be a minimal threat to the British challenger.This did appaer to be the case when in the 1st round Hatton dropped Collazo with a goodleft hook, however Ricky faded through the fight and was considered very lucky to get away with a decision victory.
After the Collazo bout Ricky saw that maybe welterweight was not for him, he was not as explosive or strong as he had been at 140lb so moved back down and challenged Juan Urango for the IBF title he had first won from Tszyu in 2005. 20th january 2007 saw another unconvincing display from Hatton And although he won his 4th world title many people have began to question what the future holds for 'the hitman'.
well lets look at what the future could hold for Ricky Hatton
Jose Luis Castillo will be Rickys next big major challenge, perhaps on par with that of dethroning Tszyu. Castillo is a strong higly skilled fighter who has the ability to cause Ricky problems if he is not on his 'A-game'. If Ricky can get past Castillo then there are many options he could take and many fights that could be made.
my views on possible fights after the bout with JLC
Floyd Mayweather JR - the fight which ricky has claimed he has wanted all along, the main problem with this fight is the weight as i see it, ricky struggled at 147 and there is no way floyd will drop to 140 to fight hatton especially as he had just moved up to 154 in order to take on de la hoya.
Miguel Cotto - in my view the hardest fight out their for hatton and the one i would be least confident about him winning
Junior witter - has hounded hatton for the majority of his career. now junior has a world title he can seriously look to get a fight with hatton signed, the fight would be massive in britain but at current would not be favoured by the american tv network hbo due to witters lack of success in the states
comments greatly appreciated
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Originally Posted by hitmanhatton
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