TARK

That’s funny…. I know tons of people who hate Hatton… They think he sucks wind.. I don’t. I like him. I hope he focuses on his defense and jab.. And his footwork.. He has to improve all of these about 60% to beat any current welterweight champion except Malignaggi—but he has the physical talent to become a lot better than his fair showing on Saturday.

Posted November 25, 2012 8:25 pm 

Rich..

Anonymous……How long exactly did you help train Lazcano,…did you use the name Anonymous then and under what capacity did you help him……Don’t think I’m doubting you, but Lazcano being in Houston and you training him in Sacramento seems a bit of a stretch to travel each day…….

Posted November 24, 2012 3:55 am 

Anonymous

Tark – PBF’s PPV figures aren’t exactly a testament to his popularity. People want to see the guy who cheapens the noble art sparked out. Period. They want to see his big mouth closed for good. Never seen 15k PBF ‘fans’ travel anywhere to watch him fight. We’re talking popularity and excitement. Hatton provides it in spades, PBf doesn’t.

Posted November 23, 2012 7:15 pm 

Junior

Tark……….. Floyds ppv numbers are high because alot of people go to see him lose. Im a BIG Mayweather fan, and have noticed any time he fights he receives more booes than cheers. Alot of the time he gets booed when his hand is raised at the end of a fight. lol. Mayweather is marmite. I dont know of anyone who hates Hatton. Some may not like him, but he doesnt say or do anything to make people hate him. So ALL Hattons crowds are actualy there to support him.

Posted November 23, 2012 8:35 am 

Mick the Marmalizer

PBF reminds me a bit of Ray Leonard. IE-Fight’s when he feels like it & @ which weight he choose’s, which is partly down to the WBC. Okay we all know there’s far too many sanctioning bodies wrecking our sport & unification is vital, but mandatory defence’s also have to be honoured. I’m confused, mentally buggered & giving up on the sport I love due to boxing politics & prima donna champions.

Posted November 23, 2012 8:27 am 

Rich

Anonymous….You say “I help to train Juan Lazcano for fight against Hatton at the MMA & Boxing gym in Sacramento”…….Lazcano trained under Ronnie Sheilds in Houston..

Posted November 23, 2012 4:48 am 

Andy Pandy Anonymous

Floyd Mayweather is still the best boxer on Planet Earth

Posted November 23, 2012 2:06 am 

Anonymous

Should of fought Pacquiao, 3-4 years ago, when Pacquiao was knocking people out, that will be why Mayweather will have a question mark,avoided the fight.

Posted November 22, 2012 11:44 pm 

Anonymous

Mayweather only fights now and again anyway, he’s plastic, how many can I get in till I retire, 2 a year, while munching on food, money Mayweather, you don’t want to hear that as a Boxing fan, go away, just retire.

Posted November 22, 2012 11:33 pm 

Anonymous

Mayweather (Boxing fans) will drop him like a hot potato if he loses, worse still, if he get’s sparked, any fighter can get knocked out, History of Boxing. Hatton Boxing fans are different

Posted November 22, 2012 11:29 pm 

Anonymous

Tyson would of done a David Haye, as in knockout, times have changed,was 25 years,there are faster same weight punchers now.

Posted November 22, 2012 11:08 pm 

Anonymous

Tyson knocked out Larry Holmes,knocked him out,he would done the same thing to Foreman, Holyfield was landing on Foreman, but he didn’t have the strength or the knockout power, it would of been target practice for Tyson.

Posted November 22, 2012 10:58 pm 

Anonymous

Foreman v Holyfield, Tyson would of knocked out Foreman in 1991.

Posted November 22, 2012 10:54 pm 

Joseph Herron

Well stated, Tark!!

Posted November 22, 2012 8:56 pm 

Patrick2

Some of you seem to think no one likes Floyd — that no one supports him. What a joke! I’d argue many love him — his technical brilliance is amazing to watch. I counter with how can you love this sport, yet not appreciate, arguably, one of the best ever? Okay, as a person, sure, Floyd is no angel, but most of his “bad reputation” is marketing — get a contingent of people to hate you and they’ll fill seats and buy PPV just in the hope to see you lose (Ali did this too).

Posted November 22, 2012 8:45 pm 

TARK

Floyd gets more support than Hatton.. Look at his PPV numbers.. But I like Ricky Hatton and hope he fulfills his fistic dreams.. I like a guy who comes back from a devastating KO loss and goes right after a recent champion.. I hope Ricky stays busy and doesn’t bite off more than he can chew for the first couple years of his comeback.. Feel your way back like George Foreman did.. Curiously, people laughed at George for the first 3 years of his comeback but they soon stopped laughing when they realized how serious Foreman was. George said, “After the Holyfield fight people congratulated me, ‘What a fight you gave the champ. It was a worthwhile comeback George. You gave it a good try.’ That got me down. I didn’t want to hear about a good try. I wanted to hear the referee yell 8.. 9.. 10.. You are OUT over the Heavyweight Champion I just knocked into next week.”

Posted November 22, 2012 8:05 pm 

Anonymous

Agreed about the Collazo fight I thought Collazo sneaked it personally. It was obvious that Hatton couldn’t cut it at 147 after that fight and quickly slipped back down to 140. But like him or loathe him, Like brawlers or hate em you can’t say that Hatton wasn;t exciting to watch and somes over as thoroughly down to earth and decent. Mayweather could only DREAM of that kind of support.

Posted November 22, 2012 7:19 pm 

Anonymous

Shut it you fraud. Go clean the dishes.

Posted November 22, 2012 7:17 pm 

Boxtradamus

There’s only ONE Mayweather!!!!

Posted November 22, 2012 6:27 pm 

psy

Give it a rest mate, no one cares.

Posted November 22, 2012 5:59 pm 

It’s Me, Ernie

I guess if you consider beer farts and bad teeth energy…

Posted November 22, 2012 3:31 pm 

D35tr00

I am happy Ricky is back. There are absolutely nothing like being in an arena watching a Hatton bout. The Hatton fans bring tremendous energy!

Posted November 22, 2012 2:30 pm 

meh

Lets hope he has learned some defense. From the training I’ve seen its still looking like he plans to fight like his dinner money got stolen and thats no good against top top guys. Really nice guy though but 3 years of coke beer and pies is not good for boxing performance.

Posted November 22, 2012 2:23 pm 

shaun spensley

lewis obviously

Posted November 22, 2012 2:22 pm 

It’s Me, Ernie

Anonymous wrote:

“takes a few too land some of his own- a true fighter”. Just not much of a boxer…

Posted November 22, 2012 11:59 am 

Mick the Marmalizer

So who’s the UK’s #1 post war boxer? Buchanan, Conteh, Turpin, Lewis, Honeyghan, hatton or Another?

Posted November 22, 2012 11:07 am 

Patrick2

I lean more towards boxers — those who have mastered the art of hitting without getting hit — more so than maulers. To watch a fighter able to do this, which is a true art, is a thing of beauty.

Posted November 22, 2012 10:31 am 

Anonymous

takes a few too land some of his own- a true fighter.

Posted November 22, 2012 8:46 am 

Anonymous

The comment about just extending your hand to meet him is bang on as well, I seen Ricky in a night club in Blackpool after the tzyu fight, fair to say I was half cut and there was no reason for Ricky to give me the time of day, but he was happy to chat to me for 10 minutes about boxing and came over as a genuinely nice guy.

Posted November 22, 2012 7:24 am 

Anonymous

like his style or not he was/is an exiting fighter and others could learn from that alone with their boring crappy styles that kill this entertainment sport.

Posted November 22, 2012 6:51 am 

curtley

Wrong although you may have helped train Lazcano and if your game plan was to lose virtually every round then you did get it 100% correct. The performance was poor by Hatton and he was hurt at one point but this does not mean that he was close to losing, Ricky gets too little credit in the boxing world but if you think about it a prime Ricky (the one who fought Kostya) would have massacred a prime Lazcano who was a very good fighter, this shows that whether you like his style or not Hatton was top drawer. In a dream world he beats the Ukranian then Paulie and rides off into the sunset redeemed.

Posted November 22, 2012 6:21 am 

Mick the Marmalizer

This is a pretty big gamble for Ricky. Senchenko’s no mug & certainly won’t come to lay down. Malignaggi will actually be relitivly easy after this one. All action fighters such as RH generally burn themselfs out (Remember Barry McGuigan) & I can see that happening against the likes of Kell Brook or Amir Khan. Hatton vs Malignaggi @ MSG will be a massive ca$h injection though, so I don’t blaim him for trying.

Posted November 22, 2012 6:12 am 

Throwback

Nice work Mr Livitz. I wish Ricky the best and hope he’s able to redeem himself in his eyes. Personally I hope it is one and done. He looks gaunt and faded and I worry his punch resistance might have left him after so many hard fights. Boxing is cruel though, he had the stones to fight Floyd at WW (even though he struggled vs Colazo at that weight) and Pacquaio who was a monster at the time. I think he should have been given more respect for stepping up because he could avoided these fighters and handpicked fights and retired with a completely different rep/legacy. Best of luck Ricky.

Posted November 22, 2012 6:07 am 

Anonymous

I help to train Juan Lazcano for fight against Hatton at MMA & Boxing gym in Sacramento, CA! Lazcano fought a perfect fight he utilize our game plan in 100% Hatton were completely eliminated with his own style! The judge helps Hatton to survive at end of the fight while he was hurt by Lazcano after he apply perfect left hook with following combinations of strikes! Anyway it was good fight!

Posted November 22, 2012 4:22 am 

Patrick2

I like Hatton’s fighting spirit, but I’ve never been a fan of his mauling style.

Posted November 21, 2012 10:56 pm 

Pacquiao exposer

There`s only 1 “hitman” and that`s Tommy Hearns.

Posted November 21, 2012 10:55 pm 

Smooth Flow Bolton

This is a fitting and professional piece. The part about Ricky’s fans drowning out the MGM grand with noise is testament to how popular he is. It’s the fight the whole of Manchester is talking about. Lazcano was a complete shutout, in my eyes anyway can’t believe some people’s comments…Ahem.
But Ricky could have come back against a domestic fighter, an easier fight vs someone like Junior Witter, or Colin Lynes, but he took a calculated risk, a former champ in Senchenko, who is no mug. Win or lose, Hatton is redeemed. And, I expect this will create some interest across the pond with a certain Mr Malignaggi…..

Posted November 21, 2012 10:19 pm 

HHLondon

Apologies to the author.

Posted November 21, 2012 10:19 pm 

HHLondon

Joseph, I stand corrected. Yes, the Collazo fight at 147lbs.

Posted November 21, 2012 10:13 pm 

Joseph Herron

By the way, Bobdigi, Marc Livitz is a brilliant writer but uses a very different style than mine. You would see that if you read the article.

Posted November 21, 2012 10:06 pm 

Joseph herron

HHLondon, you guys are 100% wrong…the bout with Lazcano was competitive, but Ricky was never in serious danger of losing that fight.

The scorecards were 120-110, 118-110, and 120-108…that almost a shut out.

Are you guys getting confused with the Luis Collazo bout?

Because Hatton was lucky to get the victory against Collazo…but he dominated the Lazcano bout…Lazcano in his prime could have maybe pulled off the close victory, but not the version that Hatton fought in 2008.

It’s a strange phenomenon in boxing when a underdog does considerably better than expected…he ultimately gets more credit than he deserves in the eyes of the boxing public.

But it’s a moot point and has very little to do with the overall body of work.

Posted November 21, 2012 10:02 pm 

HHLondon

BobDigi, You’re correct; The author is inaccurate and Hatton was extremely lucky to get the nod in the Laczano fight and a red flag for Hatton at 147lbs.

Posted November 21, 2012 9:40 pm 

HHLondon

Ernie, 99.9% of ‘em get sparked!

All of ‘em put it on the line for our entertainment and Hatton was pretty entertaining.

Not happy with his comeback, but I am grateful for the decent nights he gave us, win or lose!

Posted November 21, 2012 9:34 pm 

Fishkie

Hatton is a top man! The ONLY people who wont admit that are keyboard warriors. Fact

Posted November 21, 2012 9:31 pm 

Jospeh Herron

See, Bobdigi, your way off base on both accounts. I have a completely different writing style than the brilliant Mr. Livitz.

You would know that if you took the time to read the article.

I know on this site, most avid readers are used to being overtly scrutinizing towards the writers who contribute to Eastside, but Marc is different.

Your missing out on the experience of reading a very insightful and well crafted piece of work by holding on to a ridiculous point that has very little relevance to the entire body of writing.

It doesn’t showcase your intelligence by focusing on an opinion that really doesn’t make or break the article…quite the contrary, brother!!

Posted November 21, 2012 8:44 pm 

Anonymous

What a top man Ricky Hatton is. Met him in Vegas. Just meeting chatting to a mate. Top sense of humour: as a Man City fan he has needed 1 over the years!

Posted November 21, 2012 8:43 pm 

It’s Me, Ernie

He sure gets knocked out well.

Posted November 21, 2012 8:35 pm 

Anonymous

Hatton might be making a return but the ‘hitman’ is history….

Posted November 21, 2012 8:01 pm 

bobdigi

the article said he cruised to victory against Lazcano… he didn’t!!

sorry joseph I know you wrote the article but accuracy is a necessity in boxing writing!!

Posted November 21, 2012 7:00 pm 

Joseph Herron

Lighten up, Bobdigi…you’re being way too critical on non-factoring points.

First of all, the author heard the Hitman talk about his bouts with depression and suicide attempt on a conference call this week.

And no…the Lazcano fight wasn’t pretty, but the judges at ringside would tend to agree with Mr. Livitz’s assessment. But anyone who is familiar with Lazcano knows that he’s a tough outing for anyone.

It’s a shame that you didn’t read the entire article…it’s a great read and Mark Livitz is one of the best writers in the boxing industry.

Posted November 21, 2012 6:47 pm 

bobdigi

didn’t read this all…. he never cruised to victory against Lazcano it was a poor tough performance and he never said he attempted to kill himself

Hattons cool but if he’s such a man of the people he shouldnt be putting making his faithful working class fans pay big pay per view fees to see his 1st fight!!

Posted November 21, 2012 6:36 pm