Originally Posted by
Jimmy G-Force
To be fair I think it had to be done, and it was a decision that had to be really forced upon Rick by his dad. Billy had fallen out with Ray many times, and Billy had also upset Matthew and Rick on numerous occasions. Billy simply wasnt interested anymore, nor could his body take the rigours of training Ricky. Billy was also training Ricky in a style that suited him, it was all the bodybelt and nothing more, which really didnt help Rick and certainly was one of the reasons Ricky became very one-dimensional.
Billy couldnt work the pads, his hands were fucked, so all the focus was around the bodybelt, and Ricky's performances mirrored this. He became very bull and rush in his tactics, smothering his opponents, a style that was no longer educated in it's approach. Rick certainly needed to go back to basics in alot of areas.
During the training camp for the Lazcano fight, Billy actually booked a 2 week holiday to America to his ranch in Georgia. This was only 4 weeks into the camp, and you can imagine how that decision went down with the Hattons. But it was a clear indication of how Billy's primary interests were no longer focused around Ricky. It did turn out to be a little blessing in disguise though, as Ricky trained with Matthews trainer Lee Beard during that 2 week spell. I went down to the gym during this time and Lee had Ricky working alot on the pads and on combinations, Ricky looked like a kid reborn, and was really enjoying relearning the 'technical' side of the game again.
It was Lee who introduced the Hattons to Mayweather Snr, as Lee's step-son had been living in Vegas for the 2 years previous training with Floyd Snr. In hindsight, this was a terrible introduction, as Floyd didnt really give 2 shits about Rick, I heard he didnt even rate him as a fighter.
The bottom line is I think Ray shouldnt have gone for the high profile trainer, but should have let Rick train with Lee Beard who had been doing fantastic work with Matthew and brought him on leaps and bounds after Billy had ditched Matthew.
I got to know Billy and he wasnt the nicest of people in my experience. Personally I felt that alot had gone to his head, and he had a very arrogant manner about him, and made alot of mistakes.
To be fair to Rick, he had a verbal agreement with Billy that he made when he was 17 years old. This was that Billy got 10% of Ricks purse. Throughout all the years this agreement was never put into writing, and Rick paid Billy his dues as initially agreed. Although I know Ray wasnt too happy about it.
I need to be careful here, so I'll say it like this. It is alleged that when Ricky told Billy they would be splitting, EDITED OUT TO BE SAFE JIMMY. This alleged remark obviously upset Ricky alot. Ricky also gave Billy a few hundred thousand as a thankyou for all the years. It is also alleged that Billy was looking to serve legal action over his pay for the Mayweather fight as he believed he was due 10% of the overall purse including all PPV sales etc.
Ricky certainly made Billy a millionaire during their time together, and the chance of them ever getting back together after all the bad blood that followed the split is probably somewhere between slim and none, and as Don King says.....slim is outta town.
I know for certain that Ricky, although I believe it was in his best interest, never really wanted to leave Billy. This parting was on the cards long before the Mayweather fight, and certain things that happened in Vegas during that week from Billy's side, certainly didnt help his cause. Ricky is very loyal, and Ray spoke to me many times about the fact that Rick didnt want to leave Billy, I know this for a fact, and it was all down to loyalty. Ray could never understand Rick choosing his loyalty for Billy over his progression as a fighter. I talked to Ray about how I felt Ricky's style had become horrible to watch for me and that he needed someone new to bring in new ideas, or at least take him back to the clever but ferocious attacking style he once applied. I honestly cannot say I really enjoyed any fight to watch after the Tszyu fight, apart from maybe the first 5 rounds against Urango when he boxed beautifully.Even the Castillo perfomance was the same old smother and hold tactics that wasnt pretty at all, it was just glossed over with that terrific shot to the liver.
He always felt, as did I, that Rick had gone as far as he could with Billy, and that his style of fighting was nothing like it was before the Tsyzu fight. And it wasnt. I cant blame Billy for all that, but I know his limitations in training due to his aged years certainly had as much effect on Rick's stagnation as what Rick's beliefs that the style that beat Tsyzu would work for everyone he fought.
Just my 2 cents.
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Re: Ricky Hatton talk lately made me think about Billy Graham
and you and me both know how the hangers on whisper behind the scenes into the right ears.
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