By William Mackay: Obviously, Ricky Hatton’s defense isn’t working for him in the current state that it’s in and needs immediate attention of Hatton is serious about wanting to continue his boxing career beyond one more fight against some cherry-picked patsy brought in to make Hatton look good.
Hatton has tried to work with Floyd Mayweather Sr., the trainer considered to be the best defensive trainer in the sport by many, but that failed miserably when Hatton was unable to apply the things that he had talked about having learned from Floyd.
Based on how Hatton performed in his bout with Manny Pacquiao, it appears that nothing sunk in through the gray matter of Hatton. Maybe the things that Mayweather Sr. was trying to teach Hatton were too complex for him to absorb.
It could be that Hatton needed things a little more basic to be taught to him in order for Hatton to be able to use the teachings. The good thing about defense is that it doesn’t need to be complex for a fighter to learn it. Ideally, the simpler the better, especially for fighters that have shown to be a little slow in their grasp of the fundamentals.
This is why I feel that the old cross-armed defense formerly used by great fighters like Archie Moore, Ken Norton and George Foreman might be something that Hatton could use to minimize the head shots that he’s been getting hit with in his last four fights.
Hatton can’t continue to take punishing shots like that, and it appears that his brain can no longer take the shots without Hatton being repeatedly knocked out of hurt. This is why Hatton needs to borrow a trainer that can teach him the cross armed style of fighting as quick as possible for Hatton to make the most of what little time he still has in his career.
Beyond Norton, Joe Frazier and George Foreman, I’m not aware of whom Hatton can approach to train him on using this style, but it seems to be simple enough to learn. Hatton can probably learn it just by watching old Foreman, Frazier and Norton fights, copying what they do.
Another option for Hatton to use defensively is for him to fight out of a crouch. Old time fighters like Rocky Marciano would adopt it time to time when facing taller opponents with a longer reach. This is something that Hatton might be able to use to protect his glass chin so he can avoid getting flattened by any future opponents.
The trick is for Hatton to fight low and lean backwards with his head far away as possible from his opponent. To be hit in the head using this style is very difficult, because it means that Hatton’s opponent would have to throw a long telegraphed right of left hand in order to land to his head.
Jabs won’t land because Hatton’s head would be far away from any possible incoming jabs. The one problem with this style is that it makes it easy for opponents to land to the body, due to the fighter using the style leaning far back to avoid shots.
This shouldn’t be a problem for Hatton, as he’s always had an excellent ability to take body shots. I could see Hatton doing really well with this style for quite a long time just as long as Hatton doesn’t lose his ability to take a hard body shot for some reason.
Short of putting on headgear and fighting the remainder of his fights using equipment, which is against the riles and impossible in boxing, Hatton’s best chance to continue fighting at his former optimal level is for him to adopt either the cross-armed defense or the crouch.
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