Peak?

Skysports have been putting a fair bit of past boxing on recently. I decided to watch the Hatton vs Mayweather fight again last night and without a doubt, Hatton troubled Floyd more than any other boxer I've seen. Although Roy got that one big shot, Hatton was relentless and Floyd looked like he had a tough fight right through.

This got me thinking about both boxers and wondering when their peak was/ is.

I actually think Hatton did better in the Mayweather fight than he did against Tysu and that was the best fight of his career, I think he could not have been any better, that really was his peak, he was simply beat by a better, more disaplined boxer.

But was that Floyd in his peak, or has he grown since then? I think that fight shows the true strength of both fighters and was such a defining momment in boxing, whether you like both fighters or not. A combined record of 85-0 and 55 knockouts does not come around very often.

With the Manny fight against Floyd also in mind, do you think that Manny is also now in the form of his life, or has he peaked a few fights back?

I thought he was doing well up until the 6th... by then he'd shot his load.

Had he not ruined his body then who knows what the second half of the fight would have been like... if he lived like an elite athlete he would of atleast went the distance and continued to give a good account of himself in the later rounds.

I put my biggest neutral hat on when I watched it again last night and even up until probably the 8th, you couldn't really pick a winner.

It did confirm a few things for me though:

Hatton is a dirty bastard
Mayweather is a dirty bastard
Cortez was far too involved
Floyd does not like pressure fighters much, but he does have the skills to deal with them


I've watched loads of old fights recently and I'm appreciated them far more now, after letting the dust settle than I ever did at the time or shortly after.

I just had to chat about it somewhere, despite the fact it has been talked about to death, I had to release my thoughts!

Hatton did well vs Floyd there's no doubt about it but I think the big question is what actually failed him the most skill, strategy, or stamina?

I actually thought the same last night, what more could he have done?

I think his tactics were correct, he had the skills, but maybe got too aggresive and walked on to some very accurate shots which wore him down. Right up until he got knocked down, he still looked like he had enough in the tank to go 2 more rounds.

I don't think he could have done anymore, he let himself down by walking onto shots, but against Floyd that will always happen. PBF certainly didn't dodge all of them though, he must have been sore in the morning.

I also watched hatton-mayweather and hatton-lazcano from my sky anytime programming

Once again convinced had cortez not of done everything within his power to stop hatton taking the fight to floyd, hatton would of been odds on to take floyd into the trenches and possibly getting the better of him.

Theres pretty much only one way you can disable someone with floyds speed and thats by making them fight 3minutes a round, every round

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Originally Posted by HattonTheHammer

I also watched hatton-mayweather and hatton-lazcano from my sky anytime programming

Once again convinced had cortez not of done everything within his power to stop hatton taking the fight to floyd, hatton would of been odds on to take floyd into the trenches and possibly getting the better of him.

Theres pretty much only one way you can disable someone with floyds speed and thats by making them fight 3minutes a round, every round

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Like me, did you actually see it more Hatton sided this time around than before? I thought he did far better than I remember and he looked like he was going to buldoze his way through Floyd.

Cortez annoyed me just as much last night as he did when I was in Vegas :rolleyes: Too many times he just wouldn't even see where things went and then let Floyd get away with far too many delebrate elbows.

I knew I'd have someone to re-discuss it with!

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Originally Posted by 0james0

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Originally Posted by HattonTheHammer

I also watched hatton-mayweather and hatton-lazcano from my sky anytime programming

Once again convinced had cortez not of done everything within his power to stop hatton taking the fight to floyd, hatton would of been odds on to take floyd into the trenches and possibly getting the better of him.

Theres pretty much only one way you can disable someone with floyds speed and thats by making them fight 3minutes a round, every round

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Like me, did you actually see it more Hatton sided this time around than before? I thought he did far better than I remember and he looked like he was going to buldoze his way through Floyd.

Cortez annoyed me just as much last night as he did when I was in Vegas :rolleyes: Too many times he just wouldn't even see where things went and then let Floyd get away with far too many delebrate elbows.

I knew I'd have someone to re-discuss it with!

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mate other than in real time, everytime i watch this fight it infuriates the hell out of me just how handicapped hatton became thanks to cortez.

Everytime they came out of a clench floyd got off with lightening quick lefts that i can accept and ricky was taking them pretty well for the large part. But when they came together mayweather would frantically clench hatton and do everything possible to get cortez off him and joe rightly obliged and even went so far as to punish hatton for it.

Once the point got deducted hatton went south and floyds speed took over, but we`ll never truly know what would of happened had ricky of been allowed to fight his fight

PS:im available for hatton discussions 24hrs a day whether it be about his career or drinking habits ;D;D;D

Do you think that was Hatton at his very peak, the best he has ever been?

I do. Despite the fact he lost, I think he would have beaten anyone else around at that time.

When we talk about peak, we also have to factor in the mental game. I think Hatton was still mentally all there against Mayweather, but like Adam I tend to think that Hatton was perhaps somewhat over the hill due to conditioning and diet issues. I think this first began to play a part in the extended layoff prior to the Collazo fight. Hatton was now fighting twice a year at best and was obviously not looking after himself between fights. We all said it would catch up with him and it did. That coupled with the Mayweather loss meant that post Mayweather Hatton had declined not only physically, but mentally too.

I deluded myself in the hope that a favourite fighter could keep on doing it, but now with all the benefits of hindsight I think Hatton after Mayweather was not the same. The Hatton that beat Tszyu would have given Mayweather even more problems IMO. I say this because Hatton was even more resilient, perhaps even skilled, and also had that mental edge. The Pac fight was just a travesty that I don't even want to talk about.

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Originally Posted by miles

When we talk about peak, we also have to factor in the mental game. I think Hatton was still mentally all there against Mayweather, but like Adam I tend to think that Hatton was perhaps somewhat over the hill due to conditioning and diet issues.

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100% right there mate. Agree entirley.

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Originally Posted by 0james0

I actually thought the same last night, what more could he have done?

I think his tactics were correct, he had the skills, but maybe got too aggresive and walked on to some very accurate shots which wore him down. Right up until he got knocked down, he still looked like he had enough in the tank to go 2 more rounds.

I don't think he could have done anymore, he let himself down by walking onto shots, but against Floyd that will always happen. PBF certainly didn't dodge all of them though, he must have been sore in the morning.

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I think he abandoned the attack to the body too soon....if Ricky could have jabbed his way in that would have been better for him as well. All reasons why I stick by Miguel Cotto being too dangerous for Floyd at that time.

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Originally Posted by 0james0

Skysports have been putting a fair bit of past boxing on recently. I decided to watch the Hatton vs Mayweather fight again last night and without a doubt, Hatton troubled Floyd more than any other boxer I've seen. Although Roy got that one big shot, Hatton was relentless and Floyd looked like he had a tough fight right through.

This got me thinking about both boxers and wondering when their peak was/ is.

I actually think Hatton did better in the Mayweather fight than he did against Tysu and that was the best fight of his career, I think he could not have been any better, that really was his peak, he was simply beat by a better, more disaplined boxer.

But was that Floyd in his peak, or has he grown since then? I think that fight shows the true strength of both fighters and was such a defining momment in boxing, whether you like both fighters or not. A combined record of 85-0 and 55 knockouts does not come around very often.

With the Manny fight against Floyd also in mind, do you think that Manny is also now in the form of his life, or has he peaked a few fights back?

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pretty much hit the nail on the head....

I only gave Hatton one round, but he still gave a good account of himself.

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Originally Posted by piye

I only gave Hatton one round, but he still gave a good account of himself.

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Really?

I watched in last night and really tried to be as neutral as possible, I think he took 3 of the first 4 at least, the rest were harder to split, very even to score.

I forgot what a fight it was though, I know it's still talked about a lot (such as this thread) but I haven't really watched it much since it happened, the atmosphere and tension was incredible.

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Originally Posted by 0james0

I put my biggest neutral hat on when I watched it again last night and even up until probably the 8th, you couldn't really pick a winner.

It did confirm a few things for me though:

Hatton is a dirty bastard
Mayweather is a dirty bastard
Cortez was far too involved
Floyd does not like pressure fighters much, but he does have the skills to deal with them


I've watched loads of old fights recently and I'm appreciated them far more now, after letting the dust settle than I ever did at the time or shortly after.

I just had to chat about it somewhere, despite the fact it has been talked about to death, I had to release my thoughts!

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They didn't fight that dirty, it was an epic example of two amazing inside fighters. It is should be a showcase of how to create, and cut off angles on the inside, how Floyd picked his shots and didn't allow such a great inside fighter to get off with anything effective. I think it was close and competitive because Floyd allowed them to fight Hatton's fight, but he was clearly winning almost every round because of his defense and accuracy. He was simply sharper from start to finish, and his stamina held through longer.

Watch the fight again like I just did and you'll see what I mean.

Hatton was trying to snap Floyds arm when clinching, there was even a little scream from Floyd one time when Hatton bent his arm right back at the elbow.

Floyd was rubbing his elbows in his face and throwing with them at times. Also both were hitting on the break (and thanks to Cortez there were lots of them!)

Floyd looked genuinely troubled at times, but then as the rounds wore on, he did what he does best and picks the opponent apart.

The fight was at welter and had Hatton fought him at his weight in the UK with a British ref then he would have done better.