Hatton over rated-you bet!!!!

[El Gamo]

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=6930&more=1

05.06 - By Bryce Wren, photo by David Martin Warr - DKP: The news is all over. Ricky Hatton is making his big American splash. Are you excited? Why would you be? Does anybody really take his first US opponent Luis Collazo seriously? Collazo is a guy who only three fights ago, last year, was boxing a guy named Richard Heath, with a 1-1 record. Do you think that’s bad for a so called high profile opponent to one of Britains greatest exports since the Beatles? Well, if you didn’t think that was bad, chew on this, the guy that Collazo fought four fights ago, named Kevin Carter had a professional record of 7-41-1 and had already been stopped 10 or 11 times going in to his fight with Luis. If you recognize Carter’s name, it may be because he was one of Ricky Hatton’s first few opponents. Hatton dispatched of Kevin with a 1st round KO. Collazo was 22-1 before he would attempt the lofty Carter.

This was a weak excuse for a title fight from Hatton. Surely he’s trying to position himself for more of that American green back money he lusts for by picking up the easiest title belt out there, but to me, he’s just wasting his prime fighting lesser opponents.

As a fellow Brit, I find the whole routine a little over done already. I was excited when Hatton beat Kostya Tszyu, but it was all for nothing, since all Ricky has tried to do since then is get low risk title belts from non-deserving “champions”. Ricky is like Roy Jones Jr., in the sense that we may very well watch him ruin his prime just for the sake staying undefeated.

Could he beat Collazo? I should bloody hope so. Could he beat Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather jr. or Antonio Margarito? I used to think maybe, but after seeing Hatton nearly eat himself in to diabetic coma in between all of his fights, and seeing how he cares more about meaningless alphabet title belts and more about his longevity than his legacy.

I’m disappointed in Hatton. Luis Collazo is nowhere near his league. Only Hatton’s thin skin, dirty tactics and unwillingness to take on the top opposition out there can stop him in this fight. But the question still remains. Who cares? Not me. Is Hatton over rated? Yes! Since almost all of his reputation has been created from his victory over Tszyu, and he appears to have no intentions to work off of that.

So hey Americans, I’ll tell you what, if Ricky wants to stuff his face with junk food and fight meaningless, cherry picked fights, please do allow him to do his “American Invasion”. Only, please do keep him for life. Over here in the UK we would much rather trade him for serious fighters that want to fight the best, and who are always in tip top shape. You know the type mate, that Margarito fellow would do just about right

[El Gamo]

Can't believe this is written by a Brit or that is what is insinuated! I don't agree at all as Hatton has said he wants to fight all the dangers in another article posted by Northside but I guess we will find out after this fight. I do agree, don't think Collazo is the dangerous guy he is made out,otherwise they would not have picked him as a first fight ad his record is very very poor.

[AdamGB]

Who else was available for him to fight exactly? What pisses me is that fight fans expect every fight some one takes to be a super fight... Ricky's fans are lucky that they have a fighter who likes to keep so active... he needs to get comfortable at WW, fight in America and get an alphabet title to line him up for bigger fights, I can't see what exactly he could/should of done instead...

[B@rr3r@]

Cack

[The_One77]

well, they always find a negative angle...
After all he has fought three champions in all three of his last fights, so i wouldn't call them easy.

[MRMANICK]

well, they always find a negative angle...
After all he has fought three champions in all three of his last fights, so i wouldn't call them easy.

I saw this article last night and truthfully I agree with about 75% of it. The only thing I don't agree on is the weight thing. If the guy can make the weight everytime and he feels ok in the ring then it should mateer if he pigs out between fights. Now lets put everything else in perspective. First I wanna say that I have no personal problem with hatton so please don't think I'm hating.
- Hatton fought D,C,and C+ fighter in the 38 fights before tszyu which shows me he didn't even deserve a shot in the first place and especially not in England. He beats Tszyu(the win was a little shady but it was a win)
- After beating a great fighter in tszyu what does hatton do? Go back to fighting bums. I don't care if they had belts cause everyone knows that alot of these belts don't mean anything nowadays.
-Maussa was a bum. A very green cotto tkoed him and the only reason harris fought him was because he was a bum. Yes he beat harris but I think that had a lot more to do with harris than maussa actually being better.So hatton decides to fight this bum and honestly he was having a little trouble with him. His value shouldn't go up with that win just like floyds shouldn't have gone up for fighting Bruseles or Mitchell.
- Now he wants to fight Collazo. Come on he has a belt but he ain't a champ. I say this cause how could he be a champ when he got that belt Judah was Undisputed. Hes a paper champ. The guy he beat to get that strap was a paper champ. Hatton gets no props from me if he wins because its a weak choice to go along with all his other choices.
-Is Hatton overated? Yes. All he has done is beat Tszyu(not in his prime but pretty close) everything else is just window dressing. Beating one pound 4 pounder at the end of his career doesn't make you great. Please don't give me that who else can he fight crap cause there were some decent opponents out there for him but he didn't want them. Harris,Witter.
Hatton is decent but he really hasn't proven to be great or as good as his fans believe.Fight Margarito,Judah, Mayweather, or even Cintron and he would get a little more respect but until then the truth is he has fought 39 D,C, and C+ fighters.

[The_One77]

well, they always find a negative angle...
After all he has fought three champions in all three of his last fights, so i wouldn't call them easy.

Harris,Witter.

do you mean he should fight Vivian Harris?

[MRMANICK]

well, they always find a negative angle...
After all he has fought three champions in all three of his last fights, so i wouldn't call them easy.

Harris,Witter.

do you mean he should fight Vivian Harris?

I think Harris would have been a bigger challenge than maussa or collazo.

[JT Rock]

Who else was available for him to fight exactly? What pisses me is that fight fans expect every fight some one takes to be a super fight... Ricky's fans are lucky that they have a fighter who likes to keep so active... he needs to get comfortable at WW, fight in America and get an alphabet title to line him up for bigger fights, I can't see what exactly he could/should of done instead... 

Take a lesson from Shane Mosely when he hit his stride he fights the BEST and continues to do so....,I love Floyd and I think he is exciting and he has fought some mega fights but I think when you have a fighter with a undefeated record they tend to be more cautious with who they fight...Is hatton the same way who knows? but get that 1st loss and now these guys really have something to prove...Dont be suprise if Hatton loses 2nite though

[The_One77]

Harris was not a better fighter than Maussa for Ricky Hatton to fight, after all Maussa just knocked out Harris and he was no longer a belt holder.
All the Haters would of said that Hatton didn't want to fight the actual champion....
I mean, if Maussa was good enough to actually beat Harris why would you rather see Hatton fight Harris instead of Maussa?

[MRMANICK]

Who else was available for him to fight exactly? What pisses me is that fight fans expect every fight some one takes to be a super fight... Ricky's fans are lucky that they have a fighter who likes to keep so active... he needs to get comfortable at WW, fight in America and get an alphabet title to line him up for bigger fights, I can't see what exactly he could/should of done instead...

I agree and yes Taylor did get screwed.
Take a lesson from Shane Mosely when he hit his stride he fights the BEST and continues to do so....,I love Floyd and I think he is exciting and he has fought some mega fights but I think when you have a fighter with a undefeated record they tend to be more cautious with who they fight...Is hatton the same way who knows? but get that 1st loss and now these guys really have something to lose...Dont be suprise if Hatton loses 2nite though

[Steelie]

05.06 - By Bryce Wren, photo by David Martin Warr - DKP: The news is all over. Ricky Hatton is making his big American splash. Are you excited? Why would you be? Does anybody really take his first US opponent Luis Collazo seriously? Collazo is a guy who only three fights ago, last year, was boxing a guy named Richard Heath, with a 1-1 record. Do you think that’s bad for a so called high profile opponent to one of Britains greatest exports since the Beatles? Well, if you didn’t think that was bad, chew on this, the guy that Collazo fought four fights ago, named Kevin Carter had a professional record of 7-41-1 and had already been stopped 10 or 11 times going in to his fight with Luis. If you recognize Carter’s name, it may be because he was one of Ricky Hatton’s first few opponents. Hatton dispatched of Kevin with a 1st round KO. Collazo was 22-1 before he would attempt the lofty Carter.

This was a weak excuse for a title fight from Hatton. Surely he’s trying to position himself for more of that American green back money he lusts for by picking up the easiest title belt out there, but to me, he’s just wasting his prime fighting lesser opponents.

As a fellow Brit, I find the whole routine a little over done already. I was excited when Hatton beat Kostya Tszyu, but it was all for nothing, since all Ricky has tried to do since then is get low risk title belts from non-deserving “champions”. Ricky is like Roy Jones Jr., in the sense that we may very well watch him ruin his prime just for the sake staying undefeated.

Could he beat Collazo? I should bloody hope so. Could he beat Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather jr. or Antonio Margarito? I used to think maybe, but after seeing Hatton nearly eat himself in to diabetic coma in between all of his fights, and seeing how he cares more about meaningless alphabet title belts and more about his longevity than his legacy.

I’m disappointed in Hatton. Luis Collazo is nowhere near his league. Only Hatton’s thin skin, dirty tactics and unwillingness to take on the top opposition out there can stop him in this fight. But the question still remains. Who cares? Not me. Is Hatton over rated? Yes! Since almost all of his reputation has been created from his victory over Tszyu, and he appears to have no intentions to work off of that.

So hey Americans, I’ll tell you what, if Ricky wants to stuff his face with junk food and fight meaningless, cherry picked fights, please do allow him to do his “American Invasion”. Only, please do keep him for life. Over here in the UK we would much rather trade him for serious fighters that want to fight the best, and who are always in tip top shape. You know the type mate, that Margarito fellow would do just about right

The usual generalised stuff you see written by guys who don't really know what's what...

[MRMANICK]

Harris was not a better fighter than Maussa for Ricky Hatton to fight, after all Maussa just knocked out Harris and he was no longer a belt holder.
All the Haters would of said that Hatton didn't want to fight the actual champion....
I mean, if Maussa was good enough to actually beat Harris why would you rather see Hatton fight Harris instead of Maussa?

I see what your saying but Baldimor beat Judah but nobody wanted to see Mayweather/Baldimor.Why? Cause most people see these wins as flukes. Not that they were actually better just better on that night.

[MRMANICK]

05.06 - By Bryce Wren, photo by David Martin Warr - DKP: The news is all over. Ricky Hatton is making his big American splash. Are you excited? Why would you be? Does anybody really take his first US opponent Luis Collazo seriously? Collazo is a guy who only three fights ago, last year, was boxing a guy named Richard Heath, with a 1-1 record. Do you think that’s bad for a so called high profile opponent to one of Britains greatest exports since the Beatles? Well, if you didn’t think that was bad, chew on this, the guy that Collazo fought four fights ago, named Kevin Carter had a professional record of 7-41-1 and had already been stopped 10 or 11 times going in to his fight with Luis. If you recognize Carter’s name, it may be because he was one of Ricky Hatton’s first few opponents. Hatton dispatched of Kevin with a 1st round KO. Collazo was 22-1 before he would attempt the lofty Carter.

This was a weak excuse for a title fight from Hatton. Surely he’s trying to position himself for more of that American green back money he lusts for by picking up the easiest title belt out there, but to me, he’s just wasting his prime fighting lesser opponents.

As a fellow Brit, I find the whole routine a little over done already. I was excited when Hatton beat Kostya Tszyu, but it was all for nothing, since all Ricky has tried to do since then is get low risk title belts from non-deserving “champions”. Ricky is like Roy Jones Jr., in the sense that we may very well watch him ruin his prime just for the sake staying undefeated.

Could he beat Collazo? I should bloody hope so. Could he beat Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather jr. or Antonio Margarito? I used to think maybe, but after seeing Hatton nearly eat himself in to diabetic coma in between all of his fights, and seeing how he cares more about meaningless alphabet title belts and more about his longevity than his legacy.

I’m disappointed in Hatton. Luis Collazo is nowhere near his league. Only Hatton’s thin skin, dirty tactics and unwillingness to take on the top opposition out there can stop him in this fight. But the question still remains. Who cares? Not me. Is Hatton over rated? Yes! Since almost all of his reputation has been created from his victory over Tszyu, and he appears to have no intentions to work off of that.

So hey Americans, I’ll tell you what, if Ricky wants to stuff his face with junk food and fight meaningless, cherry picked fights, please do allow him to do his “American Invasion”. Only, please do keep him for life. Over here in the UK we would much rather trade him for serious fighters that want to fight the best, and who are always in tip top shape. You know the type mate, that Margarito fellow would do just about right

The usual generalised stuff you see written by guys who don't really know what's what...

So your saying theres no truth in what he said. If you disagree with everthing then I would say take off the Hatton glasses please. If your a hatton fan i can understand you not liking the article but some of his points are valid.

[berttrauttman]

Harris was not a better fighter than Maussa for Ricky Hatton to fight, after all Maussa just knocked out Harris and he was no longer a belt holder.
All the Haters would of said that Hatton didn't want to fight the actual champion....
I mean, if Maussa was good enough to actually beat Harris why would you rather see Hatton fight Harris instead of Maussa?

Exactly. People will knock you either way. People were moaning at Floyd for fighting Zab after he lost to Baldomir, so Ricky would have got the same stick for fighting Harris.

Also, Collapse-o wasn't the fight Ricky wanted was it? They offered the fight to Baldomir, the 'real' champ, but he priced himself out, even after the offer had been increased. Have people forgotten just how many opponents were lined up then ruled out for this fight? It was a shambles - they had to get someone in or he'd have ended up fighting his mum. And the WBA champ is better than it looked like we were going to get...