Hatton Interview: 'Floyd doesn't have the power of Tszyu'

[Conrad]

I'm new round here so unsure what links I'm allowed to post up

Good interview with the Hitman, copy and pasted from Sky Sports site:



Ricky Hatton says Floyd Mayweather will need more than speed to beat him on December 8. The Hitman faces the Pretty Boy in boxing's fight of the year at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Both men have perfect ring records, but hugely contrasting styles. It's Mayweather's speed, defensive brilliance and counter-punching against Hatton's non-stop pressure and brutal body blows. Hatton will start a big underdog - particularly Stateside - but for Manchester's finest it's a case of deja vu. In 2005 he was written off ahead of his career-defining world-title showdown with Aussie great Kostya Tszyu in Manchester. But on an unforgettable night at the MEN Arena he made Tszyu quit at the end of round 11 after an unleashing an unrelenting attack on his opponent. And now Hatton says he'll make Mayweather quit too.

He said: "I think a lot of people are going to lose money. Most people are picking Floyd - everybody expects him to beat me. And that suits me just fine.

"Last time nobody gave me a chance against Kostya Tszyu and I made him quit. I think I'm going to make Floyd quit."

Hatton says that as he did against Tszyu he'll rise to the occasion, and adds that only power and not speed can halt his march to the top of the P4P tree.

"Nobody gave me a prayer against Kostya Tszyu and I think Floyd would like to think the pressure will get to me on the biggest stage. But before I was world champion I was boxing in front of bigger crowds than I'll be fighting in front of on December 8.

Oblivious

"But against Tszyu I was oblivious to tiredness and I was oblivious to pain. Floyd is a different style but I think to beat Ricky Hatton you need that firepower to stop me coming.

"Floyd has the speed and boxing ability and defence but Tszyu had the physical strength and that right hand.

"I think you need power. I'd be more worried about facing power rather than speed. You need to stop Ricky Hatton coming. Has he got the power to hurt me? I've no doubt he might lead me a merry dance at times and pick me off but he doesn't have the right hand that Kostya Tszyu had.

"Has he got the firepower to deal with my educated pressure? And that's the key - edcuated pressure."

Pressure

Hatton has huge respect for Mayweather's talents, but says there are crucial flaws that he will expose come December 8.

"He has a lot in his armoury - he's very very good at what he does. He's got a wonderful defence and he likes to take the sting out of his opponent - there's nothing more tiring than missing.

"He waits for his opponent but he shouldn't be waiting too long. Against somebody like me who doesn't tire, he doesn't want to wait too long.

"He's struggled against people that put the pressure on him - Castillo and De La Hoya. He's got a whole lot of trouble coming his way.

"Doubt hasn't come into my mind yet. There isn't the slightest thought that I'm going to lose."

Hatton won't just carry that unbeaten record into the MGM Grand ring - he'll carry the hopes of a nation starved of sporting success in 2007.

But just as with most things in life, he reacts to that in a positive way.

"I don't look to the burden of letting them down. I look forward to doing them proud.

"Nobody gave Lloyd Honeyghan a chance against Don Curry, nobody gave Roberto Duran a chance against Sugar Ray Leonard and nobody gave me a chance against Kostya Tszyu. The man with the most talent doesn't always win."

[LEGION]

Good read Conrad; CC. Check your message box Conrad.

[Cortez The Killer]

Good interview, lots of good quotes by Hatton. He seems confident and mentally very well prepared.

Got a laugh at this one: "Has he got the power to hurt me? I've no doubt he might lead me a merry dance at times"

[Conrad]

Hey Legion

Read your PM but can't reply for some reason, do I need a certain amount of posts before I can send PM's? Anyways thanks for the PM, in all fairness I was probably a little too subtle at hinting I was English with just a wink smiley.

I don't think Hatton will win for one second but like so many others I'm praying he does it.

Particularly like the final quote in the interview:

"Nobody gave Lloyd Honeyghan a chance against Don Curry, nobody gave Roberto Duran a chance against Sugar Ray Leonard and nobody gave me a chance against Kostya Tszyu.
The man with the most talent doesn't always win."

[LEGION]

I don't know if you have to have a certain # of posts; someone that sees this thread might tell you. No biggie, just didn't know if you had seen the message.

[ACEA]

Sounds like he might be in for a bit of a shock when Floyd catches him with a couple of counters, Floyd has power no devastating power but enough to get you to backup. I dont understand why people say Floyd struggled against DLH he went to the ropes vulanteraly as he knew Oscar would fade. I give Hatton credit for actually believing in himself and for beating Tszyu against the odds but Floyd aint in the same class as a 35 year old Kostya. Hatton will tire its a fact hes going to miss a hell of a lot more than he did in the Tszyu fight and hes going to be moving around the ring a lot more.

[gyrokai]

Great read. Welcom Conrad, c.
Only hope educated pressure has "cutting off the ring" at number one priority.

[bcollins]

Sounds like Ricky's got a lot of confidence. I'm afraid Floyd has more pop that Hatton thinks, though - it seems about everyone he faces is surprised by how much power he actually does have.

CC for the quotes!

[albsur2006]

Hatton should have confidence in himself, he's not coming to Vegas to bow down to Mayweather and gladly receive an asswhooping.

But the problem in his reasoning is that he's comparing Floyd to 35 year old, washed up Kosta Tszyu and he's comparing himself to a prime Castillo and past prime ODLH. I'm sorry but Floyd IMO was a much better fighter than Tszyu in his prime. Honestly, the only reason that Castillo and ODLH gave Floyd some problems was because they were just physically SO MUCH bigger than him. Castillo was a HUGE lightweight in his prime and ODLH, albeit past his prime, was an ELITE boxer that even competed at middleweight for a while. It wasn't solely the pressure that bothered him, it was the pressure from a higher skilled, physically much bigger man. IMO Ricky is a smaller, blown up light welter just like Floyd and I wouldn't be surprised if Floyd looked like the bigger man on Dec 8th. This means that Floyd isn't going to be as worried about getting hit because honestly, Ricky is not a puncher. Ricky thinks that he's gonna come in and bully Floyd around but he's definitely not going to be able to wrestle like he did in the Tszyu fight, partly because Floyd's not stationary and the ref won't allow it. This is where Ricky is going to find problems. What most people don't pay attention to is that Ricky doesn't work his way in, he's most effective punching off the break after he's grappled his opponent or punching on the inside when his opponent is laying in against him. Hatton jumps in and throws hooks, he doesn't setup punches with the jab, he doesn't jab his way in, he literally jumps in, lunges at you with a hook designed to get him inside, grabs your arms to prevent you from punching him before he gets in, and then finally throws punches once he's on the inside. Floyd is always taking that step back in order to counter, Floyd is too quick and will just move out of the way, and Floyd won't lay in on Ricky like Castillo did and when he does, he's going to have the advantage due to his quick jerk reflexes, handspeed, and that shell defensive ability.

JLC used his much bigger frame to bully Floyd and score, ODLH was the MUCH bigger man with elite boxing ability and scored when he decided to use his jab to setup punches and throw off Floyd's rhythm. The real question for Hatton is how is he going to score? The only way I could see Hatton winning is if he fights almost the same type of fight Jesus Chavez did against Mayweather and can take the punishment. The problem with that is Jesus Chavez surprisingly used his jab to effectively back Floyd into the ropes all night and then go to work on the body and Jesus had one of the most amazing workrates I've seen this decade on that night. I just don't see how Hatton can score. Guys, how does Hatton score effectively in this fight?

[Althugz]

Indeed, there is so much talk about Floyd underestimated Ricky but to me it now seems the other way round. He is going to get one hell of a shock when he feels the constant stinging of Floyds shots...'You need power to stop me coming forward'...I don't remember Collazo having too much power? He nearly had Hatton out of there..

[ross]

Hatton won't just carry that unbeaten record into the MGM Grand ring - he'll carry the hopes of a nation starved of sporting success in 2007.

Gotta disagree about our lack of sporting success this year, off the top of my head, we have 3 undisputed world boxing champions, along with Witter, Rees, Macaraneli, Elcock is challeniging Abraham and from my own island of Guernsey great Britain can be proud of Andy Priaulx who has wan the world touring car championship for the 3rd year in a row on the trot and before that he wan the European title, awesome driver in a rough discipline, oh and then theres Lewis Hamilton

Oh and not forgetting the England football team

[zhubin]

Hatton should have confidence in himself, he's not coming to Vegas to bow down to Mayweather and gladly receive an asswhooping.

But the problem in his reasoning is that he's comparing Floyd to 35 year old, washed up Kosta Tszyu and he's comparing himself to a prime Castillo and past prime ODLH. I'm sorry but Floyd IMO was a much better fighter than Tszyu in his prime. Honestly, the only reason that Castillo and ODLH gave Floyd some problems was because they were just physically SO MUCH bigger than him. Castillo was a HUGE lightweight in his prime and ODLH, albeit past his prime, was an ELITE boxer that even competed at middleweight for a while. It wasn't solely the pressure that bothered him, it was the pressure from a higher skilled, physically much bigger man. IMO Ricky is a smaller, blown up light welter just like Floyd and I wouldn't be surprised if Floyd looked like the bigger man on Dec 8th. This means that Floyd isn't going to be as worried about getting hit because honestly, Ricky is not a puncher. Ricky thinks that he's gonna come in and bully Floyd around but he's definitely not going to be able to wrestle like he did in the Tszyu fight, partly because Floyd's not stationary and the ref won't allow it. This is where Ricky is going to find problems. What most people don't pay attention to is that Ricky doesn't work his way in, he's most effective punching off the break after he's grappled his opponent or punching on the inside when his opponent is laying in against him. Hatton jumps in and throws hooks, he doesn't setup punches with the jab, he doesn't jab his way in, he literally jumps in, lunges at you with a hook designed to get him inside, grabs your arms to prevent you from punching him before he gets in, and then finally throws punches once he's on the inside. Floyd is always taking that step back in order to counter, Floyd is too quick and will just move out of the way, and Floyd won't lay in on Ricky like Castillo did and when he does, he's going to have the advantage due to his quick jerk reflexes, handspeed, and that shell defensive ability.

JLC used his much bigger frame to bully Floyd and score, ODLH was the MUCH bigger man with elite boxing ability and scored when he decided to use his jab to setup punches and throw off Floyd's rhythm. The real question for Hatton is how is he going to score? The only way I could see Hatton winning is if he fights almost the same type of fight Jesus Chavez did against Mayweather and can take the punishment. The problem with that is Jesus Chavez surprisingly used his jab to effectively back Floyd into the ropes all night and then go to work on the body and Jesus had one of the most amazing workrates I've seen this decade on that night. I just don't see how Hatton can score. Guys, how does Hatton score effectively in this fight?

"I'm sorry but Floyd IMO was a much better fighter than Tszyu in his prime."

No he isn't. I actually think Tszyu in his prime would have been Floyd's biggest challenge. Too bad that fight never happened. But that's a whole other discussion. I do, however, agree that the Hatton beat a past prime Tszyu (not to mention the ref letting Ricky get away with a lot of holding).

[albsur2006]

Indeed, there is so much talk about Floyd underestimated Ricky but to me it now seems the other way round. He is going to get one hell of a shock when he feels the constant stinging of Floyds shots...'You need power to stop me coming forward'...I don't remember Collazo having too much power? He nearly had Hatton out of there..

Exactly. While I do attribute some of the difficulties Hatton had against Collazo due to Collazo being a southpaw and Hatton fighting his first fight at welter, let's be honest, Collazo does not have any power at welter and Hatton was out on his feet. I'd be worried a little about getting clipped if I was Hatton, because Hatton wasn't hurt on a wild punch, he was hurt on an effective straight punch. I honestly can't say that Collazo punches any harder than Floyd. In fact, if you look at the Judah-Mayweather and Judah-Cotto fights, while Cotto is a true body snatcher, Floyd's work to Judah's body wasn't any less effective than Cotto's. Except against Mayweather, instead of taking a knee like he did against Cotto, Judah hit Floyd low and then gave him a hard rabbit punch and then the rest is history. CC BTW man. Floyd's power isn't blunt Margarito type KO power of course, but I think he's got effective power from a combination of amazing accuracy and hand speed. Hatton IMO is working himself up just like Gatti, of course he's a much much better fighter, but you can't come into a fight with Floyd Mayweather banking on ONE thing to win the fight because when that ONE thing doesn't work then ur up shit's creek without a paddle. Floyd doesn't come in with just one way to win a fight, he's got several gameplans and makes adjustments. Hatton better hope that his "educated pressure" can win the fight. It will be abundantly clear in the first two rounds how the fight will play out.

[ross]

Floyd doesnt have any plans, he just fights the way he does, his opponents have all seen better days, he is like Jones whos opponents were just scared to get countered and not open up, the ideal person to counter this was Nigel Benn, he would take whatever you got and come tearing back and if you werent prepared to dig down deep you were f*cked, Benn is Hattons idol and Hatton will be the closest thing to Benn that Floyd has faced, Floyd aint like Calzaghe who fought one of the highest regarded boxers today and after struggling a bit he changed his style and schooled Kessler

Jones also came down a weight to get beaten by an upstart after facing a name at a higher weight

Will Floyds old legs carry him against Hatton, he laid on the ropes for long periods against Oscar

[sexydarin]

Delahoya backed off. He tired. When he was putting the pressure on floyd, he was winning the fight. he just didn't do it for 12 rounds.