Well, he HARDLY looked unbeatable against the awesome might of Juan Urango. He was taking a hell of a battering from those body shots (to the point where Graham sound more than a bit worried "suck it up Ricky"icon_wink.gif.

Stamina is an issue for Ricky. By his own admission he gassed against Urango. He looked knackered against Mayweather - at a weight where he shouldn't be weight drained. He was fortunate to beat Collazo - another fight in which he seemed to fade two-thirds in.

And there's the binge eating, booze etc. Bad enough to have those habits when you AREN'T struggling to make weight. 140 was Hatton's optimum weight. He's grown out of it now (almost all fighters have to go up 1 or 2 weight divisions during their careers).

Trouble is - Hatton's not effective at 147.

Grown out of the 140 weight? You are aware that his last fight before the Mayweather battle was at 140lbs and he convincingly beat Castillo in the 4th round? That definitely suggests to me that it is STILL his weight.

The Collazo and Mayweather fights were at 147lbs and he looked a little small for that weight. They were the two fights he really struggled in.

He'll be awesome again in the 140 LW division and I've no doubt he'll take the title off Malignaggi and then maybe Torres and Witter.

A bad cold in the lead up to the fight certainly didn't help things. I've been told by people in the know who I trust on this, and had it not been Ricky's debut headlining Las Vegas he would have pulled out. It was hardly a battering of body shots either, there was one in the 5th round (I think) that really hit the mark and very nearly sunk him to his knees (his own words) and damaged his ribs, any shots around that mark after were always gonna be painful to take, but despite this Ricky still strolled to victory on all 3 judges scorecards.



I thought he was fortunate to beat Collazo and at the fight quite a few of us actually thought he'd been beat. The fading two thirds in may have had something to do with the short amount of time he had to prepare for his first ever crack at a Welterweight title, and the mistakes the camp made regarding his weight on fight night.



I don't think he has grown out of it at all, he comfortably makes 140 and always will IMO. The eating, boozing thing is a thing that concerns a lot of people inside the team, but on the other hand some feel he almost needs to balloon up to give himself the motivation to live like a monk and train his knackers off in a 12 week camp. Having said that though, I think before Floyd and after that fight there has been a significant change on that score.



I totally agree!

He doesn't have the physical presence and ability to bully opponents the same as he does at 140. It's just a shame for Ricky at the moment that there's a lot more quality around in the 147 division than the 140. You certainly can't knock the lad though for stepping out of his 'own' division to have a crack at the very best of the 147's.

That was NOT the Castillo that fought Coralles. NO way. I very much doubt that that Castillo would have stayed down. He looked like a fighter at the end of his career.



Did you WATCH the Urango fight?



His "awesomeness" will not be proven by defeating Lazcano or even Malignaggi. Neither are elite fighthers, although the latter has fast hands and a big heart.

Against Torres and Witter - right now I rate Hatton's chances at around 50/50.

I've no doubt he'll be in good condition for this fight. He is obliged to be. But can he sustain that conviction? He's signed a five(?) fight deal with Golden Boy. That's a lot of time making 140 for a guy who loves his food and booze. At 29, most fighters are looking at going up at least one division from their prime.

His team have every right to be concerned about Ricky becoming weight drained. You can't keep on losing 15-20lbs before weigh-in and not have it affect you in some way. At 25 you have the energy to compensate. At 30-32 you don't.



I don't knock the lad for wanting to be the best. He was extremely brave in taking on Mayweather, an opponent who has destroyed pressure fighters by the dozen in the past (look at the Gatti fight).

Interesting that Manny Pacquiao's team are in discussion with Golden Boy about a fight with Hatton should Manny show well up a weight and Hatton defeat Lazcano and (probably) Malignaggi.

TBH, I think Pacquiao has no business moving up to 140 (although he says he's comfortable at that weight). Hatton should have too much power for Pac, but it still would be difficult.

Yeah, a fight Hatton won by unanimous decision. Sure, he faded a bit towards the end of the fight, but he landed far more punches than Urango and pretty much dominated every round bar 2 or 3.



A potential fight against Torres would be a great fight IMO. Unlike Witter, Torres has actually fought a top class fighter in Miguel Cotto and gave him a good fight aswell. I don't know where Witter gets this reputation from to be honest.

"If it'd have gone 12 rounds Enzo would have destroyed him."

You see Mr Calzaghe, that's the thing with boxing. I'm pretty sure your geezer was knocked out after 1 and a half rounds, so how the !! can you claim anything about what would have happened over 12 rounds.

I'll be taping the Gavin Rees fight tonight,should be interesting who he fights next if he wins.He beat M,baye easliy on points while Kotelnik drew and lost on points against him like he did against Witter.I fancy a points win for Rees and i'd like to see him against Witter later this year.Thats the fight most likely imo due to the americans not being interested in Witter fights,ruling out Hatton and Khan for now.

I think the jury's out on Rees. I like his handspeed and workrate, but he's only fought a couple a decent blokes.

Tough fight against Kotelnik, tho. He gave Witter a very hard night.

Kotelnik took him back to school. Rees is game and walked through some bombs, but he didn't have the tools to break down his more experienced opponent. That and he looked a weight or two out of his depth. Rees looks a lightweight or even featherweight. He looks way too small at 140lb.
Kotelnik. Not much to say. Tidy, organised, fights in straight lines, vicious left hand. Looks a difficult character to break down.

Just watched the Haye v Maccrinelli(sp) fight, looks like Haye will take the Heavyweight division by storm. I was always worried about him after all the hype he recieved before he was beaten by Carl Thompson(sp), he looked so unfit and hung his chin out. He seems to have improved alot and with that sort of speed and power I cant see many Heavyweights being able to live with him.

Also just watched the Marquez v Pac-man fight, so enjoyable! Please get it on one more time.

Definitely. Sure he could boil down to those weights.

Hatton was due to fight Lazcano early in 2006 but Lazcano was forced to pull out seven weeks before the fight due to injury...