A New Ricky Hatton? - PRGUY85's Blog

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PRGUY85's Blog

A New Ricky Hatton?

Posted on November 23, 2008 at 10:46 AM.

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Yesterday, I watched the Hatton vs Malignaggi fight in what continues to be a series of busy Saturday nights on HBO for boxing fans. As for the fight itself, it was basically what was expected: two contrasting styles meeting in the ring where the predominating one would dictate the match. And the style that dominated the action yesterday night was the one employed by The Hitman. Yet, was it the same style the millions of adoring Brit fans come to know and love or was it a different Ricky Hatton we all saw on the ring?

Throughout the first rounds of the fight, it was the same old Hatton. He was bouncing on his toes, looking for rhythm to lunge toward Paulie's inside territory, trying to push the action with rough, rugged antiques. At times it was effective, at times it showed flashes of the same instances that drove him head on toward a ring corner and down for the count against Mayweather 11 months ago. Yet, by the middle rounds something happened. Yes, Ricky Hatton was still driving the action forward and not giving Malignaggi any space watsoever, yet he was also doing something else: he was jabbing and taking his time. Under the tutelage of Floyd Mayweather Sr (a weird and unexpected development in my eyes), Hatton employed more jabs and was seen more confortable fighting on the outisde at times with clean jabs and hooks. I don't really know if this is something Floyd Sr brought to the table or if it's just Ricky trying to employ different techniques into an aging package, however for the most part it worked beautifully.

As for Malignaggi, I never really thought he had anything to do on the top of the 140 division. He is a slick boxer and has personality (those hairstyles are way over the top), but he lacks a punch and the necessary skills to win against aggressive boxers with more than just a powerless jab. He never could establish his gameplan and didn't follow Buddy Mcguirt's instructions in the corner. In my eyes, Mcguirt did him a favor saving him from two more rounds of punishment in what was an already lost fight. True, no boxer wants to lose by knockout but I prefer that to getting one punch too many and then end up wasted and punch drunk later on the road.

What does the future hold for Ricky Hatton? I sure hope he continues to employ both his aggresive inside style with outside jabbing and combinations that just helps him to edge closer to his target. He said he wants the winner of Pacquiao vs De la Hoya. My guess is he will fight Pacquiao no matter the outcome of that fight considering De la Hoya already has stated numerous times that this is his last fight and has made a huge propaganda around this fact. Also, The Golden Boy is just too big for Ricky Hatton and it would not make for a fair fight. As for Hatton vs Pacquiao, I think Hatton has a good chance of beating him in what could turn out to be an all action fight.