´óÏó´«Ã½

Good report on the Hatton fight. You have an easy style that's pleasant to read, and an understanding of the sport. Well done.

Good to see Ricky back winning in style,never mind Wembley,he should fight in Manchester.

Hatton looked good but this was little more than a work-out for him. The real test of the 'new Hatton' is his next fight/money-making scheme. So its Hatton v DLH at 147 I guess.

Judging from Malignaggi's performance, maybe Liam could well of dropped him! Give him a pair of gloves and hopefully the yank won't be look so outclassed as he was agiant the hitman!

But no mention of Malignaggi's chin, I was so impressed at the punches he took and yet he kept going despite his knowing he had no real weapons of his own.

Comfortable for Hatton, by far the technically superior of the two, but credit should go to Malignaggi who - as AdrianBunting has already mentioned - didn't have any quit in him. A good fight, then, but never really in question.

Just seen a re-run of the fight and yes, Hatton looked good. But it's far easier to relax and box when you know the other fella can't hurt you - I'd hold off on going overboard just yet.

It's always nice to see a British boxer shut up an over-confident American.

Malignaggi seemed more than happy to talk about how he was the better man before the fight but he obviously couldn't back up his words.

It's always nice to see a British boxer shut up an over-confident American.

Malignaggi seemed more than happy to talk about how he was the better man before the fight but he obviously couldn't back up his words.

.....

Perhaps but all boxers talk their chances up before the fight. At least Malignaggi was graceful enough to salute the British fans even when they were booing him during his post-fight interview.

The only time I'd seen Malignaggi fight prior to last night was when he had to have his hair cut off against Lovemore N'dou! He was awful that night but still managed to win somehow. I read an article in the paper saying not to judge him just on this performance if it was the only time you'd seen him fight.

I've now seen Malignaggi fight twice and after watching last night, he is possibly the worst boxer I have ever seen. Hatton was back to his best but Malignaggi should never even have been in the ring with him in the first place - he was a joke. I have a lot of respect for his trainer who pulled him out because he was literally not doing anything.

Bring on Hatton - De La Hoya, a fight that will be worth the £14.95!!

i'd rather see hatton vs pacquaio

Pacman and Hatton vs. DLH and Marquez

First ever tag team boxing match. :-)

Pacman and Hatton vs. DLH and Marquez

First ever tag team boxing match. :-)

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with tyson as special guest referee

He looks good against a guy with one hand!

So is this the start of the "Dirs for DG" campaign then?

Good Perfermance by Hatton, 1st round i thought this could be a difficult night but after he nailed Malignaggi in the 2nd, Malignaggi didnt seem to want to know and resorted to holding all night. The power was too much for him. Hatton simply walked through him and took his will. I reckon Malignaggi would have seen it through to the end and he not been pulled out.

Hatton was a lot better than his last two performances, but seems to be caught in the middle between being a smart boxer and his 100 miles an hr style, at times you could see him thinking should i box or go in with hooks and body shots and take him out. But its difficult to fight a guy who simply wants to survive.

But overall good performance from Hatton v an opponent who didnt want to fight after round 2.

Much better performance from Hatton, but was surprised at how poor Malignaggi was. I didn't think the 'Magic Man' had the power to do anything to Hatton if Ricky came in anywhere near his best, but he was just plain awful.

Like Ben, I hope the next Hatton fight is over here. What's the point of him playing to half empty auditoria in the States when he could fill Eastlands?

hatton was impressive last night however id agree with mayweather sr de la hoya would beat hatton and pacqauio his too strong for both of them id reckon.

However i do think hatton could beat manny at 140lbs and thatd be a great fight at wembley.

Yes a great write up .I as a fan have been to vegas twice with hatton and the last was v mayweather Ticket touts stung us (8 of us) terrible seats. And not American touts either!
So the main reason for the poor turn out was that; Not many fans wanted to be stung again.
welldone Ricky but I think your team or mayweathers team knew what they were doing as far as giving touts the tickets.
As far as del la hoya ? he is far to big for hatton

Like the commentators were saying last night, Malignaggi was, quite simply, too far out of his depth and the fight looked like a complete mismatch - in terms of weight, power, and even technical ability. Malignaggi was shocked at the speed and intensity of Hatton, and after getting smashed in Round 2, he was just holding on for the rest of the fight and hoping that he didn't get put on the canvas. Ricky looked more and more confident as the fight wore on, almost to the extent that he was thinking that it didn't matter what Malignaggi threw at him, he would just walk through it and put in those big head/body shots. Ricky basically bullied Malignaggi from the second round onwards, and just did not allow the American even a sniff of hope. Great performance, despite the despite the disappointing showing from Malignaggi, and a good way for Ricky to get back on track after the disappointment of the Mayweather fight and the sluggish performance against Lazcano.

Ricky, Noel and Liam - legends

Impressive win for Ricky and good to see him receptive to new his new training.
I thought Ricky would win but was worried in round one with Paulies jab, but once he was hurt Ricky had control throughout.

Shouldn't have been stopped in my opinion, but convincing win none the less.

My reason for this post is to point out thatso many people (Ben Dirs included) are negative pre fight. Questioning how much is in the tank and should he change he style now. The experts are in his training camp and they know what's best for Hatton. Lets leave them to it and get behind our guys 100% (similar stuff is written about Calzaghe) Then after they win they change their tune.

Great to see all these comments, no BS just a true reflextion on the fight.btw Well done Ricky. Was also great to hear Ricky admit he still has alot to learn from FMsnr.

it is interesting that on here you take the mick out of the yanks when they lose and think british boxers are better than than american boxers but they are not just look at the greats all of them are from america like mohammed ali, leonard, tyson,

I am sorry to say that the other Newspapers have done a better job of reporting this boxing match than the ´óÏó´«Ã½. Sorry Ben but i dont like your article on this fight. See how the Guardian reported it.

it is interesting that on here you take the mick out of the yanks when they lose and think british boxers are better than than american boxers but they are not just look at the greats all of them are from america like mohammed ali, leonard, tyson,
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Brits are not the best at any sport end of story.
England got trounced by SOuth Africa in Rugby Union and are losing to India 4-0 in the cricket series.
In boxing they have managed to win a few recently. But they will never have the legends the USA produced.

Maybe people will stop ruling him out from now on, it anoys me that people have jumped on the band wagon saying how great he is!! 2 days ago they were saying he's washed up! Great victory for Hatton. Well done from a true fan,

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

great job by hatton, but even if pac-man looses next month, whats wrong with hatton going after him 1st then taking on de la hoya?? there both superfights, there both huge pay days and it would save hatton having to yo yo through the weights

I hate to be a party pooper BUT Ricky Hatton was still the same old Ricky Hatton that fought Pretty Boy. The only reason he was able to succeed was because he was facing a powder -puff puncher. Look at RH's contact percentage -25% !!! That was for overall punches landed, his jab connection rate was even lower.
He is still not using enough head movement when he bores in and he still comes in too square. He is wide open to be hit . A decent power puncher/counter puncher will eat him for dinner -see Manny Pacquiao.
His accuracy is poor because he lunges in with hooks too often, doesnt use his jab to set up and possesses poor balance and is too obvious with his attack. Mayweather Sr. could be heard trying to get his man to use head movement and to try and pick off PM's jabs with his gloves. If Hatton was to face DLH he would be over-powered and out-boxed. If he tried to slug with MP he would be destroyed.

WILL THE ´óÏó´«Ã½ BE SHOWING A REPLAY A WEEK LATER as per usual . Does anyone know how to watch a re-run online as youtube haven't got it ??? Hatton should be K.O people like this very poor. If that was Mayweather he'd be on the floor.

Well done Hatton, put the non-punching New Yorker away, can't ask more than that. What we can ask for though would be a UK friendly bout, at a proper time. As mentioned in the piece, the majority of the crowd were British- don't know what the US viewing figures were like, but surely that's a sign he needs to remember the groundswell of support back home that put him in this position (not counting his actions in the ring!). Everything i've read about the fight has said he scored a good win, but i'm still glad i didnt waste my weekend staying up all night.

Good article! Huge praise has to go to the Hatton fans. To have 6000 Brits in Vegas for a fight not even the locals seemed interested in is amazing. I would love to see a fight between either Hatton - De la Hoya/Pacquiao held at Wembley, and I hope it happens.

But just a word on the Lewis situation... I cant see him being offered $100m to step back in the ring. And if he was he would be crazy to do it since as far as I know he doesn't need the money! So please Lennox, if the offer comes, don't bother!

Blogger1984....

Judging by your comments above, "Will the ´óÏó´«Ã½ be showing a replay a week later" and "Does anyone know how to watch a re-run as YOU TUBE haven't got it"

May I suggest that you shouldn't be such a cheap skate and actually purchase the fight from Sky Box Office then pass comment on the fight accordingly... ONCE YOU HAVE WATCHED IT....!!

Also,

"Hatton should be KO people like this very poor" - (Nice grammar by the way)!! Could you explain your reasons behind this comment? Are you saying that Hatton should knock out EVERYONE regardless if they've never been stopped in their career?

Quite possibly Ricky might have been on the floor if he was fighting Mayweather (As some of us seen @ 04.00Hrs that Sunday morning) Not @ midday the following Sunday on the ´óÏó´«Ã½, but simple fact is that it wasn't Mayweather he was fighting and you can only beat what is put in front of you.

Some people amaze me... the same people who probably said 'PM will be too quick and will outbox Hatton' are now saying it was an easy fight for Hatton because PM has no power!

IDIOTS

PM took Cotto the distance, losing by roughly a 5 round margin. I gave PM the 1st round and that was a dubious one, Hatton dominated with speed and more so his ability to box. To the person who said he only landed 25% of his punches i think you'll find that it's quite hard to hit a guy who all he wants to do is duck, hold or run away!

As for DLH or Pacman, i happen to think that Pacman will win. DLH isn't as mobile as he once was and pretty much stands infront of people nowadays and relies on beating up blown up second-rate fighters. Pacman can punch as hard as any welterweight but has the speed of a lightweight still.

Pacman vs Hatton at Wembley and then the winner gets Mayweather Jnr who will come out of 'retirement' (an excuse for 18 months off and not getting called out by every tom dick n' harry)

Why Wembley?

Have it at the MEN arena here in manchester, its got almost twice the capacity of the wembly arena and was the most popular arena in 2007 outselling the O2 and madison square garden!

Not Wembley arena... Wembley Stadium... Which would hold around 100,000 people.

Or what about this - the Nou Camp...?! You could fit a small country in there!

I have the whole fight if anyone wants it, just download it using Usenext.

Well done Ricky!!

Ricky still needs to work on his accuracy, too many times I sqw him missing with punches.
Im glad he has won and hopefully Floyd snr will be able to teach him a lot more.

Please all you Hatton fans don't get to excited.It wasa competent performance and he did what was required - just!This guy was not and nexver will be one of the better fighters in the division lacking power and strenght but for all his dominance Ricky never finished him off .Listen to Mayweather sr ,he knows it was just ok and is not too excited ,there remains a lot more work to do before Ricky can get back in with the big boys!Well done and good luck but listen to the smart people Ricky ,not the mates and fans who hve never taken a punch.

I watched the fight on cable tv here in the States and I have to say that it was a terrible fight to watch. Every round, Hatton moved in, went in with a punch and the other lad ducked under it. Then a prolonged clinch with Malignaggi holding onto Hatton before being broken up by the referee and it all started again.

Hatton did appear to be in decent shape and seemed sharp but not a great fight to watch. Also, he is still a bit of a one dimensional fighter, seemingly without the ability to pick open fighters like this guy he faced on Saturday.

That said, I'd be concerned if he moved up weights again. I think Hatton needs to stick to junior welter - if he comes up against a top class and bigger opponent again, he'll get clobbered just like he did against Mayweather.

"Rome wasn't built in a day"
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This is so true. Mayweather Snr has only just got his claws into Hatton and it will be a while yet before we see just how far he can take Ricky.

Another six months hard training (not boozing in his local), and Hatton may be ready to take on the likes of Manny.

He's still moving up the weights, so it should be interesting to see if he's kept his speed for the ODLH fight. I really hopes he wins it, as I've lost all respect for the Golden Boy over the last few years.

That could set up a fascinating clash with Hatton, if the promoters get their houses in order, which would be a pick'em for me.

Hoatton with the physical advantage, but losing out on speed and footwork.

Malignaggi was poor. He could not have thrown more than half a dozen right hands thruout the fight.
But I cannot take anything away from Hatton. He looked very proficient in doing what he had to do. Used his jab well, and did not fight face first as is his usual habit.
One thing I must say though, the last few American fighters we have seen have either been has beens, or extremely poor.
Roy Jones, Monte Barrett and now Paulie Mallignaggi.
With very few young stars on the horizon...MMA seems to be grabing them all, it seems that US boxing is in terminal decline.

I love Ricky Hatton's boxing style and his personality and always have done. His big problem is he has no reverse and walks into too many punches.
So if he can't get in close and fight inside at Welterweight against the bigger hitting top boys he'll get tagged too often. If he stands off and tries to jab against ODLH he'll get murdered.
I still fear the Mayweather fight signalled the beginning of the end of his career and I hope he and his advisers can see that too.
Still loved watching him though.

Ben, I for one would wholeheartedly support your campaign to be made DG of the ´óÏó´«Ã½. I'm sure you'd be able to woo the lovely people at the Daily Mail........

I was at the fight and Malignaggi wasn't poor it was and outstanding Hatton that kept him at bay, I have never seen Hatton in such great conditions physically and mentally, Malignaggi is one tough cookie but was carrying with him the gosts of broken hands and he didnt trow it enough during the fight.... Hatton afterward congratulated Paulie on his tough performance but against a Hatton in such outstanding conditions it was goign to be very difficult for anyone.......IMO at 140 Hatton is the BEST but when he moves up he is vulrenable, I even spoke to Ricky after the fight and he said that Paulie was better and stronger than he tought and slippery as a bar of soap unfortunately Paulie was NOT moving enough and wasn't trowing hsi right hand, overall was an OUSTANDING win for HATTON he fought a tough oppononet and the numebr one contender for teh division.........Now he is the undisputed 140 CHAMPS

Not happy to see Hatton quoted as saying hes not goin to change the lifestyle after admitting after fightin Lazcano, he thought the up n down in weight might have caught up with him. He obviously did well saturday night & his confidence will be thru the roof at the minute but imo, he can only maintain his current level by looking after hiself.

Instead of Ricky fighting ODLH or MP why dosnt he fight the recognised champions in his division. Become undisputed champion of LW then go and take on the rest of the best. Or is this me being to simplified?

ortigia wrote:

"Now he is the undisputed 140 CHAMPS"

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Ermm... do you follow boxing, at all?

Not only is he not the "undisputed" champion at 140, he is not even A champion at 140, or indeed at any weight.

Heh... unless you count being top ranked with the IBO.

WBA Champion : Kotelnik
WBC Champion : Bradley
WBO Champion : Holt
(IBF is officially vacant)

These are the guys he needs to prove himself against, rather than getting humiliated and perhaps severely hurt against the likes of De La Hoya.

He could even stop dodging Witter, but don't hold your breath for him to find the guts for THAT one. LOL.

Ring magazine is what counts everything else is garbage Malignaggi was the IBF champ and Hatton beat him and he was ring magazine number one with Hatton the CHAMP......Give Hatton credit, and I do not THINK that any of those guys you have listed will beat him and Ricky will NOT waste his time on any of them..At 140 HATTON is unbeatable IMO

lol@undisputed champ.
His big bro ODLH owns the ring magazine n kindly donated him a belt.........
Gotta agree bout Hatton fightin the other guys but if he gets offered Paq or de la hoya its obvious where hes gonna go

this is 2 sonofthedestroyer abit further up this page .you go on about us english taking the mick out of u yanks but if you look around thats what the whole world does your laughed at everywhere u mention 3 fighters which 1 is actually american and i mean american not italian american and not african american like all the fighters u mentioned you say that gb-england are not good at sport have u won any world cups rugby football as u mention no u havent what have u ever really done as a nation not much and u mention al these legends havent most of them been found out 2 be drug cheats ummmmm i rest my case silly little boy and hows the usa cricket team doing lol

I'm no hater of any nation, of any sports man, if you're good at what you do then good on you. Comments made by Sonofthedestroyer are a bit silly really, as poorly named Yankhater above states. Americans find it hard to look outside their shores, you'll find that Brit boxing fans have more knowledge on your fighters than you do yourselves. To say Brits are no good at sports is really really thick, you are good at your own sports, sports that only Americans play, baseball, American football and kinda basketball too. How do you do at rugby? A game that the whole world plays, football? Golf? Your only as good as us at golf and you could fit the UK inside America 30 times. Did you see your Fighters in Bejing? Its time to face the fact that your are slipping in the boxing world, Brits sure understand where we've failed of recent.
Back to Ricky Hatton, he looked good, not a huge change other than good use of a jab and not jumping in without thinking of defence, Paulie was a great guy to, I don't think he should of been pulled out but understand why he was, there was no way he was gonna stop Hattoon. Paulie was a good looser, I take my hat off to him, B-Hop could learn from the guy. I would like to see Hatton stop the bad lifestyle between fights, it will make a difference, however, Ricky Hatton is Ricky Hatton, if he wants to live this way there fair enough, I just hope he doesn't regret it in a few years or end up like Gazza. Well done uk, once again we showed the world that this tiny island can produce top top sports men. Well in Ricky, Joe and Haye and to your training camps.

Well said boxinwise, I am an american and I agree with you 100%, I saw a very very good Hatton on saturday and I was there sitting at ringside along Beckham and the Gallagher brothers, imo Ricky has improved and he is using boxing skills which I have never seen him used before.....Paulie was very very diffult to hit, and after the fight I was speaking to Ricky and he told me and the whole media later on, how good of a boxer he beat and surely he knows because he was in the ring with him, Paulie is extremely elusive and if Ricky boxes like he did on saturday he will win against anyone IMO...........

Good Luck to Ricky he showed lots of class and when I saw him embracing Paulie in his dressing room I knew then that he is a decent person and a GREAT GREAT CHAMPION.........CHAPEAU CHAMP...........

I am bemused at the various comments lauded at PM ie "elusive", "difficult to hit", "slippery" etc
This is not a fighter who displays great head movement or footwork ie Mayweather or Sweet Pea Whittaker. This is a guy who works from the outside, has no real power and is there to be hit, either by jab or straight rights. He APPEARS to be slippery or elusive by the manner that RH attacked him. Instead of using the jab to come in ( as his corner suggested) RH simply tried to launch wide hooks or come in and wrap him up,usually with his right arm hooked over PM 's shoulder, just as he did in the Mayweather fight.
The very fact that RH couldnt put away a very diminished PM ( not the same guy who fought Cotto) is a testament to the inadequacies of RH.

There is some truth in what comment 54 has said, but not much. PM is a weak hitter for sure, although he did hurt Cotto at least 5 times did he not? A diminished PM is laughable, he's only just touched down in the last 3 years, I doubt very much that he's past his best yet. Ricky Hatton may have not used many Jabs but he used the jab allot more than he has done in the past 4 years, true tho he doesn't use his jab anywhere near enough, when he did he was 0.1 away from Knocking PM out with a simple Jab. Also was it not PM spoiling the fight and doing the holding, thats certianlly what everyone saw, you're the first to say it was the other way around.
In wrap up Yes RH is a bit untidy, a little rough, sometimes leads with the wrong shots, however, he's only lost one fight to one of the best fighters of our time. He's won many world titles and WILL win more. I suppose boxing is subjective and people have different ideas etc, however, I can safely say as a boxing judge who travels the world with his work that Ricky Hatton is in the top 10 fighters out there currently, it seems he lost one fight and 10000s of fans with it, just wish the little fella would tidy up his lifestyle for his last 2 years, then he can party as much as he wants.

Boxingwise as a boxing judge can you please enlighten me as to how Ricky Hatton could possibly be top ten.
He beat an over-the -hill Kosta Tzsu. A washed up Castillo ( who had been thru 2 wars with Corrales) and a non-puncher in Malignani. When he fought two guys who were FRINGE contenders he was extremely lucky to come away with a victory- Collazzo (who had RH wobbling badly in R12) and Juan Lozcano, who both pushed him to the very edge of defeat. Then when he stepped up to prime-time with Mayweather, he was completely and utterly dominated.
Let me see him fight Junior Witter or Bradley or any other prime , YOUNG top ten fighter. The fact that you claim to travel the world as a boxing judge means nothing because as you yourself said , it is all subjective.
I have been following boxing for 35 years and I would define a great fighter as one who defeats other great fighters in THEIR PRIME.
So Sugar ray Leonard, Hagler , Duran, Ali, Robinson, Jones jr.etc
By this criteria Calzaghe and Hatton in no way make the grade. Which is why I laugh at these experts who claim Calzaghe the best British boxer ever. Lennox Lewis faced and beat far superior men( Holyfield,Ruddock,Rahman, Mercer, Tua, Klitschko, no not Tyson) in their prime than JC. Hattons backers chose Malignani for a reason. They needed a "safe" opponent (no KO threat) and one who could showcase RH for one more Superfight. It worked. I will certainly eat my words if RH can defeat either Oscar or Manny P.

galvestongiant :

oooooo look another Hatton hater..,.....borrrrring.

So Hatton beating Kosta was meaningless, as Kosta wasnt in his prime. So ricky should of fought him when he wasnt in his prime just so Kosta was!!! Right.....ok mate, nice one!!

Malinaggi, never been stopped, not even by cotto, but cause Hatton stopped him, Malinaggi is past his best, never a threat, washed up fighter, despite never being stopped....but because its hatton, doesnt count.


Stepped up to mayweather, was very much in the fight for the first 5 rounds, but lost his head, probably due to some very suspect refereeing and spoil tactics by mayweather i.e. ducking below waist and turning of the back (tho eventually done by the better man)........note mayweather regarded as THE best, and never lost....so no shame there.

Destroys castillo with a body punch, but doesnt count he wasnt at his best.

Hahahahaha its buffoons like you that make me laugh.

If hatton stepped into the ring with Witter, he would knock him out, it would be a no contest. It would be boring to watch cause Witter is mind numbingly atrocious and unappealing to fans, and it would prove nothing.

Stick to ping pong or something mate!

Lets dissect your comments and I wont stoop to the personal attacks.
First of all I am not a Hatton hater as you label me, just someone with infinite more knowledge of boxing than you and someone who has seen more fighters than youve had hot dinners. Anyway I digress.
In boxing you often get the aging champ who comes up against a younger , hungrier challenger, ie Ali-Spinks, Chavez-De la hoya, it is part of boxing. I meant no disrespect to Hatton when I said Tzsu was past his prime. If you knew boxing you would have seen that the Russian was way past his best that night and that was confirmed when after the fight he retired.
Malignani had 5 KO's in his career. Thats what I mean about no threat. Hatton dominated him, agreed , but the guy was chosen for an obvious reason, except maybe to punters like yourself.
What Mayweather fight were you watching that he was competitive in ? RH had no idea from rd1 how to break down FM. It was obvious that he had to take the fight to the inside to win. He did the tying up not FM. He became frustrated and used the referee as an excuse. RH showed in that fight a total lack of imagination or variation when he was on attack. All FM had to do was cover up, smother or roll with the punches , which he did. He then was able to pick off RH with ease as he came in.
Lastly watch the first 2 rounds of the Castillo fight. He came in drained from weight loss. Never the same fighter. He was a shell.
The problem with people like yourself is that you get high on some frothy nationalistic fervour and jump the freight train that is ,RH is the greatest. I am English. I have supported British fighters for the last 35 years , going back to John Conteh, Mcguigan,Lewis , Herol Graham etc
Just a guess, but you might be one of those fans with the England football shirt, shaved head and 8 pints of beer at your side who can sing "God save the Queen" and then curse every other non-British person at the
stadium.
This is not hating but putting Hatton's achievements into context.

35 years of following boxing and you think that Ricky Hatton should fight Jr Whitter? The reason Hatton is top 10 is he's reconized as the best Jr W Weight in the world, how many weights are there? What does that mean? Yes he's looked poor in a few fights which he has won, WON. So tell me Gal who should Ricky fight then? Bradly is a fair call indeed but as a business why would Ricky take that fight, a Whitter fight is a Joke, Jr Whitter is not one of these young fighters you talk about.
All i say is that Ricky is a good champ, take a look at all P4P ranks and see where he sits, then find me Whitter, or Bradly, UK and State side. Whitter holds no belts and no purse, why fight him?
I talk boxing and I don't have these little digs like you GAL, I'm not a beer drinking ENGLISH man, I'm not English, I have no Tatoos, My name is Evihno, I'm welsh, I enjoy boxing, enjoy my job and enjoy speaking to people like yourself.

Boxingwise those comments about the tattoos, beer drinking etc were not directed at you, but at" U6744856" instead.
I am in agreement with you that it makes no sense for RH to fight either Bradley or Whitter. Both of them are risky with little financial reward for RH.
I have to disagree with you however on RH. I dont think he is world-class at all. He has an amazing fan base that he has utilised to great effect. In some ways it reminds me of when Prince Naseem was knocking everyone out ,including an aged Kevin Kelly and I knew the day he stepped into the ring with a good technical fighter he would be exposed. Sure enough Barrera did the job. I think RH can keep winning against fringe contenders, and I acknowledge that he is the strongest jr welterweight out there. Unfortunately the jr. welterweight division is devoid of any talent or big names. So RH will have to fight some of the welters like Mosely, Berto or Margarito.
Cotto would be the biggest fight on the horizon for him , in financial terms , especially in New York or Manchester. Boxingwise do you think RH could beat any of the top 5 welters ? I think the only one he would have any chance against would be Zab Judah.

Good man Gal, you can imagine the horror I had when I thought that I was being called English lolol Only joking of cause.
Well i've been saying for 2 years I'd like to see Ricky Vs Cotto, i think this would be an amazing fight for the fans, a fight that would of been even bigger if they got it on before both lost, 2 guys with only 1 loss each a few pounds in weight away from each other, they have the styles that will fit very well and would make for one hell of a fight. I think Ricky would win this, as we saw in the Margarito fight cotto will struggle under constant pressure, would Ricky take the shots Margarito took on the way to that win? I don't know to be honest, maybe not, maybe? I think Tyson would of lost to Margarito that night ;)
A Berto is also a good fight, the baby Mike Tyson looks like he could knock down walls, is he just another Jef Lacy tho? time will tell.
I don't rate Bradley to be honest, he looked very poor Vs Whitter in my eyes, those rights over the top he'd be lucky to get away with them against Ricky. Torres? Now thats a good fight just like Cotto. Zab? 2 years ago thats a good fight. Mosley in his prime would beat Hatton hands down, now? I think he'd loose to Hatton. I see your point about Jr WW, problem for Ricky is he is so small, when he steps up he gets bullied. I have a lot of pals who really dislike Ricky for many reasons, some to do with boxing some to do with how he spends his spare time and who he spends it with, I've always been a fan of his all action style tho so I stand by the lad. Thank you Gal.

Another point. Why should Hatton move up to welterweight? Its always amused me when fighters are told they have to leave there comfort zone.

He's done it and everytime he's come unstuck and looked physically to small.

To me it just seems daft when a fighter piles on the pounds to reach a weight that is out of his physical scope. Just because he's the same weight doesn't mean he's as strong or as comfortable.

So why play roulette?

I know people will think, 'Hang on, what about all those other fighters who've done so and have won multiple belts at different weights'.

Well the ones that spring to mind are physically different to Hatton.

Ricky is a compact, stocky bloke, who is already carrying about as much muscle as frame can manage. He'll eventually come unstuck if he moves up to welter and tries to dominate fighters born to fight at that weight.

As for the Mayweather fight. The ref should be ashamed of himself...as should the English contingent of the crowd.


Matt..


Matt..