Hatton was no radio star!!!
www.fightnews.com
May 14, 2006
By Richard Fletcher
Catching Ricky Hatton's fight with Luis Collazo the old-fashioned way - on radio overnight in the the UK - I must say I was surprised he got the verdict. Despite flooring Collazo in the first 15 seconds, Hatton seemed to struggle thereafter, getting caught frequently by his slick southpaw opponent and, I thought, almost stopped in a desperate last round. My immediate thought was what was going through the mind of Floyd Mayweather, who might now fancy taking on Hatton sooner rather than later.
The BBC radio commentary team of Mike Costello and former super middleweight champ Richie Woodhall seemed to convey that Hatton had a very tough time indeed. Costello suggested Collazo might have done enough to pull off an upset while Woodhall had it a draw. I honestly expected MC Michael Buffer to announce "...and still" but it just goes to show how influenced you can be by a commentary when you can't see the action. Maybe if I'd been ringside, or watched the fight on HBO or Sky TV, neither of which were available to me, I would have thought differently.
But still, I don't think Hatton quite made the impact he was hoping for in his first major fight in the U.S. The step-up to welterweight clearly made a bigger difference than most people expected, as did Collazo's southpaw style. Woodhall said he thought Hatton found it a lot harder to make his punches tell at the higher weight.
Afterwards, Hatton told HBO's Larry Merchant he thought he was still a natural light-welter and that the punches coming back at him were definitely harder. But he had moved up, he said, because all the other big names had done the same.
There was a time, though, when I thought all the big plans were going to go out of the window as Hatton kept getting caught by the sharper, more accurate punching of Collazo. I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing, particularly when Collazo piled on the pressure in the last round. But Hatton, although enjoying what Costello descibed as "sporadic" success, kept coming. He began to get to Collazo more in the late rounds after losing his way in the middle of the fight. But in the last, as Collazo upped the tempo, Costello relayed that Hatton "had nothing left to give".
Some of the estimated 5,000 British fans must have thought the same and breathed a sigh of relief when the decision was announced. It hadn't been vintage Hatton, far from it, but when all is said and done, a win is a win and Hatton can move on with his career.
Collazo's pleas for a rematch, though, are likely to be ignored. Hatton's trainer, Billy Graham, had expressed reservations about Collazo before the fight was signed and the Hatton camp will not be eager to give the American a second chance, even in England.
But Mayweather is another matter entirely and many observers will now make Pretty Boy an even clearer favourite if and when he meets Hatton. But for Hatton, it will be a different night, a different opponent and a different strategy. Whereas Hatton was heavily favoured to beat Collazo, he will start as underdog against Mayweather and that could drive him to produce the sort of performance that unseated Kostya Tszyu last summer.
Although he struggled, Hatton did win his third world title in consecutive fights, an historic achievement in itself. But if he has many more fights like the one with Collazo, Hatton's career won't have long left to run. All roads seem to lead to Mayweather, even though many will now give Hatton even less chance of getting past him.
Re: Hatton was no radio star!!!
I was a nervous man as i listened to that radio commnetary and read wacko's round by round....i feared the worst....
but having now watched the fight, i do feel hatton won....a close fight fight but he won by slant of that knock down in the opening 15 seconds...
Re: Hatton was no radio star!!!
Excellent first post Miles, if I hadn't already 'cool clicked' you this morning you'd be getting another one.
It was a close fight but Ricky deserved the nod, no question.
Has Collazo been given any kind of result it would have been a total travesty of justice
It was a very tough fight for Ricky and i'm so glad he sneaked in for the result because if he had lost can you imagine the smug look on Frank Warrens mug.
It would have been 'I told you so' all over the media.
Quite unbearable.
I don't have a problem with Frank Warren but I thought he handled Ricky appallingly badly. If he gewts a second chance it should be on Ricky's terms and that will never happen.
Re: Hatton was no radio star!!!
Very Very close but i do feel Hatton got the right verdict. Floyd wont be too worried after that performance.
Re: Hatton was no radio star!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by miles
I was a nervous man as i listened to that radio commnetary and read wacko's round by round....i feared the worst....
but having now watched the fight, i do feel hatton won....a close fight fight but he won by slant of that knock down in the opening 15 seconds...
Didn't you predict that hatton would knock him out easy and that he didn't belong in the same ring?????
Re: Hatton was no radio star!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cockey cockney
Very Very close but i do feel Hatton got the right verdict. Floyd wont be too worried after that performance.
Yea and based on Zab Judah performance, hatton wont be to worried about floyd....
Re: Hatton was no radio star!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MRMANICK
Quote:
Originally Posted by miles
I was a nervous man as i listened to that radio commnetary and read wacko's round by round....i feared the worst....
but having now watched the fight, i do feel hatton won....a close fight fight but he won by slant of that knock down in the opening 15 seconds...
Didn't you predict that hatton would knock him out easy and that he didn't belong in the same ring?????
yes, i did predict hatton would knock him out.....and i got it wrong....
Re: Hatton was no radio star!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by miles
Quote:
Originally Posted by MRMANICK
Quote:
Originally Posted by miles
I was a nervous man as i listened to that radio commnetary and read wacko's round by round....i feared the worst....
but having now watched the fight, i do feel hatton won....a close fight fight but he won by slant of that knock down in the opening 15 seconds...
Didn't you predict that hatton would knock him out easy and that he didn't belong in the same ring?????
yes, i did predict hatton would knock him out.....and i got it wrong....
Its cool :)At least you can admit his shortcomings. Unlike a few of his more ignorant fans.
Re: Hatton was no radio star!!!
Not many ricky fans are ignorant, most of us know his shortcomings well, it's just the little monster keeps winning, even when he goes up out of his weight, into a foreign country against an unknown southpaw.
I predicted a 10th round knockout over Collazo.
Why?
Because I trust ricky to do the business, I didn't know squat about Collazo prior to the fight so I was predicting blind.
Collazo's stock has gone up because he fought well, manfully and he showed a good chin and stamina and some slick defense and combinations. He's not the finished article but he is only 25.
Hattons stock has gone up because he delivered an action packed brawl to big time American tv and he won it (albeit just) and he is the new white hope if you like, (I hate that title) and he took a champions belt in America and became a two weight world champion.
I bet that Witter is feeling bitter.
Re: Hatton was no radio star!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Whirlwind
Not many ricky fans are ignorant, most of us know his shortcomings well, it's just the little monster keeps winning, even when he goes up out of his weight, into a foreign country against an unknown southpaw.
I predicted a 10th round knockout over Collazo.
Why?
Because I trust ricky to do the business, I didn't know squat about Collazo prior to the fight so I was predicting blind.
Collazo's stock has gone up because he fought well, manfully and he showed a good chin and stamina and some slick defense and combinations. He's not the finished article but he is only 25.
Hattons stock has gone up because he delivered an action packed brawl to big time American tv and he won it (albeit just) and he is the new white hope if you like, (I hate that title) and he took a champions belt in America and became a two weight world champion.
I bet that Witter is feeling bitter.
Do you honestly think Hattons stock went up in this fight? I saw a lot of technical flaws and if that was my first time seeing him i would say he has no business in the ring with floyd.
Re: Hatton was no radio star!!!
Re: Commentaries
Just a quick note to say I watched the fight on Sky Sports and was appalled at Jim Watt and Ian Darke's anti-Hatton commentary. Jim Watt just goes off on one tack about Collazo catching Hatton again and again, yet while he railroads himself down his initial view, Hatton is getting though with punches of his own which go un-commented. Watt cannot follow the twists and turns of a fight and this panic gets under your skin after a while. I wish there was a button to turn the commentators off and just listen to the crowd noise, that would be ideal!
