Damn Hatton, why why why!!!

[Gandalf]

It doesn't take a man to stand there and get your head bashed in when you could be avoiding punishment. Boxing in general is a real risk and just because someone wants to run in forget defense and take shots to his head don't make hi many less of a man then someone who moves their head. It isn't manly to go in guns blazing thinking you can overpower a faster guy who after the first shot they land obviously hurts you. That's not being manly, it's being stupid.

Much respect to Ricky Hatton for uniting the fans the way he did. But don't turn him into a deity because he fought a stupid fight and call it manly. It was stupid, and he lost because of it. If he'd listened to his corner and done what they had trained to do he'd still be as much of a man and probably would have been in better shape then knocked out in 2 rounds.

Totally agree. He fought one of the most stupid fights I have ever seen. Absolutely no self control and he had no real reason to be forcing things so soon. At least not so recklessly. Having had time to let it all sink in, all I can say is that I am very, very dissapointed in how he fought.

As much as Manny fought well, there is no doubt that Hatton played into his hands 100%. He pretty much handed the fight to Manny on a plate.

Perhaps humble Hatton really has been taken over by a massive ego. He seemed to go in there with a disregard for the damage Manny can cause and paid the ultimate penalty. Post Tszyu, he has neglected his skills and failed to nurture good habits. Some of us thought he might have been learning some lessons post Mayweather but he really hasn't. It seems to have been all talk, we saw nothing new at all against Manny...just regression IMO. You can't go in with your chin up and your hands down thinking you can beat anyone. He has most likely forgotten far more now, than he can ever learn again. Younger Hatton was always somewhat sloppy, but not utterly demented like this one.

I think Jim Lampley said something like that best when he was referencing Barerra's loss to Junior Jones. "He went in there thinking he was invincible, but then he found out he wasn't."

I think the fans have a lot to do with it and people in Hatton's ear.


When he got knocked out by Mayweather you didn't hear that Hatton lost because he was always lunging in and did nothing to improve his defense and thats why he lost.

Instead a majority of the time you heard, Ricky was giving him a tough fight and it wasn't even at 140, if it was at 140 it would have been different, the only reason Floyd won was because the fight was at 147. And im sure people around Hatton were saying exactly what his fans were. Then when he beat Malignaggi he probably bought into all of it, like he was unbeatable at 140, that Mayweather only beat him because he moved up, so in his mind he probably figured why should he change anything. He didn't. And reality hit him again. The difference was, this time there was nothing that the fans, or people around him could say as an excuse to why he loss. So it's probably hit him harder

That's right. And afterwards Barrera began the process of turning himself into a far more technical fighter. He paid heed to his deficiencies and tried improve himself. Great fighters are able to do that.

It's a sad case with Hatton. The Mayweather loss was not as bad as this. Excuses could be made ie the weight and Cortez. But at the end of the day it's tough to argue against getting sparked out off the ring post. I have made my excuses too about that one, Hatton was fairly competitive for half a dozen rounds, but he was still very inneffective with what he was doing in those rounds. Never really landing more than single digits each round and smothering himself at every opportunity. The need for improvments should have been apparent there and then from the Hatton team.

But yes, unlike Barrera who went and made real changes that you could see emerge fight by fight, Hatton hasn't done the same. I was thinking that there were signs against Malignaggi, but Malignaggi did fight a mediocre fight and had nothing more than a jab to test Hatton with, so that was most likely a very misleading fight...with hindsight of course. Hatton does seem taken with the idea of talking himself up an awful lot these days. All that "I'm unbeatable at 140" stuff and in the pre fight build up to this too. I was going along with it thinking that we were going to see some serious technical developments from Hatton, but I feel I was misled. It seems apparent he was misleading himself too.

It seems like Graham was made the scapegoat. The changes in Hatton have been cosmetic surface changes if you will. Changing the trainer for someone who is known for defence. But Hatton has only paid lip service to those changes and been totally unable to internalise anything. He speaks it all very well, but when it comes to showing us the changes, it has all gone out the window.

One fight after declaing his indestructibility at 140 he gets blown out next time out in two off of one his worst possible showings. It's all very, very sad.