By Scott Gilfoid: Ricky Hatton is picking WBA World lightweight champion Anthony Crolla (31-4-3, 13 KOs) to successfully defend his WBA title on Saturday night against challenger Jorge Linares (40-3, 27 KOs) at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK. Hatton doesn’t really say why he thinks the 29-year-old Crolla will win the fight other than him being a good body puncher.
Of course, the most obvious reason why you have to go with Crolla as the winner is because the fight is taking place in the UK. Having seen Crolla’s first fight against Darleys Perez, and his fights against Derry Mathews, and Gavin Rees, I think Crolla has been very, very lucky when it comes to the scoring of his fights. I had Crolla losing to Perez in their first fight, even with the referee taking points off from Perez in consecutive rounds in the 11th and 12th rounds. In my scoring, I had Crolla losing his second fight against Derry Mathews and in his fight against Gavin Rees.
Photo Credit: Mark Robinson Photography/Matchroom Boxing
I hate to say it, but the talented 31-year-old Linares might need a knockout for him to win on Saturday night because I do not see the judges giving him the decision in this fight. I don’t care how good Linares is, I don’t see him getting a decision. I think he has to knock Crolla clean out for him to leave Manchester with Crolla’s best. We saw how Linares’ fight against Kevin Mitchell was being scored last year.
Linares was winning every round on my card except for the 6th in which Mitchell dropped him with an elbow to the head. Two of the judges had Mitchell ahead by the scores 88-82 and 86-84. The third judge had it 85-85. The fight took place at the O2 Arena in London, England. I saw the same fight and had Linares winning eight of the rounds. The only round I gave to Mitchell was the 6th and that was because he dropped Linares with a beautiful elbow to the head.
“I know he can do the business against Jorge Linares and I’ll be beaming with pride to see him lift that Ring Magazine belt,” said Hatton via fightnews.com.
I disagree with Hatton completely about Crolla doing the “business against Jorge Linares” on Saturday night. Like I said, I do think without a doubt that Crolla will win if the fight goes to the cards. I think the venue, and the screaming fans are going to help Crolla BIG TIME. Judges are only human. With the screaming that will be done each tie Crolla lands one of his light punches, I think he’ll getting round after round in the bank. I think it’s an unconscious thing with judges. When they hear screaming, I think it’s an automatic thing for them to give rounds to the fighter that is getting the applause. The only thing that changes that is if a fighter is hurt or dropped to the canvas. Obviously, it doesn’t always work that way, as we saw in the 1st round of the recent Gennady “GGG” Golovkin vs. Kell Brook fight on September 10 at the O2 Arena in London, England. Golovkin BADLY hurt Brook with a left hook to the head in the 1st round. Believe it or not, two of the judges scored the round for Brook. It was just mind-boggling. But then again, it was understandable at the same time. Brook was the home fighter and Golovkin the visitor. The screaming was being done for Brook. As such, when Brook was staggered and badly hurt by Golovkin in the 1st round, it still wasn’t enough for him to get the round. I wasn’t surprised the judges gave the round to Brook. I would have been surprised if Golovkin won the round.
Linares is currently rated #1 by Ring Magazine. The Ring belt is vacant. Crolla is rated #3, behind #2 Dejan Zlaticanin and Linares. Hatton thinks Crolla will win the Ring belt. I don’t agree with the Ring rankings. If Crolla beats Linares by a decision, then it doesn’t mean anything to me, because I think Terry Flanagan is better than Linares at this point. But I don’t see Flanagan as being better than Rances Barthlemey, Robert Easter, Richard Commey, Denis Shafikov, Felix Verdejo and DEFINITELY not better than Mikey Garcia. I mean, come on. If Crolla is given the Ring Magazine lightweight belt after a win over an inactive Linares, then I think it’s a joke. When you’ve got talents like the above mentioned fighters, how Crolla be considered the best in the lightweight division? Has Hatton ever seen Mikey Garcia fight? All you have to do is look at Mikey Garcia’s recent fight against Elio Rojas last July to know that Crolla would have no chance against Garcia at all, period. Honestly, I don’t think Crolla would make it past the 5th round. Heck, they could stage the fight in Manchester and I think it still ends with a brutal knockout. It’s not just Mikey Garcia that would work Crolla over in my opinion. Robert Easter, Barthlemey and Flanagan would be nightmares for Crolla. Even the recently beaten Richard Commey would be way too strong, too good and too talented for Crolla in my view. That’s why I see it as a joke for Crolla to win the Ring Magazine title off of a win over Linares. I mean, if Crolla beats Linares, then he beats Linares. That doesn’t mean that Crolla beats Mikey Garcia, Easter, Flanagan, Commey, Verdejo, Shafikov or Sharif Bogere. It just means he beat Linares.
As far as I’m concerned, I don’t think Crolla has the talent to beat Linares by a decision. I rate Linares’ boxing skills as much better than Crolla’s skills. Yeah, I do believe the judges will give Crolla the decision, but I don’t see him actually beating Linares. The only way Crolla actually beats Linares is if he knocks him out. If he beats him by a decision without knocking him down, then I think I think it’ll come down to the judges being unconsciously influenced by the cheering from the fans. Like I said, judges are only human.
When they hear the crowd making a bunch of racket for a particular fighter, I think the human impulse is to score rounds for that fighter even when they’re getting worked over like we saw with Kell Brook in the 1st round against Golovkin. Brook got all the cheering in that round despite being knocked silly, and two of the judges gave him the round.
Yeah, it looked goofy in my view to have judges give the 1st round to Brook, but it was so utterly predictable. I’m just surprised Golovkin was given any rounds, because all the screaming was being done for Brook despite the fact that Golovkin was out-landing, out-throwing and out-punching him in each round of the fight.
“It’s not where you start in boxing, it’s where you finish,” said Hatton about Crolla. “He lost a six rounder early in his career and to Derry Mathews later on, everyone wrote him off and to achieve what he has is a test of his character. I’m very proud of him. [Crolla] is brutal body puncher.”
I do agree that Crolla can punch hard to the body, but only when his opponents back up to the ropes and just stand there like a sparring partner. For some reason, Crolla doesn’t seem to be nearly as good a body puncher when he’s in the center of the ring. I don’t know why. I think he needs his opponents to be standing perfectly still for him to get his shots off to the body with maximum force.