Ringside Boxing Report: Ricky Hatton – Luis Collazo

Neil Deason 5/15/2006 Ringside Boxing

One Not So Sunny Day in Boston: A Hatton v Collazo Fight Report

**Massive Ringside Gallery**

Click for larger image © Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing

The weather was about the only thing that was familiar. Persistent rain had brought a somewhat miserable and frustrating wait to the army of Hatton’s traveling fans awaiting the Hitman’s American coming out party on HBO. The fans’ discomfort, though, was nothing compared to Rick’s own personal anguish in the run up to the fight. Continued legal wrangling and a lack of TV suitable opponents had left Rick waiting for an opponent to be named well into his training camp. Possibilities had come and gone until the last man standing was WBA welter champion Luis Collazo.

Collazo was not a well known name, but to fight insiders he was seen as a dangerous and tricky opponent. Hatton’s trainer Billy Graham went as far as saying this was fight he didn’t really want as style wise it was a bad match for Ricky. However, given the available options Rick himself stayed true to form of being a fighter who never ducks a challenge and chose the hardest fight on offer.

Collazo would be Hatton’s third world title challenge in a row, Hatton’s first fight at 147 and his first time topping the bill in the US. Hatton was even prepared to sacrifice his hard earned WBA and IBF Junior Welterweight titles and risk returning beltless in order to get it on.

So it was that on a cold, wet night the Hatton faithful started to congregate in the bars that surround the TD Northbank Arena in Boston and not the MEN in Manchester. The fans were there to keep up their part of making this another Hatton event, but there were still enough differences to make you sense this was not going to be a typical Hatton fight night experience.

While most of the fans were still enjoying the local hospitality, the opening fight of the evening was Matthew Hatton (27-2-1) against Jose Medina (9-6-3). Mirroring elder brother Rick’s problems with finding an opponent, Medina was not who Matthew had been expecting to fight. Original opponent Anthony Bowman had been rejected by the local boxing commission on the basis of having too poor a record. However, local word was that Bowman was a tough war horse whose record belies his actual ability.

The replacement Medina turns out to be a lanky, orthodox fighter who comes to fight and starts aggressively. Although Matthew blocks most of the shots with his arms and gloves, the first round of the evening goes against the Hattons. In the second and third rounds Matthew starts to settle in and begins having some success with counter shots. The rounds remain close, however, with neither fighter taking a big advantage.

In the fourth things come alive, with Medina pushing forward strongly until Hatton opens up with a combination of blows to drive him back. Medina starts to lunge with shots and Hatton makes him pay with another flurry of blows. Pinned against the ropes a big right hand sends Medina’s gumshield flying out of the ring. Medina is hurt, but a pause in the action sees the referee calling for timeout. There is then a long delay while the Medina corner tries unconvincingly to find a replacement gumshield. Eventually the referee loses patience with their delaying tactics and takes a point away from Medina. The round ends 10-8 to Hatton.

The fourth round seems to have taken a toll as fatigue sets in. The fifth round sees both fighters wanting to counter and their mutual unwillingness to lead further stymies the action. In the sixth it is Medina who finds his second wind and starts to rally. Having seemingly had his man on the brink Hatton is now starting to look tired and frustrated.

Medina is proving to be a puzzle Hatton can’t quite solve. On the outside the taller Medina is getting the better of the action and on the inside Hatton doesn’t seem to be trying to work forcing the referee to break apart the increasingly regular clinches. Perhaps sparring with brother Rick has discouraged Matt from developing his own inside game more. It is a pattern that will continue for the remainder of the fight and by the 8th and final rounds everyone is aware that there have been a lot of tight rounds. For a fight that on paper looked easy for Hatton this is going to be uncomfortably close.

The judges score cards are announced to be 78-74 Medina, 78-73 Hatton and 77-74 Hatton. Hatton takes the win by SD but it wasn’t the type of performance he will be happy with.

In the chief support bout, reigning IBF Featherweight Champion Valdemir Pereira was put on the canvas in the fourth and fifth rounds by unheralded late replacement Eric Aiken. But Pereiera couldn’t keep his body shots above the belt and was disqualified in the eighth round for low blows after losing points for the same in the sixth and seventh. The bout was marked by periods of inactivity punctuated by spells of furious action that saw Aiken eating serious leather due to his lack of defense while throwing punches. The Ohio man managed to hang in however and shockingly floored Pereiera with huge hooks before the champion from Brazil was disqualified, losing his IBF belt in the process.

The undercard then continues with a selection of local club fighters tailored to attract the local Irish American fight fans. However, one cannot also help but feel that it also helped that they came at a cheap price. This is certainly no Don King undercard, not that Hatton fans are used to anything like that in the past! Everyone knows there is only one fight that matters tonight and as the TV lights of HBO burn brightly the team of Lampley, Merchant and Stewart welcome the joining US television audience for the main event.

By now the Arena looks about Â½ full with 8-9,000 fans and from the noise the majority are British. Hatton, as the challenger, enters first in a low key and short ring walk. You can feel the British fans that have made the long and expensive trip willing a Hatton spectacular. The US press, meanwhile, is circumspect and needs to be convinced by their own eyes that this kid is the real deal.

Round 1 begins and Hatton floors Collazo with the first punch. Collazo is caught off balance rather than really being hurt, but it still shakes him up and makes him panic. Collazo retreats into his shell and Hatton’s 40-fight experience shows as he keeps his head measuring his work to both body and head. At this point Collazo is just trying to survive and shades of the early blow away victory in Hatton-Stewart come to mind.

Through the second Hatton continues to dominate and it looks like a classic performance is unfolding. Collazo gets trapped on the ropes and the Hatton trademark body work is there as he tees off on his man. However, the early destruction of Callazo doesn’t materialize and instead he slowly starts to regain some composure. While Hatton continues to be the aggressor and works with more intent through the third round there are occasional eye catching combinations from Collazo.

In the fourth Collazo realizes he has weathered the storm and is still in the fight. Both men trade bombs and for the first time cries for “Luis, Luis” are heard in the arena. It is now clear that Rick is in for a tough evening. In the fifth and sixth Collazo shows he has the confidence to meet fire with fire, but he is also boxing smartly, working well on the inside when he has the positional advantage and tying Rick up when he does not.

By round 7 things are getting tense. Hatton responds by trying to up the pace, but it is turning into a scrappy affair. The subsequent rounds are also close, but Hatton nicks the majority of them by being the more aggressive. Both men are looking to pull the trigger as the gap closes, but the inside fighting we are used to from Hatton is missing. Hatton seems unable to manhandle his opponent to create enough space and the referee is getting into the pattern of stepping in quickly to end clinches.

Into the championship rounds and Hatton knows he needs to move up the gears. However, looking to force the action gives the lightning fast Collazo opportunities to counter, and then early on in the final round Collazo staggers Hatton. It is clear that Hatton is hurt, but he retains enough awareness of his surroundings to look to clinch and survive. Once Hatton’s head clears he rallies to come back and makes sure he only loses the round 10-9. In a fight that is obviously close that sets up a nervous wait for the scorecards as both men are hoisted in celebration by their corner men.

In press row division consensus is split between a 1 round win to Hatton or 1 round to Collazo. Of course a draw would mean defending Champion Collazo retains the title leaving Rick without any belt. It is a hard fight to score with so many close rounds. Hatton appeared the more effective aggressor, but Collazo threw the more eye pleasing combinations. Hatton had an impressive start; Collazo ended in style.

Finally the score cards come in: 115-112, 115-112 and 114-113 to the new WBA Welterweight Champion Ricky Hatton!

The full score cards were as follows:

Round	Judge: Don O’Neil	Judge: Paul Driscoll	Judge: Leo Gerstel
1	Hatton 10-8	Hatton 10-8	Hatton 10-8
2	Hatton 10-9	Hatton 10-9	Hatton 9-10
3	Hatton 10-9	Hatton 10-9	Hatton 10-9
4	Hatton 9-10	Hatton 9-10	Hatton 10-9
5	Hatton 9-10	Hatton 9-10	Hatton 9-10
6	Hatton 9-10	Hatton 9-10	Hatton 9-10
7	Hatton 10-9	Hatton 10-9	Hatton 9-10
8	Hatton 10-9	Hatton 10-9	Hatton 10-9
9	Hatton 10-9	Hatton 10-9	Hatton 10-9
10	Hatton 9-10	Hatton 9-10	Hatton 9-10
11	Hatton 10-9	Hatton 10-9	Hatton 10-9
12	Hatton 9-10	Hatton 9-10	Hatton 9-10
Total	Hatton 115-112	Hatton 115-112	Hatton 114-113

After the fight the Collazo camp noisily protest the decision at the post-fight press conference and calling for a rematch. Luis Collazo makes it known he would come to Manchester for the fight, promising he would not leave it to the judges by knocking Ricky out. In reality, while it was undoubtedly closer than most had expected, the Compubox statistics backed up the judges’ view that Hatton had deserved the unanimous decision.

Collazo	Punch Stats	Hatton
712	Total Punches Thrown	741
213	Total Punches Connected	259
30%	Percentage	35%
241	Jabs Thrown	104
46	Jabs Connected	5
19%	Percentage	5%
471	Power Punches Thrown	637
167	Power Punches Connected	254
35%	Percentage	40%

All in all this was a very tough fight for Hatton and a learning experience all around. Luis Collazo is one hell of a fighter – extremely quick hands, tough and skillful. Despite all the bigger name interlopers from lower weight classes Collazo has a strong claim as one of the very best welterweights in world. For Hatton to become a two weight challenger against such a strong opponent is an extraordinary accomplishment.

Unfortunately for Collazo such a strong showing could now leave him in the category of “best avoided’. Perhaps that leaves him and the other welterweight member of that club Antonio Margarito in a destined match up.

Hatton, meanwhile, once the celebratory pub crawl destined to go down in Boston history is over, will have plenty to think about on the journey back to Manchester. He again proved his toughness, exceptional ability and dogged determination. He overcame adversity to beat a naturally bigger and faster man in a head on encounter. However, where his long term future lies is less certain. Despite now holding the WBA Welterweight title at 147 he did not appear to have his usual strength advantage to bully a naturally bigger opponent into position to work effectively on the inside.

A lot of credit must go to Ricky for going up to 147 and fighting a genuine welterweight champion; unlike Mayweather, whose move up to 147 saw him fighting a faded former 140 fighter in Sharmba Mitchell. However, Hatton’s future fights at 147 will require careful consideration. Tackling the likes of Gatti and Mayweather at 147 is one thing, but the likelihood of fighting genuine full-sized welters like Margarito or even the Junior Middleweight in De La Hoya must now be seen in a new light.

In the end, the Hitman is about drama and drama is why HBO wanted him on their books. For those that made the journey and those watching around the world Hatton dutifully delivered in a tense, but still exciting fight. Hatton’s adventures in America are most definitely under way and as always it is going to be a white knuckle ride all the way.

Click for larger image © Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing