Why do British people do this to British fighters?

[El Kabong]

You guys are sorry fans...I hate to say it but damn guys, you have no faith in Ricky at all!

I mean after 1 close fight (with a title holder none the less) he goes from Country favorite to Audley Harrison...give the guy a break it was his first fight at welterweight!!!!

You know Floyd fought Castillo for his first fight at 135...did you think that his fans second guessed his choice to move up in weight? Do you think his fans wanted him to move back down? Honestly his fans just wanted a rematch, they got it and JLC got the shit kicked out of him! Why because Floyd is a champion, whether or not he holds a title he is a champion and wants no one to be better than him in the ring and he works hard to make sure of that. I'm sure Ricky is the same way.

[El Kabong]

Everyone had the same questions about PBF when he has moved up.

How will it affect his speed?
Will his punching power move up too?
Does he have the chin for that weight?

Ricky will figure something out and be a good fighter at welter, just wait and see

[BIG H]

So the rubbish which is spouted about Ricky is mainly from across the pond?

Not MAINLY - ONLY

Let me say this...a few members FROM YOUR SIDE of the LAKES had some pretty interesting things to say about Hatton & his performance after that fight...so let's not go point one finger at all Yanks...thank you very much.

It get's just as old to those of us that respect Hatton but haven't put both feet on the boat yet.

That needed to be said regarding the above statement. Not only American's were disappointed in Hatton's Assault...& the ones that did say that Collazo won...quickly changed there tune after all the sides & lines in the sand started being drawn.

It's on both sides fellers.

The remark was about "Smack Talk" and to explain, I was not saying all Amercians were talking smack, just that any smack talk that was been done was by Americans - and as I've said that is a minority of people

Whilst some Brits criticized the performance they weren't talking smack.

Anyhoo you know me well enough Wacko, I love my Amercian brothers I am never one to post something that will delibaretly cause offence , my remark was meant light heartedly

[CopeAli]

Good post mate. I can't understand why people criticise Hatton. True, the move up in weight was ill advised (at least IMO) and it very nearly backfired, but it didn't, and Hatton deserves praise. The fella would fight anyone put in front of him IMO.
I agree also with some of your points regarding Lennox Lewis, especially the point made about the Klitschko fight, my thoughts exactly. However, with regards to Tyson i believe that Tyson would have beaten Lewis at his best, unfortunately, at the time Lewis and Tyson fought it was only Lewis that was at his best, or as close as he could be, and age isn't, and wasn't a factor. That said, Lennox Lewis couldn't do anything about the state of the heavyweight division when he reigned but beat who was put in front of him, which he did emphatically on many occasions. Also, i think that too much emphasis is put on the state of the heavyweight division during Lewis's reign, and i believe that the division wasn't as bad as many labelled it during that time, especially when you compare it to the heavyweight division now!

I've said it many times that Lewis will only be given due credit when he has been retired from the fight game for many years, and i hope he gets the credit he deserves, and i also hope that Hatton rams the words of the critics back down their stupid throats in the years to come.

As a long time reader of this forum but not a poster til now, all people seem to do is constantly deride British boxers. Since the Ricky Hatton fight, and before it, people have been slating him. It is almost as if people are wishing him ill. He is in the top 10 p4p fighters and is the most successful active British boxer at the moment, but it seems that people will not stop badmouthing him until he has won everything. Howsabout a bit of support?

This seems to be similar to Lennox Lewis. When he was fighting evrybody constantly slated him, and even when he did things like knocking out Tyson it was 'Only because Tyson wasn't in his prime' and against Klitschko he was lucky. Rubbish! Sure he was losing on points, but Klitschkos eye was a mess and had the fight been allowed to continue his vision would have continued to deteriorate and Lewis would have knocked him out or won points IMO.
However now Lewis has retired people are beginning to look back onhim with fonder memories. Instead of looking back fondly we should support fighters while they are active.

Why is everybody so negative?

FACT: Ricky Hatton has not been beaten by anybody yet
FACT: Ricky Hatton has called out PBF (monster payday for both, if Hatton is so shite why doesn't PBF fight him and take a big purse and his belt, or perhaps PBF doesn't think it would be that easy?)

[chrisbird13]

Fair point on tyson i totally agreee with you. I think Tyson at his prime was one of the best fighters ever.

I think that had Lewis been american then he would have been much more easily accepted. Not all americans are this way but it does seem there is a minority who only seem to rate american boxers.

[moonbeam]

Second most of the poster on here are pretty cool although they may give there opinion abit to aggressive sometimes > They have helped me alot to see some fights from a different perspective which i might not have thought of. Although i have watched boxing for a long time i am still a learner and am just getting to grips with the finer details of the sports.

So thank you to all the regular poster for inlighting me and making me feel more passionate about a sport which i have come to love.

Three you just get used to ignoring the posters who are very onesided in there opinions because you learn they are not quite as knowledgeable as they think they are.

Hope to see you posting alot more often so i can add to my knowledge

[CopeAli]

Fair point on tyson i totally agreee with you. I think Tyson at his prime was one of the best fighters ever.

I think that had Lewis been american then he would have been much more easily accepted. Not all americans are this way but it does seem there is a minority who only seem to rate american boxers.

Agreed to a certain extent. There was a certain reluctance or ignorance towards Lennox Lewis and his achievements, and maybe that had something to do with him being British. But let's not forget that he fought in the Olympics under the Canadian flag and maybe the fact that Lennox being British was talked up a lot i.e. 'He's british an' he's bad!' made the minority neglect his achievements a bit more, which has been argued. I try not to dwell on these things too much as sometimes i put it down to plain ignorance, no more, no less.

[moonbeam]

For some reason my first point didnt post lol. (computer retard me ).So here goes second try

First welcome to the forum Chris.

[Saddo]

well i cant take nothing away from what Lewis has achived but boy he was the biggest bore to watch IMHO

like his last fight though

[Freddie]

Its always been a British disease I'm afraid i've been a fan nearly 50 yrs, and it was always that way. Our Enery was " alright till he gets in with a yank" then all the big names that followed , Buchanan, Minter, Benn, Bruno, Watson, etc etc all got slated, i think it's just part of the British psyche, i think we don't like seeing people being very good at what we can't do ourselves. However when they retire and they are no longer a threat to our manhood we love them.

I would recommend that those who say about Tyson beating Lennox, read his autobiography of the same name in which he tells of his trip to the Catskills as a 17 yr old Olympic hopeful to spar with the 16 yr old Tyson. Two of the worst kept secrets in boxing were that Tyson was a pro to all intents and purposes from the age of 14, dipensing with school and being taught by Camille Ewald. And secondly he never sparred, he always fought.All went to plan for a couple of days then after Lewis started to impose himself on the third day they were not invited to spar any further. Add to this that Tyson did in fact pay Lennox step aside money to avoid him in 1996, and it puts a different perspective on the outcome had they met earlier.

Secondly i am surprised to read that RH weighed only 147 and 149 in his LW fights as only last week he said his optimum fighting weight is 156, and he weighed 158 on Saturday last. In any event that rules out Oscar and Margarito who no doubt would hit the scales at 147 ant be a lot nearer 167 by fight time.

[CopeAli]

well i cant take nothing away from what Lewis has achived but boy he was the biggest bore to watch IMHO

like his last fight though

I disagree that he was a boring fighter, but i respect that people have different opinions. The fights i guess you'd label him boring are Tua, Holyfield, etc... Points wins. But what about the other fights i.e Ruddock, Grant, Galota ete.
Ali could be boring at times and he was the greatest!
Lewis was technically very good against Tua especially.

[Saddo]

well i cant take nothing away from what Lewis has achived but boy he was the biggest bore to watch IMHO

like his last fight though

I disagree that he was a boring fighter, but i respect that people have different opinions. The fights i guess you'd label him boring are Tua, Holyfield, etc... Points wins. But what about the other fights i.e Ruddock, Grant, Galota ete.
Ali could be boring at times and he was the greatest!
Lewis was technically very good against Tua especially.

you named 3 fights that he showed what he was about... just a shame i had to sit through the rest

just not for me im afraid

i guess i just like fighters over boxers

[El Kabong]

I'm surprised Smash and Missy haven't said it was an American conspiracy to ruin the best British fighter so PBF didn't have to fight him.

Not that I honestly believe that Floyd would duck Ricky other than just for bigger money by fighting Oscar. Ricky can't compete with De la Hoya, I mean hell, no one since Ray Leonard could bring in the money he does!

[chrisbird13]

Lewis boxed, keeping himself safe and slowly breaks down his opponent who would lose patience and make mistakes and be punished. The most interesting part of a Lewis fight was the thirty seconds before a KO when he knew his opponent was no longer a threat and unleashed his full power.

I practice and fight at TaeKwonDo, where a similar problem is boring fighting. Personally I am a brawler i fight in the heavyweight division and weigh in at 106kg ideally, and like to stand toe to toe trading kicks and punches (preferably with them in the corner), however the most successful fighters in the club are counter-kickers who wait for their opponent to make their move and then block or avoid the strike whilst returning their own. Watch two counter-kickers and you can almost shit yourself with boredom. There was discussion of introducing bonus points for technical strikes eg jumping kicks and spins of over 360 but this is too difficult to score so unfortunately you get some boring fights. When it comes down to it, eventually a technical fighter comes up against a naturally talented fighter who messes up their plan and thats where they come unstuck.

But although I am not always successful in the ring people like watching me fight cos they know there will be some action one way or another!!

Lewis was an incredibly talented technical boxer but I believe if he had come up againt Tyson he would have struggled! IMO there could be many reasons for tyson paying step aside money

[El Kabong]

Tyson would have had trouble with Lewis at any point in his career. Tyson was a sucker for uppercuts, he didn't like guys who fought tall, and Lewis had good power.

That being said a Prime-Prime fight could have NEVER happened because Lewis turned pro in 88 and Tyson had lost in 1990 so the best they could do would have been a post prison Tyson vs a pre-McCall Lewis.