Im nervous about this fight. Paulie does seem really up for it. Malignaggi is talking up a fight and there's Ricky talking about wanting to be friends afterwards.
Hatton looked good for half against Collazo and then faded. The same happened against Urango. He got Castillo out early so we dont know if he was ready for 12 hard rounds. And then Mayweather stopped Hatton and Hatton was really no longer a threat after 5 rounds anyway. And then we have Lazcano getting to Ricky twice. That was supposed to be a gimme after the Mayweather knock out.
There are big question marks surrounding Ricky Hatton. Has he still got it in him?? Paulie is definitely going to make Hatton fight, so he really needs to be in tip top condition.
I actually think Hatton boxed superbly for the first 6 rounds against Urango. Thats the kind of thing he needs to do for 12 rounds here. Use his footwork to dart in and out of range and utilise that jab a lot more. I can see this fight being a boxing contest for the opening rounds, if its working Hatton can try and maintain it, if he needs to rough Paulie then he can revert to that. But the key is having the lungs to fight 12 hard rounds and we havent seen that since Kostya way back when.
Stamina and output is what I will be hoping for. If Hatton is able to show us that then I think he can pull through.
Malignaggi has a difficult style though.
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