Just got done watching the Ricky Hatton fight. That was the first time I'd seen him fight. I liked his style, constantly pressuring his opponent. I think it was very debatable whether he won that fight tonight though. I have a feeling that a skilled fighter like Mayweather or even De la Hoya would could carve him up.
I've heard a lot about how good Hatton was and this was the first time I've seen him fight. After watching this fight, it is safe to say Ricky Hatton is extremely overrated. He is a busy fighter, but any top of the line Welterweight would beat him. To be honest, I think he lost the fight tonight. I was hoping for the best, but he looks line another HBO fabrication like Prince Nasim Hamed. Oh well, I'm sure HBO will ride this cash cow until he gets his clock cleaned by a top of the line or middle of the pack opponent.
Same for me. It wasn't impressive at all. Lame first round knockdown should not have decided the fight. Ugly fight all around.
This was probably the 5th fight I've seen Hatton fight, and it was by far his worst. If you think he's over rated, go and watch the fight where he destroyed Kostya Tszyu. That being said, I think he'd struggle against the likes of Mayweather and de la Hoya, but who wouldn't. He didn't look good tonight, but I still think he did enough to win the fight, and don't forget he wasn't fighting a no name, Collazo is a good fighter. This was his first fight at 146, and he fought a natural welterweight who was a champion, that's a hell of a step up. Give him some time to get used to the weight, and given his style, he'll be a tough match up for anyone at the division.
Hatton is very over-rated, I hate his style, it's wrestling, a welterweight John Ruiz. He hugged Collazo like it was the senior prom, and nearly got knocked out in the 12th. Then the judges gave him the victory. He seems like a nice guy, but fights a very ugly style and it's borderline wrestling, a referee who would force him to fight from the outside would spell disaster. Mayweather would eat him alive.
Travis Barker is one of the better drummers out there. Yeah, he was in a popish punk band, but dude didn't suck.
I think that's a terrible anaolgy. Hatton loves to fight on the inside, while Ruiz throws one punch and then grabs. There's a difference between fighting in close quarters (which Hatton does) and doing the punch and grab like Ruiz. I thought last night it was Collazo doing the majority of the clenching, in seemed like every time Hatton tried to fight on the inside, he'd end up in a Collazo head lock.
By Tim Smith This being a gathering of boxing writers, and being that they were waiting for Roy Jones, Jr. to show up, there was an over-under on how long it would be before Jones showed up or whether he would show up at all. An hour late was the most popular bet. That he wouldn't show up at all was popular among the veteran scribes who had been on the short end of a promised Jones appearance in the past. Plus, he had stiffed the press in Boise, Idaho at a press conference there to announce his fight against Prince Badi Ajamu on July 29. So what made this motley group at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis so much better? Jones showed up 45 minutes late, 15 minutes under the most popular bet. And he was full of revelations. The cynic in me says that he was so revealing because he was trying to sell a pay per view show (let's face it no one is going to fly to Boise to see Jones fight Ajamu). The less cynical part of me said here was a fallen superstar who is facing doubts and obstacles that he has never faced before. Either way it was a compelling session. Jones said he made a conscious decision to lose the third fight against Tarver because he didn't want his father, Roy, Sr., to get any of the glory if he won. Jones revealed that it took his body a year and a half to recover from going up to heavyweight and then dropping 25 pounds of muscle to move back down to light heavyweight. And he predicted that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. would beat Oscar De La Hoya if they fight and if Floyd, Sr. is training De La Hoya. Jones is refusing to acknowledge that time has taken its toll on his reflexes and slowed him down. He believes that his losses to Tarver and Glen Johnson were due to his having to drop back down to light heavyweight after going up to heavyweight to beat John Ruiz. "I knew going in that I was making a sacrifice that would hurt me the rest of my career,'' Jones said. "It shocks your whole body. Even the Glen Johnson fight I was dehydrated after the fight. My body was still hadn't re-adjusted to it. It takes a long time.'' Jones' body may have re-adjusted by the time he fought Tarver for a third time, but his head was a mess. He had hired his father again as his trainer after a 12-year split. It was the move of a desperate man reaching back for something that once provided security for him. Jones knew his father could get the best out of him, but the price would be enormous. During the fight, there was bickering in the corner as Big Roy tried to squeeze out Jones' longtime trainer Alton Merkerson. Jones said his father tried to push Merkerson off the ring apron between rounds so that he could move one of his friends into camera range. About the fifth round of the fight, Jones said he decided that he wasn't going to win the fight. "If I had won the fight my father would have gotten all the glory and he didn't deserve it,'' Jones said. "If I had knocked out Tarver they would have said it was because of him. My father don't deserve this. Where were you the last 12 years? He's a sharp guy. Having him was more bad than good. He's a good boxing guy. He taught me. But he's not good for me.'' Jones is saying that he deliberately lost a fight to spite his father. I don't believe that's the case. I believe if Jones could have knocked Tarver's head into the 10th round he would have. He lost the fight, now he has rationalized a way to make the loss more palatable to himself. I don't know anyone who hates their father so much that they would imperil themselves or deny themselves something as gratifying as winning a boxing match. What about all that hard work he put in? Down the tubes so the old man can't gloat. The old man didn't throw any punches. Jones and his father didn't have the typical father-son relationship. It was based on Big Roy transforming Jones into a world champion. And it was abusive. Jones would not relate the extent or the details of the abuses, but he made it clear that he and his father aren't going fly fishing anytime soon. Jones thinks that father-son, boxer-trainer, dynamic will play out in the Mayweather-De La Hoya match, if and when it is made. Floyd, Sr. will be in De La Hoya's trainer for the match and that will work to the undoing of De La Hoya, Jones believes. "He's going to beat Oscar,'' Jones said. "If my daddy had brought me anyone he would have gotten him killed. If Floyd has to run 100 miles a day to beat Oscar that's what he'll do because his daddy is in the other corner. This ain't got nothing to do with Oscar.'' It was the kind of insight and analysis that Jones used to offer as a commentator on HBO's "World Championship Boxing.'' But he was canned earlier this year because he didn't want to show up for fighting meetings where the participants were interviewed by the HBO commentators. Jones wanted to show up on the Friday before the fight. HBO wanted him there on Thursday. He said he doesn't miss it. "HBO got it confused,'' Jones said. "They thought I was supposed to tell you when this guy got married, whether he has a girlfriend, when he got to this country, whether he just got out of jail. I don't need to know all that. I thought I was getting paid to tell you what was happening in the ring. "I don't have no hate for anybody. I deal with it when it comes. I don't even hate my father and I just told you what kind of a son of a son he is.'' Just like with his father, it was not an amicable split. Jones may never fight on HBO again. It may have more to do with the fact that his skill level isn't what it used to be and there aren't that many attractive matches in his future. But Jones said he isn't ready to quit yet, though he is 1-3 and has lost two by KO since his victory over Ruiz for the WBA heavyweight title. In hindsight Jones said he probably should have stayed at heavyweight. He said he tried to make the fight with Holyfield after winning the title, but Holyfield wouldn't make a deal with his promoter Don King. After fighting a string of washed up heavyweights who weren't fast enough to test his chin, Jones would now be considered one of the best heavyweights in the game. Even now he talks about challenging WBC champ Hasim Rahman. "Looking at Rahman-Toney, I could beat Rahman,'' Jones said. "He's good, be he didn't look like a student of the game. James is a good student of the game, but he won't get himself in shape.'' Jones said after he beat Ruiz he felt like he had accomplished everything in boxing that he could. Now his challenge is different. He wants to prove wrong all those who believe he doesn't have enough left to compete at the upper echelon of boxing. "When people doubt me that's when I can do something,'' he said. Jones may be deluding himself as all the great ones do at the end of their careers when he said he will know when to hang 'em up. "It's certain things I have to see in myself if I'm going to continue or I won't continue,'' Jones said. Of course he won't tell us what those things are ahead of time so we can look out for them as well. But he promised that he will tell us after he fights Ajamu if those things were not present. Even if Ajamu whips him the same way that Glen Johnson did, I don't think Jones will say he's had enough. He will still be chasing something. The same thing that Evander Holyfield is chasing. "I'm supposed to go through this guy (Ajamu),'' Jones said. "If I don't go through this guy then it's time for Roy to stop.'' And if he beats Ajamu? "The next fight will be World War III no matter who it is,'' Jones promised.
