By Scott Gilfoid: I recently watched the June 2005 bout between Ricky Hatton and then IBF light welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu, and I came away from the fight firmly believing that Tszyu would have beaten Hatton had this fight taken place on neutral territory rather than at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England. Hatton was 26 at the time, and in the prime of his career, well before his one-sided losses to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

Fighting at home in Manchester, Hatton was able to hold and wrestle for prolonged periods of time against Tszyu without the referee breaking the action, giving warnings to Hatton or taking off points. Whenever there was any separation between the two fighters, Tszyu would clock Hatton with straight right hands and left hooks to the head. It was painfully obvious that Tszyu had the much better punching and boxing skills on that night, even though he was 35-years-old at the time and past his best years of his career.

However, Tszyu wasn’t a wrestler and didn’t know how to pry Hatton off his body to keep him from hitting and holding, and dealing with his rough house tactics. I personally thought Hatton should have been penalized and disqualified by the 6th round for the constant holding, wrestling and holding hitting. By the 10th, I would have disqualified Hatton multiple times for all the fouls, yet he was still able to continue to wrestle like a champion.

I’ve seen this fight many times and I still can’t fathom how Hatton was able to get away with all the holding and wrestling without being disqualified. It’s really too bad that this fight didn’t take place on neutral ground because I think Tszyu would have easily beaten Hatton on that night. Actually, it probably would have been too easy because Hatton would have likely been disqualified early in the fight for his holding and grappling had the fight taken place in another country which enforces rules against holding and wrestling in fights.

I would have loved to have seen Hatton fight Tszyu in a rematch in Australia or Russia. That would have been nice. The referee would have liked kept Hatton on the outside or at least prevented him from holding. At that point, the fight would come down to whoever the best puncher was between the two. I think Tszyu would have carved Hatton up. But can you imagine what that 35-year-old version of Tszyu would have done to the now 31-year-old Hatton? I’d put my money on Tszyu for an early knockout win, even if Hatton was able to wrestle and hold nonstop.