Re: Boxing Round 2 : Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:07 pm  

Mugwump wrote:

Hatton's problem is there is no-one out there BIG enough to fight him who he can beat.

Mayweather - would be another slaughter.
Pac - almost killed him last fight.
Mosley - Hatton is made for him.
Marquez - countered to death.
Cotto - even shot is too big.
Possibly Margarito to play the villain - but he's WAY too big, even without plastered hands.

Clottey, Berto, Bradley? None of them are NAMES and all of them are dangerous. The risk-reward ratio is too high.

He could, of course, take on a tomato can. But who wants to see that?

Ooops ... I forgot Khan. That WOULD be a huge fight - but even with Amir's dubious chin, those fast hands working to plan laid out by Roach, a guy who has Ricky's game figured out to the full stop?

I see it pretty similar. Khan would stop Hatton in the mid rounds IMO. Hatton couldn't handle the speed and volume of punches and the only chance Hatton would have would be to start quick and get Khan on the ropes.

Marquez seemed the most genuine option for Ricky, but I wouldn't want to see that either.

Re: Boxing Round 2 : Tue Mar 09, 2010 1:04 pm  

Mugwump wrote:

37 pages for the wrestling thread.
7 for boxing.

The Russians should have first-striked us when they had the opportunity.

There's still time for that.

Re: Boxing Round 2 : Tue Mar 09, 2010 4:34 pm  

Harrison's Europian title fight is off as the Polish champion has been given a shot against Vitali. Vitali continues to pad his record before packin it in.

Khan - Mallinaggi has now been confirmed. Rumours that Ortiz - Campbell (Nate) will be on the undercard.

Re: Boxing Round 2 : Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:28 pm  

upthecats wrote:

Word on the street is that Hatton has decided to call it a day, expected to be in the papers tomorrow. Hope it's true and the correct decision for me...

Hatton has denied this, and says he is training hard

Re: Boxing Round 2 : Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:52 am  

Hatton won't pack in until he sees how the Mayweather v Mosley and Pac v Clottey fights mix up. The defeated party in either might choose Hatton because he's a boxing cash cow.

But Hatton's living in dreamland thinking he can take any of the above on. His punch resistance is gone. His head movement is gone. The hurtful bodywork that was for so many years his trademark is now a distant memory. And on top of this he currently looks like he's 40lbs above fighting weight.

I suppose Marquez is an option. He is nowhere near as comfortable as Pac at the higher weights. Against Floyd he was like a gnat trying to hurt a horse. Although he wasn't helped by Floyd's blatant disregard of the weight he was contracted to make.

Hatton retains enough power to hurt Marquez (who isn't too difficult to put down but practically impossible to knock out), but his wide, front-on aggressive style would leave him wind open to Marquez's lethal counters. I don't think Marquez can stop him, but he can certainly bust him up.

Paulie will be a good test for Khan. Amir's chinny, but Paulie can't break an egg with his punches (his hands are powder-like these days). On the other hand, Paulie is pretty quick, and if he gets his jab going and he can hit with more than just Andrex with his other he could well give Amir a few problems.

Amir has to be the favourite. His defence has improved out of site. His hands are up there with the fastest in the sport and he's now beginning to plant his feat and torque both his legs and body into the punch. If he fights to Roach's plan he'll put a clinical beatdown on Ricky.

Re: Boxing Round 2 : Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:38 am  

You can understand Hatton wanting one more big fight after his last performance. To lose in round 2 was very embarrassing and I'm sure if he faced Marquez he'd give a better performance. His display against Malignaggi shows that he still has something left in him. The problem is, he needs to realise he isn't an elite fighter and there is no point in trying to convince himself or anyone else otherwise.

I can't see Malignaggi causing Khan too many problems. He is tailor made for Khan in both style and his reputation and Roach wouldn't put him against him if this wasn't the case. That's why he's avoided Maidana for now, far too risky at this stage of Khan's career. Malignaggi isn't.

Re: Boxing Round 2 : Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:38 pm  

Blobbynator wrote:

You can understand Hatton wanting one more big fight after his last performance. To lose in round 2 was very embarrassing and I'm sure if he faced Marquez he'd give a better performance. His display against Malignaggi shows that he still has something left in him. The problem is, he needs to realise he isn't an elite fighter and there is no point in trying to convince himself or anyone else otherwise.

Hatton was an excellent fighter. A double-weight world champion. Ring Magazine. Lineal. Held his belt for years. Fought and won in America. Only went out against two of the modern greats. But he was never elite. His biggest win was against Tszyu. Tszyu was on the verge of being elite at his peak (he blew his chances of true greatness when - whilst lined up to fight Oscar - he was KOd by Vince Phillips). Remember, Kostya was talking of getting out of the sport two years before the fight and his game was on the slide. Not a steep slide to be fair, but the direction was definitely downhill. And let's not forget that Hatton got away with some extremely dubious roughouse tactics in that fight (at times I half expected him to pick Kostya up and tombstone him - Undertaker-style). Tactics that in the US (and other countries) would have seen him docked one or several points - perhaps even disqualified. The Tszyu camp's post-fight comments were seen as sour grapes - but they did have something of a point. But I guess you live and die by the rules on the night.

Where Ricky succeeded was in becoming the first ELITE boxing draw from Britain - the only man in boxing who could be relied upon to sell out any venue and reel in millions on PPV. How he managed to achieve this whilst never once being seen fighting on terrestrial TV is a bit of a mystery. I suppose part of it was down to his cheerful "everyman" personality, his affiliation with the beer-swilling working man and Manchester (City). But the rest of it? There isn't a promoter on the planet who wouldn't kill to know that.

I can't see Malignaggi causing Khan too many problems. He is tailor made for Khan in both style and his reputation and Roach wouldn't put him against him if this wasn't the case. That's why he's avoided Maidana for now, far too risky at this stage of Khan's career. Malignaggi isn't.

I like Paulie. He's no bum. His hands let him down in the Hatton fight. IIRC, he blew out his right in the first round. After that he was easy meat (although there was a time in the fifth round when he started to cause Ricky problems with his accurate jab). Against Cotto he put up one of the bravest performances I've seen in many years. Cotto pounded the phuck out of him and yet he still hung in there are tried to fight back.

If Malignaggi could just keep his hands in one piece he'd be P4P - no doubts about it. He says they're better now through treatment. I hope so, because if they are he'll give Amir problems. He's quick, defensively sound, has a good chin and a belter of a jab. I'd rather Amir take on a prime Paulie and not the one who was practically defenceless against Hatton. That would be a great fight. One which would give Khan a real idea of what it's like to take on top level opposition. He needs that kind of experience before he goes in (probably) against Marquez, whose counters are capable of knocking him into another phucking dimension.

Re: Boxing Round 2 : Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:37 am  

It's a sad indication that one of Paulie's career highlights was his performance against Cotto when his face got smashed to pieces. His best win was a points victory against Lovermore N'Dou and maybe his recent win against Diaz.

I'll give him his due, his last win against Diaz was pretty good and I thought he had him the time before that aswell. But for me without any punching power he'll never be a P4P fighter, and even though Khan's chin isn't the best (although I don't think it's as bad as some make it), I don't think Paulie will come anywhere close to a knockdown, whereas Khan has the power and speed to do it.

I think Khan will win by UD or late stoppage.

Re: Boxing Round 2 : Thu Mar 11, 2010 4:49 pm  

Agree with Mugwump re: Hatton. Good summation.

Khan Mallinaggi will be interesting but like Blobby, I can't see anything other than a Khan win.

Re: Boxing Round 2 : Fri Mar 12, 2010 12:24 am  

I know Roach is trying to build up Khan's confidence, but sooner or later he's going to have to put him in with someone who can dig. I know there's been talk of Maidana as a possible opponent and he is seen by many as a threat. But I'm not convinced by Maidana. Yes, he's got good stopping power - but beyond that there's not much else. If Khan keeps his gloves up in that Floyd Patterson peek-a-boo style and fights at distance it will be a massacre. There's talk of Valero coming up from Lightweight, but I don't think Roach will fancy a piece of that. Besides, I can't see it being long before Khan moves up to stabilize at Welterweight. By then I think Cotto, Pac, Floyd and Mosley will have moved on leaving a pretty barren division for Khan to do what he likes in. I don't see Lamont Peterson or Devon Alexander posing much of a threat. But Bradley is dangerous. He reminds me a bit of Marvin Hagler. Not a devastating puncher, but a good boxer who is hard as nails. Bradley v Khan would be a great match. Andre Berto gets a lot of good press, but I watched him against Collazo and he stank the place out. Saul Alvarez is the new kid on the block. He's got talent, but he's still very raw. And that's about it. Khan is fortunate to be arriving just at the right time. There isn't anyone really who is a definite no-no - not even Valero, who has padded his KO ratio with more than a few tomato cans over the years. Provided Khan keeps his head together and doesn't repeat the suicide heroics of the Prescott fight he'll be fine.