By Scott Gilfoid: When you look at many of Ricky Hatton’s early opponents up until he met with Kostya Tszyu in 2005, you’ll notice that Hatton build up a record that was largely based on lower level B and C-class fighters with little if any real substance in there. Indeed, at the time that Hatton fought Tszyu, Hatton had an impressive 38-0 record that was filled with a lot of fighters that ultimately did little in helping Hatton prepare for better opponents like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

I’m now wondering whether all that spoon fed fodder that was thrown Hatton’s way ended up stunting his ability, and preventing Hatton from learning how to properly fight. You’d think that a fighter with a 38-0 record would have some notable wins in there, but Hatton’s had little in the way of talent in there.

By having Hatton face such easy opposition, it helped Hatton build up an impressive record which was deceiving to the eye, but at the expense of hurting Hatton down the road when he could have used the boxing skills that he would have learned had he taken on fighters like Junior Witter and Zab Judah several years ago.

If Hatton had been in with better fighters, he would have learned not to come forward leading with his chin, because Hatton would have been knocked out repeatedly if he chose to fight that way. Ultimately, Hatton would likely have had many more losses on his record, but he’d be the better fighter for it.

You could apply the same argument to Joe Calzaghe, who if he had fought Roy Jones Jr., Bernard Hopkins, Julian Jackson, Nigel Benn and Gerald McClellan earlier in his career, would have probably retired with a record with five losses on it.

However, Calzaghe would have ended up a much better fighter for having fought these guys and could have kept fighting for longer than he did without worrying about blemishing his record, since it would already have five losses.

In Hatton’s case, you could say that Ben Tackie was easily Hatton’s best opponent before he fought Tszyu. Tackie’s a good fighter, but he’s not quite on the level of a Witter, which is who Hatton should have fought. Why didn’t Hatton fight Witter?

Good question. I suppose Hatton has a good reason, but whatever it is, Hatton’s the one that had to pay price for not fighting Witter. If Hatton had fought Witter, chances are that Hatton would have learned enough to beat a fighter like Pacquiao.

I think Witter would have beaten Hatton, but Ricky would have learned from the experience the lesson to keep his guard up at all times and not to lead with his chin as he comes rushing forward trying to land a punch.

I think Hatton ended up wasting all his time up until his fight with Tszyu, and probably stunted his growth by feasting on easy opponents. In those 38 fights, Hatton leaned little other than how to brawl, and beat down his opposition in ugly fights.

Hatton took a lot of punishment in those fights despite the easy opposition due to his unpolished fighting style. It’s too bad, because if Hatton had fought better opposition, he might have figured out how to beat a fighter like Pacquiao and wouldn’t have found himself getting easily knocked out in the 2nd round.