did we miss something with the hatton mayweather fight?

[RozzySean]

He proved that he belonged in the ring with Mayweather, and gave a pretty good account of himself over the first half of the fight. I have trouble calling him a truly great fighter because I find his style so aesthetically unpleasing, but he does have great ability, he's quite fast of hand and foot and is a tough fight for anyone around his weight(though I think a couple WW's would probably make fairly quick work of him in Mosley, Cotto, DLH, etc.) I wonder how much he left in the ring against Mayweather though, as it looked like he really got up for that fight and looked much much sharper then he had in previous fights, even against Castillo.

Yeah, I agree that in some fights - KT, Collazo, second half of Urango, he can be pretty ugly. At his best, when he's not in 'hook and hold' mode, I think he's great to watch. But I have a question - do you feel the same way about Hopkins. At his worst, I find him equally aesthetically unpleasing. I still consider him a great fighter.

Most definetly don't find Hopkins exciting these days, but I do appreciate his ring craft more than Hatton's. Maybe it's just that he's a bit slicker and so wily. I certainly understand your point in that he's just as guilty of initiating clinches, hitting and holding and ruining the ebb and flow of a fight. But that's what he's trying to do, with Hatton it's more that he tries to hold in order to get off his own shots, rather than stop the other guy from getting off? Maybe I'm way off there. Certainly in his younger years Hopkins used clinching and dirty fighting much more strategically rather than having to do so in order to slow the pace. I'm also a bit of a sucker for old guys and underdogs I spose, if Hopkins wasn't 43 I'd probably have more bad things to say about the way he fights as well.

Hopkins holds and hits for offense probably a little less than Hatton, but he does it just as much, if not more, to slow the pace. But he uses his head as a weapon more. Whereas Hatton will do the hook and hold thing, Hopkins will do the straight right/headbutt and hold. Yeah, hopkins is slicker, and I appreciate that aspect of his game, and I appreciate it more because of his age.

Against Floyd, Mausa, and Castillo Ricky's style didn't bother me. He held some, for sure, but he was more fluid and used his feet. Against Tarver, I liked watching Hopkins a lot. He did his share of holding, but he let his hands go and he put on a real clinic. Instead of holding every time he landed a right, he was potshotting Tarver and getting back out to distance.

I only raised the point because Hatton takes a lot of crap for holding and using shady tactics, but Hopkins does the same types of thing, though in a different way, and he gets a pass on it. Maybe it's the age thing. Once you're past 35, you get an old guy-underdog pass. I can't really argue with that