Welcome back ricky....

[imp]

Put yourself in hattons corner.
He is in his early thirties and can make millions upon millions in a few fights. Hatton will return but at what weight..who knows.
Hatton Has a huge following. Probably the largest for any british fighter..£££££££!

[Althugz]

Yeah, what put me off him was after the Tyzu fight... It seemed like he was surrounded by yes men making him believe the hype that he was this unrelenting force who could just walk through anybody.

It was part of his down fall. He'd make a meal out of stopping a guy like carlos maussa... and it would never make anybody think 'a change of tactics is needed' or 'we need to refine his skills on an elite level'. No... It was always 'ricky had a cold during training, that's we he struggled a bit', then back to thinking that he could just smash and grab anybody.

..and yeah, for fans of a guy who is meant to be 'humble and down to earth', it's ironic when people won't just give Floyd props for the W.

It was this same hype that introduced Hatton to Pacquiao's straight left in the 2nd round of their fight.
After that, the "yes men" slinked quietly away.

No they didn't - They just blamed Floyd Mayweather Sr

[Althugz]

Hey look... Having the balls to get in with floyd and pac took balls... Nobody is being retarded enough to say otherwise?

My gripe is that I believe he could have beaten pac... Watch the first round, he looks like he might get on top at some point, he's walking pac down and applying educated pressure... Then BHAM, pac clips him and instead of shaking it off he gets pissed and boxing goes out the window. I suspect, had he not had so much hype about being some sort of ungodly pressure fighting machine that he may have recomposed himself, not taken the battering that he did in the rest of the 1st and then who knows? Maybe not end up a sitting duck for that monstorous shot in the second.

If I thought he had no chance at all, then I wouldn't critique him would I?

I think after the Tyzu fight he was misstrained - the focus just on conditioning (he knew this himself, why do you think he ended up leaving graham?), not developing his skills... Which had bu no means peaked lol.

He had the footspeed to trouble floyd in terms of ring generalship, just bothing else... Had he had a bit more in his toolbox he would have at least made it the full 12.

So no... I don't think he 'was a fool for thinking he could beat those guys'. Don't fet it twisted, his lifestyle and the hype he was given stopped reaching his true potential in my eyes... and that is frustrating as a BOXING FAN.

I have no problem with the mayweather outcome for the dude whining about chestnuts, however it is pretty clear cortez played his part! Such is boxing...

Stop hating on the hitman, he's a legend.

You'll hear no complaints about the likes of Vann being lax with Hatton for hitting and holding or clinching excessivley though, such is boxing...

Exactly my thoughts on Ricky. I've given him his props before, especially for leaving Warren when he did and not riding the easy Warren train until the end like Calzaghe did. Ironically, Greenbeanz saying I'm hating on him for challenging himself when the respect I had for Ricky WAS because he challenged himself.

The thing I don't like is his inability to see what is wrong in his game and work towards getting it fixed. There was ALWAYS a reason why he lost beyond his boxing skills. I dunno, maybe he was used to being undefeated so long?

Greenbeanz, you're getting emotional again towards me. Stop it - I thought we were in a good place

[Beanz]

I detect nothing but cool emotional detachment and a wry sense of humour in my responses. Nice try though.

[THE PHILOSOPHER]

Just watched the presser. Britain is proud of u ricky. Welcome back son.

The charge begins...

Can't wait for the weigh ins, the stadium fill outs, the build up and of course watching the hitman back in action! Boxing is a much more colourful place with the hitman.