Battle of the Legends (part 1) – Ricky Hatton vs. Oscar De La Hoya

By Shaun Campbell: These articles will be attempting to determine the results of fights that unfortunately never happened, either because of the different era or just whether the fighters never got together to make it happen. It is similar to the Super fight between Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano (obviously on a smaller scale). Now, usually I would not encourage people to disagree, but on this occasion I would welcome it because I’d like to get more than one point of view, but no stupid comments please.

In the first edition of the “Battle of the Legends” is between Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton and ‘The Golden Boy’ Oscar De La Hoya. Some people will already by thinking “what are you talking about? Oscar is clearly the bigger guy and would win easy” but that’s not necessarily true. Yes De La Hoya was bigger, but as Floyd Mayweather Jr proved, it’s not all about size. But let’s keep to De La Hoya’s advantages here.

Firstly that trademark left hook that could knock out the hardest of middleweights. Oscar has always been able to perfect the technique in his left that would devastate opponents. Hatton has been open to left hooks in the past as he occasionally drops his right hand after throwing a jab or left hook. Knockouts over people like Fernando Vargas, David Kamau and Arturo Gatti prove he’s always had the power to do it. Another fantastic quality Oscar has possessed is his jab. Emmanuel Steward has described it as one of the best jabs in boxing when he uses it. To beat Hatton Oscar would have to constantly use his jab to keep the distance and stop Ricky getting to work on his body. The size advantage and natural strength would be to Oscar’s advantage as well. He’d have superior height and reach. Keeping Hatton at a distance would be essential.

But Ricky’s never been a man who’s liked to fight at a distance. If he could get past Oscar’s jab and get to work with those energy-sapping hooks to the body, then he’s in business. Oscar has been known to get tired in the last stages of a fight, where as Ricky Hatton stays strong. No one can fight 3 minutes of a round more consistently than the Hitman. Ricky is also an underestimated boxer; he has a good jab when he uses it. The foot movement and constant pressure would eventually get to The Golden Boy. Speed should be in Hatton’s favour with the fight in close quarters, but on the outside De La Hoya would excel.

It would all depend who can boss the fight. If De La Hoya can keep the fight at distance then there’s no way Hatton could win as he just can not outbox a fighter like Oscar on the outside. But if Hatton can keep up a quick tempo and pound the body, then it’s likely that he would wear down the older man and eventually De La Hoya would tire. The fight would be going Oscar’s way up till round 5, maybe Hatton nicking one or two rounds, but after that the Hitman would step up the tempo and beat the older man. Probably not having the power to stop De La Hoya he might get a close decision. But if Oscar can keep a constant pace, and get to Ricky early, then the fight is the Golden Boys. Overall I’d say that size would not be a factor and Ricky would just nick it with a point’s decision. I welcome any views that would challenge or agree with this. So at Wembley Stadium in front of 90,000 people, we’d see the biggest fight of our generation.

Next time – Muhammed Ali vs. Mike Tyson

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