Re: Who did Hatton ever beat?
Zab Judah was favourite in the U.S. Because the U.S. media never foragve him for losing to Phillips, when he first came to the U.S. media attention. Fought a couple of times in the states before then.
He actually changed his style then to boot, further fuelling the U.S. opinion. After he was beat by Phillips in his Prime as they both went trading blows, je changed to a somewhat cautious fighter. First half of his career before many knew of him in the states, he was a dynamic fast agressive fighter. Thats part of How he lost to Phillips. He just believed he could blow guys away, then he ran into an even bigger puncher than himself, and got caught on the wrong night, in his prime
Yes, he was Undisputed champion for 4.5 years...........before this time he was a belt holder world titlist. The point was, he was still the world champion. I never said he was undisputed world champion for ten years, and I dont any fighter who has been undisputed cha,ion for 10 years.
Many great fighters have Never been Undisputed champion for even oneday. De La Hoya, I dont if Chavez was, Pacquioa hasn't Mayweather hasn't. It just wasnt their priority. I know De La Hoya SHOULD have been, as most thought he beat Trinidad.
My point is world champion 10 years, not Undisputed champion ten..
Re: Who did Hatton ever beat?
Hatton is a great pressure fighter Who cant fight a Southpaw, or more rather, has particular difficulty with the southpaw stance. He is a fun fighter to watch yes.
Tszyu certainly didn't think Judah was favourite when they fought, only the U.S. media did :) I didn't think Judah would win, I though it would be a very hard fight for Kostya though. Judah was annoited by the media on flasiness but as has been proven, he's a sheep in wolf's clothig against the better fighters.
Mitchell didnt think much of Tszyu either, turning up at the Gonzalez fight saying he expected to be fighting Gonzalez. They never really knew much of Tszyu when he was fighting in Australia. He was just a guy with a belt with his name printed somewhere. The point was, his career was actually the opposite in Aus. Very fast, agressive dynamic fighter. He took this over confidence to the U.S. with a court case and got done by Phillips just as the De La Hoya camp was thinking, gee we might have to face this guy. He was never forgiven by the media, then he fuelled it further fighting cautious.
Look at Judah, what would his career look like if he actually workd on both a hard fast jab offensively and defensively, and a right hand as a weapon anytime in any round as his primary weapons, instead of lunging hooks and upper cuts. He fights in spurts, but gets outboxed in the deep waters.
Yes, in hindsight, Judah was going to LOSE every time to Tzsyu, and anyone else of quality. The most talented boxer to ever waste his talent, there is a case for Judah. Most preordained over hyped fuighter in history.
Since Ricky doesnt lie Southpaws, I reckon he has a shot with THIS Southpaw, as take him into the later rounds and drown him. I think Mitchell in his prime wouldve been harder for Hatton. Mitchell can actually box more fundamental, important in the later rounds.
Re: Who did Hatton ever beat?
BTW..........I would love to see a Ricky Hatton v Zab Judah fight held in England. If Judah does Matthew Hatton, there is a ready made story for Ricky to fight him, and THAT fight would draw an audience. It would be a good fans fight.
I'd tip Hatton..