Hattons Prime - The myth

[TitoFan]

I guess I touched a nerve by saying Hatton was never world-class. But I'm not backing off. History will not treat Hatton as kindly as his legions of fans. Hatton had a whole country's hopes on his shoulders, 'cause he basically started off as a good guy... an average Joe. Who basically worked his way to a world title fight. He was never an excellent boxer... just a scrappy guy with a lot of mauling and grabbing habits, which were basically winked at when he fought in the UK. He fought and beat a great fighter in Kostya Tszyu... and all hell broke loose. Never mind that he got away with murder in front of his home crowd and with a totally biased referee. His win over Kostya "elevated" him to superstar status, and got the snowball rolling, sort of speak. He did very little spectacular after that, and somehow got shots against Mayweather, and then Pacquiao. He was exposed by both. But in the grand scheme of things, Hatton will never be regarded as an ATG. Only as a fighter whose fans desperately WANTED him to be an ATG.

[Mr140]

Atg and world class are not the same thing Tito i mean come on now they just are not. I mean Cotto not atg but still world class would you not agree. I mean they are no Srl but they are still very good though.

[TitoFan]

Atg and world class are not the same thing Tito i mean come on now they just are not. I mean Cotto not atg but still world class would you not agree. I mean they are no Srl but they are still very good though.

Cotto's way higher than Hatton on the historical list, IMO... but no... maybe not ATG material either. ATG's a pretty exclusive list, and should be reserved for the elite of the elite.

[Mr140]

Yea but you call him world class though i mean you were making atg and world class the same thing from what i was reading. I do not think they are the same thing i mean there a big difference in them.

[Mattyhitman]

I guess I touched a nerve by saying Hatton was never world-class. But I'm not backing off. History will not treat Hatton as kindly as his legions of fans. Hatton had a whole country's hopes on his shoulders, 'cause he basically started off as a good guy... an average Joe. Who basically worked his way to a world title fight. He was never an excellent boxer... just a scrappy guy with a lot of mauling and grabbing habits, which were basically winked at when he fought in the UK. He fought and beat a great fighter in Kostya Tszyu... and all hell broke loose. Never mind that he got away with murder in front of his home crowd and with a totally biased referee. His win over Kostya "elevated" him to superstar status, and got the snowball rolling, sort of speak. He did very little spectacular after that, and somehow got shots against Mayweather, and then Pacquiao. He was exposed by both. But in the grand scheme of things, Hatton will never be regarded as an ATG. Only as a fighter whose fans desperately WANTED him to be an ATG.

I figure he 'somehow got a shot a mayweather' due to him being regarded as the kingpin at LWW and a title holder at WW. Mayweather was the only real option left and it made sense for marketing value.

I would of loved to seen a fight between Junito and himself before the Mayweather fight, just a shame they missed each other. The body punches going to and fro in that fight would of been immense !!