Thoughts on Floyds and Ricky's performances?

[El Gamo]

I'll give Floyd a big round of applause. Take away the first 3 rounds and he dominated that fight. I mean dominated it. Hatton landed about 5 punches on Floyd's face the whole fight. He didn't even land to the body. Hopefully this will calm the fans who say Floyd runs all the time etc down. After the fight,I really liked most of Floyd's comments too,as per usual. Respectful and also admitted he has had some dull fights and wanted to change that.He's a cool guy.

NOW FIGHT MIGUEL COTTO! (I'd have Floyd as favourite but I think it would be a MUCh more exciting fight than the Hatton fight)_

I thought there werre too many threads making it disjointed so just post what you thought of the fighters and their performances here.

[El Gamo]

I'm going to be honest,I thought Ricky did well for 3 rounds and then TOTALLY lost his way. I actually thought he looked horrible overall. Where was the jab?The head movement? forget those,WHERE WERE THE BODYSHOTS? It was really horrible to watch him at times. Floyd hit him with nearly everything he threw. Hatton couldn't move out of the way of the jab. Seriously,if Oscar considers fighting Hatton next,he's a piece of shit. There are far more worthier fighters to fight,ESPECIALLY at WW. Hatton showed alot of balls and heart but I was expecting more from him if I'm honest. He did what all the other guys minus Castillo have done,come in,smother their work,forget the body.

[Jesse James]

I agree. I thought Hatton looked good the first 3 rounds or so, but slowly got worse. I know holding is his M.O, but even for him, the amount of holding he was doing was ridiculous. He was doing the ole hold 'n punch, but he forgot to punch! He also slowed which he said he wouldn't. Overall, disappointing perfromance by Ricky.

Anyway, I give credit to Mayweather, he's a great fighter and put on a hell of a show. I still don't see where he has the nerve to call himself the greatest of all time though. He needs to beat at least 2-3 more elite fighters to approach that title.

[X]

I just realised that I posted this somewhere else, and it should really have gone on this thread. :P Anyway, here are my thoughts before and after the fight ... for what they are worth!!



Quote from: X on 05-12-2007, 08:45:07
I've really enjoyed watching Hatton from the beginning of his career and I think he is a very very good fighter indeed. In Brit terms, the best pressure fighter we've produced since Barry McGuigan and a true world-class operator. He has a decent media image, is exciting, good chin and brave as they come.

On the downside, I have always been really concerned at his conditioning between fights - to me, that is unprofessional and it will undoubtedly catch up with him in the ring one day. As a pressure fighter he also takes more punches that a stand-off boxer would and those two things (allied with his susceptibility to cuts) will mean he has a shorter career than say, Chris Eubank or Joe Calzaghe .... so we should enjoy it while we can.

I also just can't forget how he struggled with Collazzo and am aware that he has seldom defended a title (which to me is harder than winning one). Someone like Calzaghe has a much better legacy, but doesn't get the credit because he is less media friendly and because he generally stayed in the UK - though he has now cleaned out the division and unified it, so I hope that logical people don't hold that against him in years to come.

I can't help thinking that PBF is a phenomenon, the best things I've seen since Ray Leonard. Ray always had a Plan B, though, and I will be interested to see what Floys does if he gets dragged into the trenches.

I don't think that Ricky will be able to catch Floyd to blast him out early, I think Hatton will win the early rounds on aggression and volume but he will most likely be unable to pin Mayweather down long enough to land the two or three shots he will need to stop him. I see Floys coming more into the fight after the third and beginning to time hatton coming in - it's at this point that I think the extra weight will take it's toll and, as Floys is a slashing type of puncher, I do fear that he will cut Ricky up and force a technical stoppage around the 8th or 9th. If the ref is not too squeamish, Ricky might make it to a points loss.

Having said that, if Hatton actually pulls this off, I think it will be the best win by a British boxer since Curry Honeyghan (and Robinson-Turpin before that)


Well, for once, I wasn't too far wrong !!

I thought Mayweather was absolutely fantastic last night. He was cool as a cucumber, he can clearly stand up for himself, foul and spoil with the best of them. He managed to con the referee (who I thought was poor and over-fussy, but not so it had any massive bearing on the actual outcome of the fight). Mayweather's speed and accuracy - his timing on the successful lead right he used was phenomenal, and the left hook that started the end was such a peach that I don't think Hatton even saw it coming - he then bashed into the ring post head first which didn't help).

To me, the sign of a great athlete is 'grace under pressure' ...... hats off to Floyd, I thought he was brilliant.

Hatton, IMO, was much to tense and hyped at the beginning. He was ragged and showed little head movement coming in (sorry, but it was UNeducated pressure he was deploying) When he found that Floyd was not running away, yet he still couldn't hit him cleanly, I think he lost the plot a bit and became desperate. I thought that the game was up when he weighed in 2 pounds under the limit actually.

As usual, I thought Hatton's post fight interview was a gem. He hadn't lost his sense of humour and was obviously so gutted (but because he thought he'd let people down) No excuses from him, despite Sky trying to get him to blame the referee. An honest and decent guy, and there is no shame in losing by moving up a weight to fight the greatest fighter since Ray Leonard.

[Memphis]

Not much more to add to X's post really. It was sadly as I expected, Mayweather way....WAY too good for Ricky. Cortez was horribly bad but as already said it had no real bearing on the outcome.

I dont know what the scorecards read at the time of the stoppage but on paper it was probably a pretty close affair up to that point. In actual fact Mayweather was in control from first bell until the finish.

A masterful performance from Mayweather, a gutsy yet futile effort from Hatton.

[Oggie]

Floyd just impresses me more and more everytime I see him.
It is only in his last few fights that I'm beginning to see the bigger picture of his talent. I always knew he was a great boxer, but his plan against Hatton was executed to perfection. The way he just lay against the ropes, expending little to no energy while Hatton pushed forward, holding and punching (and missing) and expending so much energy of his own. Floyd measured it brilliantly and knew that Hatton would slow down considerably in the second half of the fight. Against a lightning quick and accurate fighter like Floyd, slowing down is suicide!
He looked as fresh as a daisy even in round 10, while Hatton looked ragged and worn out. I predicted a 9th round stoppage for Floyd so I wasn't far off. The fight went pretty much exactly as I imagined.
He is just so cool under pressure, that is part of the reason that he doesn't tire. When he is against the ropes and slipping/dodging/ducking punches, he doesn't tense up his muscles at all and just pot shots with clever punches to get both his opponents and the judges attention.
Hatton on the contrary was brave, gallant and pressuring like he only knows how. It kept the fight kind of competitive for the first half of the fight (though I only scored round 5 to Hatton), but from round 7 on he began to tire and that is when Floyd started to take over. Pretty much anytime Floyd wanted to be the boss, he was. He stood toe to toe with Hatton at will and punished him with blitzing combo's. The straight right was jolting Hatton's head back as I feared it would. Hatton's reflexes were slower, his punches were slower, his balance wasn't as steady and Floyd began to systematically break him down until the stoppage.
It was the perfect way to deal with a fighter like Hatton, a total masterclass in pure boxing.
Well done to both fighters though! Hatton for his bravery and courage and Floyd for the obvious.

[El Gamo]

Nice posts guys and I agree. I understand Hatton came in ight for the extra speed but he was also giving away the power. Mayweather appeared stronger and certainly hit harder. I didn;t think it was a close fight as Lederman and Watt had it,I had Mayweather up from the 10-8 round onwards. One of the other rounds was a bad beating for Ricky and could have been 10-8 minus the knockdown.

And excellent points Oggie,Floyd showed how cool and calm he can be under intense but totally sloppy and uneducated pressure. Hatton was trying to rough him up,Floyd gave it right back.Hatton's game plan went out of the window. I mean for what happened to the head movement and the body punches? I'm sorry to you Hatton fans,he has my respect for the balls he showed,but he looked horrible overall. The 1 thing I was backing him to do more than ANYONE who has fought Floyd is go to the body and do it well.

Keep the posts coming guys.Interesting reads.

[mnmc10]

i think joe cortez threw hatton off his gameplan. i mean the ref breaking them up every 10secs?! the lunging left hook never worked for hatton but his offense while on clinch is good. he shouldve went to the body more.

as for mayweather well he is slick and hard to tag and also fast with his jab also. he landed clearer shots than hatton. he really deserve this win!

i hate floyd for being a boring boxer and i really like hatton to win. although i predicted that itll last till twelve and floyd will dominate i was shocked when he KOd hatton. so he really deserves the number 1 position as P4P. sorry pac

[El Gamo]

i think joe cortez threw hatton off his gameplan. i mean the ref breaking them up every 10secs?! the lunging left hook never worked for hatton but his offense while on clinch is good. he shouldve went to the body more.

as for mayweather well he is slick and hard to tag and also fast with his jab also. he landed clearer shots than hatton. he really deserve this win!

i hate floyd for being a boring boxer and i really like hatton to win. although i predicted that itll last till twelve and floyd will dominate i was shocked when he KOd hatton. so he really deserves the number 1 position as P4P. sorry pac

I don't think Cortez threw Hatton off his game plan. He made a few questionable call early on but as the fight progressed,he let them fight. I don't see where the "I hate Floyd for being boring" comes into this. This fight was more exciting than Manny's fights with MAB and Solis.

[LEGION]

I might need to go back and watch it again, as I had Ricky doing better than you guys. I was so amped though I might have missed things. I thought Ricky's footwork and ability to make Floyd miss were pretty damn good, at least like you guys said, in the early rounds. I didn't give credit enough to Ricky for being that fast and he sure popped Floyd with that left when he came in using that footwork; I haven't seen many people be able to hit Floyd like that.
Obviously Hatton didn't get to be a monster to the body. Without sounding like sour grapes, Cortez broke Hatton off Floyd from round one on everytime he even got in on Floyd; nenver even gave Ricky and Floyd a chance to fight out of it. I thought it was b.s. how fast he would pull them apart. But hey, you always have to have a plan B. I actually thought Hatton was doing a good job on the outside with that straight left, early on at least.
I really thought Floyd looked uncomfortable with all that pressure, but Floyd is Floyd and even if Hatton was allowed to play his game, I thought it would go to Floyd anyways. I predicted a 7th or 8th round tko or ko, so I was happy with Ricky going that far. Something I did notice was at the beginning of each round, Ricky would come out in a blaze, but use his footwork and work his way in smartly, but then he would become frustrated and start walking straight in, and he would eat some left hooks, but mostly get his neck whiplashed by straight rights, and seemed to want to prove to Floyd he could take them. Bad idea.
All the credit to Floyd, as the longer a fight goes, the more he'll frustrate someone and figure out what needs to be done. The speed and straight right killed last night, and that paralyzing left hook from that angle was poetic. I give Ricky alot of credit, as he did much better than I thought, and brought that fight, and it was exciting for me. I think even though he went out badly, even Floyd seemed to give Hatton much respect; hell he even kissed him. Floyd sure acts like a c#ck before a fight, but he sure is respectful after, and I was surprised he treated Ricky so kindly.
Ricky was just out of his league, which I figured he would be, but he is a game little guy, you gotta give him that. Sorry for the long post; this sites server still sems f#cked up and I'm not going to post much until it's fixed, so I figured I'd ramble out my unwanted opinion. Hopefully someone will put up a link so I can watch it again and maybe with a clearer head.

[mnmc10]

well floyd is boring except for this fight, he is a technician boxer but i find ko artists more exciting. pacs fight is boring lately also.

i didnt say that floyd vs hatton is a boring fight. i said floyd is a boring boxer i mean the last tko he got was way back 05 right?

hatton was hit with a couple of shots because he was talking to cortez. i give props to floyd for koing hatton even floyd was surprised imho. eheheheh

[El Gamo]

Legion,I think the commentating on HBO was persuading you too. I didn't really see Hatton making Floyd miss a whole lot,maybe with some of the lead rights at the beginning. I also thought Floyd looked uncomfortable in the 1 round,the first round but he adpated easily.

I thought Ricky showed great speed of foot but like I've said,he could have been faster than Floyd but if you're going to go in and smother EVERYTHING,it counts for little in the end and that is what he did. I think he was too tense and everything they did in practice went out of the window.

well floyd is boring except for this fight, he is a technician boxer but i find ko artists more exciting. pacs fight is boring lately also.

i didnt say that floyd vs hatton is a boring fight. i said floyd is a boring boxer i mean the last tko he got was way back 05 right?

hatton was hit with a couple of shots because he was talking to cortez. i give props to floyd for koing hatton even floyd was surprised imho. eheheheh

The only boring Floyd fight I've seen was the Baldo fight which was really boring. The Judah fight was average. The rest have been pretty darn exciting but each to their own bro.

[belak]

I agree that Floyd can be boring (above 140 only) but he redeemed himself in this fight at 147. It was a beautiful performance. Ricky pressed the fight and Floyd fought back, didn't run and let the KO come naturally.

Cortez sucked! But the outcome would have been the same with any ref.

I originally though Ricky would win be decision based on his normal high volume punching, but he slowed down after tasting Mayweather's power and it was Mayweather that ending up proving me wrong and throwing more punches. I'm glad he did. It was a great fight. I have much more respect for him now. I feel he can retire and make all the claims he wants as being the greatest of his time (i don't know about all time - that's arguable).

I would love to see him give Cotto a shot, but don't feel he needs to and won't blame him if he decides to hang up the gloves. He has a remarkable career, has done everything he needs and should enjoy his family. But it would be nice if he gave Cotto a chance.

[cpcompany]

I often score fights when watching them and but this time I was really desperate for Hatton to win so I was more of a Hatton fan than a boxing fan tonight and didnt score the fight. I probably had Mayweather 3 or 4 points up, and i think the 8th round was a 10-8 round for Mayweather.
The ref probably affected Hattons gameplan a little bit as he was pulling them apart as soon as they got near each other. But, i am realistic enough to admit it probably wasnt significant enough to have much of an affect towards the final outcome. But, i do think it made Hatton more anxious and he was charging in at Mayweather and became a bit predictable. At the beginning of the fight he was doing well, but he was comning in straight ahead without trying to be elusive from about the 7th round. And hatton wasnt throwing enough punches once he got close to Mayweather.
It was a truly sad sight to see hatton, Ko`d and I didnt expect it to happen, but the first knockdown punch was short, hard and outrageously fast.
I have been a major critic of mayweathers personality, but it`s impossible to deny his awesome talent.

[mnmc10]

Legion,I think the commentating on HBO was persuading you too. I didn't really see Hatton making Floyd miss a whole lot,maybe with some of the lead rights at the beginning. I also thought Floyd looked uncomfortable in the 1 round,the first round but he adpated easily.

I thought Ricky showed great speed of foot but like I've said,he could have been faster than Floyd but if you're going to go in and smother EVERYTHING,it counts for little in the end and that is what he did. I think he was too tense and everything they did in practice went out of the window.

well floyd is boring except for this fight, he is a technician boxer but i find ko artists more exciting. pacs fight is boring lately also.

i didnt say that floyd vs hatton is a boring fight. i said floyd is a boring boxer i mean the last tko he got was way back 05 right?

hatton was hit with a couple of shots because he was talking to cortez. i give props to floyd for koing hatton even floyd was surprised imho. eheheheh

The only boring Floyd fight I've seen was the Baldo fight which was really boring. The Judah fight was average. The rest have been pretty darn exciting but each to their own bro.

agree to each his own, i just prefer KO/aggresive boxers mor exciting.