Can Hatton Beat Marquez?
March 26th, 2009
By Dave Lahr: Ricky Hatton has made it know that his plans are to fight Juan Manuel Marquez in his next bout after Ricky finishes his business with Manny Pacquiao on May 2nd. This fight seems as tough, if not more, than the Pacquiao bout for Hatton, and it’s questionable that he has the boxing ability to defeat a fighter at the level of Marquez. Hatton has been shielded for most of his career against really skillful fighters in the class of Pacquiao and Marquez.
Marquez, 35, has been the best fighter in the featherweight and super featherweight division for years now, fighting Manny Pacquiao, Chris John, Joel Casamayor, Juan Diaz, Marco Antonio Barrera and many other top fighters and beating most of them.
Hatton’s wins pale in comparison, beating an old, weight drained Kostya Tszyu (and struggling against him), Vince Phillips and Jose Luis Castillo. Hatton’s other wins have come against Luis Collazo, a controversial 12-round decision in 2006, and Paul Malignaggi. The remainder of Hatton’s wins are over fighters not worth mentioning because they simply don’t compare to the talented fighters that Marquez has fought in my humble opinion.
Marquez has a wide variety of punches – straight right, uppercut, hooks, – that he uses to tame his opposition. He rarely fights the same way twice and adapts each time depending on his opponent. In contrast, Hatton is more of a straight ahead type fighter who focuses on going right after his opponents and trying to take them out with big shots.
Throughout most of his career, Hatton’s style has been effective against his slightly lower quality opposition he’s faced, that is, until he faced Mayweather Jr., who methodically picked Hatton apart like he was peeling the wings off a butterfly.
Mayweather exposed all of Hatton’s offensive flaws, taking advantage of Hatton’s wild hooks by nailing him with short punches each time he’d attempt to throw. This was a new experience for Hatton, who up until that point in his career, had been shielded from having to face counter punchers like Mayweather.
Marquez, much in the same way, is also a counter puncher in the identical mode of Mayweather Jr. Marquez may not have quite the same size of Mayweather, but he has similar skills as him.
Like a lot of other writers on this site, I don’t see Hatton as being able to beat Pacquiao. However, I recognize that Hatton will still move on to a fight against Marquez, win or lose against Pacquiao, and continue with his final two fights of his career.
Although I can’t blame Hatton for wanting to take the big cash in fighting a talented fighter like Marquez, I think he’s stupid if he does it. Hatton’s fight against Pacquiao will likely be a bloody affair in which Hatton will take a severe pounding. With a beating like that, Hatton would be smarter to rest his brain and body and go in a different direction than face an almost certain beat down against Marquez.
Tags: 17 Responses to “Can Hatton Beat Marquez?”
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technically marquez is better than mayweather…
like how pacman struggle to fight marquez.. hatton will be even worst.. theres no way hatton can win marquez, even by luck!!
because hatton fighting style is what fit on marquez style..
about pacman.. it will be tough, but pacman has much more advantages..
i think its fair to say that pac-man and/or marquez will be the hardest fights of hattons career without a doubt but at the same time – your article states on numerous occasions that hattons has been ‘sheilded’ from this kind of quality opposition throughout his career and then you say you think he is ‘stupid’ if he does take the fight – so the man cant win with you can he?? (as with the vast majority of your views on british fighters). when mayweather was fighting everyone was quick to call him p4p king (which to be fair he probably was) – but he was sheilded from dangerous opposition much more than hatton – i mean look how many fighters he ducked just at 147lbs. If hatton did go on to beat pacquiao and/or marquez – im sure you guys would put it down to marquez’ age or pac-man had a bad night or so on anyway
Are British fans obsessed with size. All we ever hear about is how big bad, giant Ricky Hatton the monster, is too big for everyone. Its hilarious.
As silly as Mayweather act at times, the man knows how to train a fighter. What he brings to the table is knowing when to box and how to slip into a brawl. Ricky is no longer one dimentional. I believe he will press the pac man and will get the better of the exchanges. They say speed kills, but the body is easier to hit than the head.
In defense of Hatton, the reason why he has not faced much quality opposition is because he seems to stick to the light welter division, and has only went up to 147lbs to face the Money and Collazo. There is simply not much talent in his division.
I think Hatton is capable of defeating Marquez. Looking at the Marquez-Diaz fight. Diaz had worked his pressure-offense but lacked power and I see Hatton using the same game as Diaz but with added firepower, which may be enough to put Marquez to the canvas..
A lot of people making comments here saying that Hatton can beat Pacquiao or Marquez and there is no way they can beat Hatton because he is bigger? Being bigger is a factor but that’s not how boxing works. Hatton may be bigger but does that mean he has the privilege of landing all those punches and at the same time, his opponent has hands and can punch as well. There is always a possibility that he can’t land anything at all. One more thing, I saw smaller guys beating the crap out of a bigger fighter and I don’t think it is an isolated case for boxing. That’s why there is such a word in boxing, “STRATEGY”. As always, the strategy that coaches implies in boxing is to neutralize the opponent, avoid being hit and hit the opponent. Whoever follows that simple strategy wins the bout.
I gave Hatton a 50/50 chance of beating Pacquiao or Marquez and vice-versa. Hatton is not invincible and so is Pacquiao and Marquez. So, whoever is saying that this is not applicable doesn’t know boxing for sure and hasn’t been in a real fight (mano y mano) as well.
marquez destroys hatton. marquez different league and better class! look at the wins marquez had compared to hattons whose arnt even all that impressive exept to british fanatics who overhype everything anything hatton does. im from manchester before anybody starts.
Ithink Hatton wins pacman because ov his size advantage but gets beat off marquez due to his better boxing skills.I think the babby bull didnt look that far off light welterweight on actual fight night against Marquez and Marquez still put him away and so shouldnt have any trouble with Hattons size or the pace he fifhts at.And thats coming from a brit!!!
great article
Hatton would beat a 35 year old smaller Marquez no doubt about it, Hatton would just cut him off and finish him before the final bell. I dont see how you could think any other result could happen.
Sometimes you just have to look past where a fighter is from and just look at whats infront of your face, Hatton was all over mayweather in the first few rounds and mayweather only stayed in the fight due to his defence and size. Does Marquez have the same skill to beat Hatton I dont think so…
Hatton would be too strong for marquez at ten stone and theres a chance he might be for pacman but p4p they are both better than Hatton
Mister Lahr you are talking rubbish Hatton beat all in put in front of him at 10 stone.They were all world class fighters.Mayweather and referee spoilt that fight Floyd tying him up till he was burnt out then looking good against a tired fighter.Marquez and Manny aint strong enough at 10 stone
I agree with Ukansodoff, how can you say Hatton has been shielded from fighters when he constantly calls out and fights fighters in the top 3 P4P ratings – Tszyu, Mayweather, Pacquaio and Marquez (including moving up in weight to do so?).
Why write things like that, it just shows you know nothing about boxing, although it seems obvious from the writers of this site that very few of you do.
I think it would be a harder fight myself with marques just due to styles. I still think hatton would be to big for him tho could be wrong but I just fancy hatton against any one his size or smaller we will see how he does against pac that should be an indication of how he will meet that sort of weight and class
I love it how no British fighter ever gets any respect on this site.
Even if Hatton went out and knocked out Pacman in the first round all the yanks would be on here making excuses and not giving him any credit.
Tszyu, Jose Luis Castillo, Paul Malignaggi were all supposed to be top rated fighters in America and Hatton beat them all. He battered Malignaggi who was supposed to be this top quality fighter who, according to the writers on this site, would have far to much in the skill department for Hatton.
Mayweather did pick Hatton apart, no bones about it, but does that make Hatton a bad fighter?
I would suggest that you guys start working on your list of excuses now so that your article about Hattons win over Pacman is of a little more quality than your usual rubbish
I get the feeling that a fight with Marquez would be even harder for Hatton than the fight with Pacman.
But i think hed beat them both. Hatton hasnt been shielded from anybody thats a disgusting comment.
Lets get it right, he fought P4P king Costa Tzu, P4P king Mayweather, P4P Pacquiao is next and then he wants a fight with Marquez who people claim is pushing for the P4P slot.
Hes won and retained belts, hes won belts at different weights, and to be the best you have to beat the best. Hes fought a lot of high level opponants including the P4P kings and isnt scared to fight anybody. He even wants a 2nd fight against Mayweather which shows hes not scared.
To say hes been shielded from anybody in the sport is nothing short of a joke.
nope! marquez would wipe the floor with hattons british face!