Was Ricky Hatton not overrated?
November 6th, 2009
By Kwame Cinquez: On a deeper analysis of the data available, I cannot help but feel we need to re-address the standing of “The Hitman.” Ricky Hatton, the former WBC champion. Whilst being a most likeable person, his talent as an actual boxer must come into serious questioning, and not just off the back of the horrendous beating he sustained off the lightening fists of the Philippines finest, Manny Pacquiao.
Following his defeat of Tszyu and his subsequent KO of Carlos Maussa, his next two fights were indeed highly questionable decisions for Hatton. I for one felt both Urango and Collazo did enough to win, or at least draw, and the unanimous decisions given against them were indeed mind boggling. Furthermore, they also showed Hatton’s key deficiencies as a fighter, notably his poor footwork, lack of head movement, and lack of speed and counter punch. I had long stated that once Hatton came up against a pedigree fighter, it would end up in knockout, and I didn’t have long to wait.
The win against Jose Luis Castillo has to be tempered against the fact since to his first fight against Diego Corrales; Castillo has failed to make weight with the exception of a controversial split decision over Herman Ngoudjo, and has looked laboured in doing so. Castillo was a shell of the fighter who took part in the Corrales classic or indeed the initial Mayweather fight and did not provide stellar opposition to Hatton.
The Dec 8th TKO loss to Mayweather was not surprising but it confirmed to me my suspicions of Hatton. Notably his inability to fight when prevented from excessive clinching, and his inability to take a punch. Mayweather, for all his talents, is not known for his power, and the ease with which he dispatched Hatton only further highlighted the lack of ability on the side of Hatton. Marquez, a 35yr old lightweight, still managed to last the distance, as did De la Hoya, another fighter past his peak against the Pretty Boy.
Avoiding Junior Witter and taking the Juan Lazcano fight (despite Witter being the WBC champion in Hatton’s own light-welterweight division) seemed to fly in the face of logic. Lazcano could not have been more lucrative than facing Witter, when considering the animosity between the two, and Hatton’s excuse of ‘Not wanting to give Witter his biggest payday’ just rang hollow to me. Furthermore, another outrageous bout favourable refereeing clearly rescued Hatton, with the referee seemingly calling time for a Hatton Break, whilst he was clearly out on his feet against the semi-retired opponent.
Paulie Malignaggi was custom made for Hatton, with his lack of punching power, and his own corner’s throwing in of the towel was later found out to be due to the Magic Man’s broken hand, rather than Hatton’s complete dominance over him (in sharp contrast to PM’s defeat to Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto).
His brutal loss to Manny Pacquiao only reaffirmed that Hatton cannot truly be considered amongst the top tier of fighters. Marquez, De La Hoya, Barrera, Morales, none of them lost as comprehensively to Pacquiao, principally due to their ability being the true justification for being in the ring, a reason I do not apply to Hatton.
I believe Freddie Roach got it right when he said, “Hatton, and I hate to say this about a world champion, and he wasn’t that good.” I believe that perhaps that is the best description of the man, without being overly aggressive or negative, Hatton was able to simply utilize the support of the masses in greater Manchester by his perception as a ‘regular guy’, and it was this (box office appeal), far more than ability, that led him to be the main attraction in both Las Vegas and Madison square garden, a feat I do not see being repeated any time soon. Any champion can lose a fight, Lennox Lewis lost to both Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman by way of brutal knockout. His response, rematch knockouts, is also the mark of a true champion. Hatton’s swerving of his only British rival in Witter, and his failure against the top fighters internationally, clearly demonstrates that his position at the top table is clearly recognized by anybody outside of the UK, neither is it based on merit. I wish Hatton luck with the rest of his career, but I for one cannot envisage Hatton fighting again at the premier level.
Tags: 45 Responses to “Was Ricky Hatton not overrated?”
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Ricky Hatton was a two division champion for four years because he found a way to win 45 out of 47 fights. Hatton was handling Floyd Mayweather very well until the referee started to interfere. Just watch the fight. That kind of referee interference would take anyone off their game.
At the end of the day millions want to see Hatton back. But if he decides not to come back, then we thank him for the many great battles and wish him the best.
i wouldnt say over rated he just fell down at the wrong time fighters do that from time to time. his style was exciting if not some times annoying with the clinching but ali liked to clinch. and hes aparently the greatest. it was his way of keeping the fight at his pace. tszyu was an addopted australian fighter.
hatton but me on my arse lol
to oli did marquez win manny and floyd no he didnt i agree hatton is finished now thou
I doubt hatton could even make 140 anymore. As for marquez hes clearly nothing above lightweight so that fight wouldnt make sense nor does hatton even deserve another elite P4P name
Oh by the way Kwame, Tszyu is Russian not Australian!
Hatton didn’t last 12 rounds with Mayweather because of his aggresive ,come forward constant style. Marquez didn’t chase Floyd half as much. Hatton can’t take a punch? come off it, he’s had the worst defence in the world for 12 years. resistance does fade you Jackoff.
hatton was too overconfident, he thought he got all the advantages against pacman.
hatton never saw it coming…….
now, he looks so stupid that overrated seems perfect; however, he was just too overconfident.
god i thought s/g and m/p was bad when is this site going to get someone who has a clue about boxing and no im not a hatton fan myself but these writers dont stick to facts all they are is people who dont like european fighters end ov im done with this site
id like to see hatton fight marquez. just to make sure we see where he really stands. and besides i still think hes good and would put up a good fight with marquez, at 140.
Hatton was by no means an all time great but he was by no means the bum that some people imply that he was. He was a good fighter that found a way to win all but two of his forty seven fights. Hatton dared to be great and he just came up a little short. My hats of to him, he was an over-achiever that tried his best to over come more skilled opponents with heart and determination.
Hatton is terrible lol
You can go on and on with the writers argument and say that Ali beat a worn out Liston, that Marciano beat a washed up Joe Louis and you can then say that when Hatton won 45 out of 47 fights that he was no good. All this even after the 8th round with Mayweather score was 4 rounds each. No, you got it all wrong bud, nobody wins that many fights unless they are dam good fighters. Hatton was and I hope still is one good fighter.
tonight was my first time watching the hatton/mayweather fight and i was absolutely surprised by how ricky was handling floyd up until about round 6.joe cortez broke them up a LOT,even when the situation didn’t really warrant it.where he screwed up was when he kept on just walking into Floyd’s straight rights.his head movement was going well and then he stopped and started just coming forward but he connected against floyd more than i ever thought he could.that ricky hatton would have made the fight against pacquiao worth the 49.95 i blew worth it.
Bad foot work, come on, the guy had great foot work, try jumping forward while throwing a upper cut with power. Thats like patting your head and rubbing your belly the same time.
And it was really a long wait wasnt it! he was a world chmpion for four years.
Hatton was great, he was so destructive and i dont recall anybody like him.
He did well for him self and i think we can leave it at that.
hatton had fans from allover not just england that says it all
wanker nos nothing about boxing hatton didnt get a fair chance against mayweather ref kept stepping in between them even in round 2 hatton stunned floyd and the ref again got in the middle
Ricky was real exciting to watch but he cant fight at welter and it takes too much out of him to lose all that freakin weight.Have kids.open a gym.Retire.Dont make people watch you die.
if yous dont lyk hatton dont read
UK yours is the only opinion on here that i take notice of but i know u tend to be rather staunch hatton. Still u are a boxing man with enough sense to realise the guy was extremly overated as a fighter. Its just his persona people really like they think they relate to him and this overshadows a persons sound boxing judgement
You could say that applies to anyone tho couldnt you. Im well aware boxing involves more than silky mayweather like skills you need to be able to stand and have a scrap if need be but you have to have a brain in your head aswel not just run in telegraphing every punch trying to KO a guy in one.
By the way im not american im from manchester mate mate 10 mins from rickys house in hyde.
And you know wat i meant by fans being stupid…i still have to endure morons on here swearing blind that hatton could still beat floyd mayweather!
His fans are stupid now?
Look theres more to boxing than silky skills and good movement. Theres also a fight going on in that ring and if the panzies that moan and winge about the rough tactics dont like it go KNITTING or somethin.
Honestly Americans dont like a good fight do they. Superior boxers beat Hatton, those that were not didnt.
If it were not for his fan base and ticket selling ability he wouldnt be where he is.
And collazo DID beat him any idiot can see that
Of course he was overated. His fans are the stupidest people in the country
Ricky Hatton was never a WBC world champion so first of all do your research!
secondly Tszyu was as hitting low, elbows and putting his head on Rick’s, so if anyone was going to be DQ’d it wa s Kostya.
Ricky was a fantastic fighter, you don’t see the real hitman in america.
Hatton’s fight with Tszyu was a good indicator of how things will go when you fight a Brit on home turf. Tszyu was grabbed every time he attempted to punch Hatton and the ref didn’t even acknowledge that a foul was taking place. If you look at the Dirrell vs Froch fight and see the ref penalize Dirrell for holding and the Brit fans say that wasn’t fighting, obviously there is a double standard. Granted, Dirrell ran alot which was very hard to watch or to root for him. Hatton would punch and grab not unlike John Ruiz’s style of fighting and can be very upsetting to boxing fans that recognize holding as a foul and not a tactic.
Hatton has some hand speed and power and fights in a pleasing style (when he isn’t holding), and may have benefitted in certain fights because of his popularity and/or fighting on home turf, but is popular because he fights hard.
Alot of accolades were heaped on him after the tszyu fight and just like Manny may find out against Cotto, those accolades may have taken him a little farther than his actual accomplishment.
since you made reference to the 2 lewis losses then i suppose you have to give hitman rematch for his to losses as well. i think that is the only way hatton can show he is a true champ
ricky hatton…..the box office flop.
ricky hatton sucks!!!!!
Hatton won every round v urango!!! You maniac!!!
Deserved wins v urango, paulie, castillo, corrals and Kosta, with deserved defeats v Pac & pbf. I therefore say he’s very good but not great
i don’t believe i’ve ever thought hatton to be the most technically gifted boxer. infact i don’t think he’d have half the appeal he has if he were. he’s a tryer of a similar mold to margarito(who i also used to likebefore his scandal). He fights the best. he tries his hardest. can’t fault a man for that. one can only wonder what sort of following floyd jr would have if he had the same attitude. witter was always behind the times. not good enough for a long time and only enjoyed one fight of having anything to entice hatton with before he lost it. whereis he now?
another thing that bothers me. hatton loses twice to arguably the two best boxers of the last decade and now everyone writes off his chances. hatton would wipe the floor with fighters like witter and khan. in my opinion khan was tailor made for hatton. ricky would walk through his pitter patter punches and smack him into next year.
WBC champ was he??? wow you know your stuff…NOT!!!!
Hatton was never one of the most skillful boxers, but to his credit, he never shyed away from a fight (unlike a lot of boxers)
Also have to agree with this article completely.
A true measure of a fighter’s ability to overcome an opponent,in a sensational manner is the ability to bring fans,spectators and the like to their feet as they witness a masterful display of
boxing/fighting.In all of Hatton’s fight I never experienced such emotions,and the only time I ever stood up was when my view was blocked.He lacked finesse,sharp punching,accuracy and demonstrated average ring generalship.
I always knew hatton was overrated. people thought i was crazy when i said that mayweather was going to knock out hatton. obviously they don’t know boxing. Collazo beat him, Tszyu was old and hatton was fouling him, Castillo was washed up, and malignaggi was stopped because his corner threw in the towel where he wasn’t even taking a beating.
pacquiao is exceptional n was to much for hatton however manny knocked morales out in 3 rounds so your point is incorrect. Having been to ricky hatton fights his attitude n attack is wot made him so popular you would have no idea unless you were at city of manchester or men arena and experienced what it s like to be in that atmosphere…bring home the belts haye
I’m British and agree with article.
Hattton is a money spinner. He makes money for the premier fighters, that’s why Manny and Money give him the chance.
I like the guy, and still think he has something to give to the boxing world.
I agree with the article Tyzu was too old, castililo was washed up, he was beat by an average fighter in Callazo, He looked poor against urango, he was a better brawler than a boxer. A one dimensional pressure fighter comes to mind.A poorlifestyle never helped his punch resistance at the end.
If you think Urango did enough to beat ricky hatton you know nothing about boxing. Are you being serious. Ricky dominated Urango from start to finish. He quite easily beat him.
absolute crap article. I appreciate you took the time to write an article, but at least get your facts right.
“they also showed Hatton’s key deficiencies as a fighter, notably his poor footwork, lack of head movement, and lack of speed and counter punch.”
that is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard in slag against Hatton. Then you say that Juan Urango could have gotten the decision is utter baloney. Even at ringside they had hatton winning by like 10 rounds.
He did lose to pacquiao, but Hatton is coming to the end of his career. You arent going to tell me morales was a bum, yet he got KO’d in three against pacman. Barrera got KO’d. Hatton just doesnt have the right style to beat pacquiao.
If you saw hatton vs mayweather, at round 8 the ringside scorecards where equal, hatton winning 4 and so with floyd. If you saw the post fight press, you would see that mayweathers face was beaten worse than it had ever been. Hatton did that.
While I agree hatton isnt the best in the world, he is highly not overrated.
I think Ricky was a slightly above average fighter. His best fights were against Kosta Tszyu, J.L. Castillo (battle worn veteren) and Paullie Malignaggi. Those are good wins.
absolute crap,roach said he would have trained hatton in the past before pacman bout, that doesnt sound like sum1 who is not rated, and if he was that bad why not fight sum other light welter??
Boring. I think Hattons a better boxer than your a boxing analist.
i agree with this article. ricky hatton has 2 b the most over-rated fighter in boxing history.