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Entries tagged with "Ricky+Hatton":

• Sugar Shane's J'Accuse – May 14th, 2011

  
  
  

• Ricky Hatton Hangs ‘Em Up – July 7th, 2011

  After an illustrious career, Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton has formally announced that his fighting days are over. The former junior welterweight and welterweight champion was as tough an hombre that ever walked the face of the earth. If his heart sometimes trumped his skills, Hatton’s heart was always up for the challenge. The 33-year-old Hatton had his first fight in Nov. 1997, a first round KO over Colin McAuley, and compiled a 42-2, 32 KOs record. Hatton beat Jon Thaxton to become the British light-welterweight champion in 2000, and topped out in 2005 when he upset champion Kostya Tszyu to win the IBF junior welterweight title. He collected the WBA belt with a victory over Carlos Maussa in Nov. 2005. He defeated Luis Collazo to win the WBA welterweight title in Boston in May 2006. Hatton followed up that a UD12 over Juan Urango in Jan. 2007 to win the IBF welterweight strap. Hatton stopped Jose Luis Castillo six months later. Later that year, on Dec. 8, 2007, Hatton challenged WBC welterweight king Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The fight was Hatton’s Samson vs. Mayweather’s Goliath. But because the Marquis of Queensberry Rules forbids slingshots, Hatton was stopped in round 10 and suffered his first loss. Hatton picked up where he left off with a win over Juan Lazcano in Manchester, England, in May 2008, and TKO’d Paulie Malignaggi six months later. All those wins put Hatton in line to fight Manny Pacquiao on May 2, 2009. If the fight with Mayweather was Samson vs. Goliath, the fight with Pacquiao was Samson vs. Thor. Pacman knocked Hatton out cold in the second round, and Ricky hasn’t fought since. "I am very upset,” Hatton said today. “It's a very sad day for me. I know it is the right decision though. I've known it was the right thing to do for 18 months to be honest. "It's a bit of a relief to finally do it. It's been hovering over my head for such a long time.” Go out on top. That’s the classy way to do it. Hatton may have lost to all-time greats—who hasn’t?—but he fought the best, and he always fought his best. Never gave less than 100%. Never quit. Never said die. Hatton was the kind of fighter you’d figure you’d have to drag from the ring kicking and screaming and clinging to the ropes. But not Hatton. He’s as full of surprises as he’s full of piss and vinegar. "These last two years have been really frustrating,” Hatton said. “I hit rock bottom and it almost drove me insane.” When Hatton says he hit “rock bottom,” you’d better believe it was rock bottom. When he say “it almost drove me insane,” trust me, it almost drove him insane. You could say Hatton was this or that, whatnot, or the other thing. But he had balls of steel and a heart of gold. Who could ask for anything more? "There's nothing more I love than training for a fight, but I have no dreams left now." A man without dreams is man who has woken up. Congratulations to Ricky Hatton, a man who has woken up.
  
  

• Ricky Hatton vs. Kostya Tszyu – July 7th, 2011

  When Hatton challenged Kostya Tszyu to a fight of his title, he also challenged the experts. Hatton was fast enough, all agreed, he hit hard enough, but he only moved in one direction and it was forward. An offensive hitting machine in his prime, it all came together for Hatton on June 4, 2005, the night he defeated the champion Tszyu to win the IBF junior welterweight title. The Hitman lived up to his moniker that night. Hatton hit a prime Tszyu with every wrench, hammer and tong in his toolbox. If a kitchen sink weren't so heavy, Hatton would have thrown it at Tszyu…
  
  

• Amir Khan Artist – July 18th, 2011

  When he uses his great length, pumping that jab more actively, as Maestro Freddie has taught him, then, yes, artist...
  
  

• Fathers and Sons – August 29th, 2011

  
  
  

• Intimations of Things to Come – September 11th, 2011

  “Things happen in life,” said Mayweather. “It's a rollercoaster ride. You go through certain obstacles in life. That's what life is…”
  
  

• Mayweather-Ortiz: The Caveats – September 12th, 2011

  Floyd will employ old school shoulder rolls, angles, left elbow push offs, and he will selectively target his shots early on…
  
  

• The Enigma of Floyd Mayweather – September 14th, 2011

  “And Mayweather is beginning to operate like a surgeon," said Jim Lampley. "Fighting Floyd Mayweather is a dose of cold reality..."
  
  

• Floyd Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton – May 3rd, 2012

  Floyd Mayweather met Ricky Hatton on Dec. 8, 2007, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Both fighters were undefeated. Mayweather, who was defending the WBC welterweight title he won from Arturo Gatti in 2005, was 38-0, and Hatton record was a spotless 43-0. No one expected the rough-and-tumble Hitman to outwit the sweet scientist Mayweather, but it was one helluva fight while it lasted...
  
  

• Ricky Hatton's Darkest Hour – September 30th, 2011

  
  
  

• Ricky Hatton Keeps It Clean – October 13th, 2011

  
  
  

• Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton – October 13th, 2011

  Manny Pacquiao fought Ricky Hatton on May 2, 2009 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for Hatton's IBO junior welterweight title. The Hitman's record was a superlative 45-1, with his only loss coming at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Dec. 2007. Pacquiao was 48-3-2 and hadn't lost a fight in over four years. Everyone expected that when these super-tough hombres fought there would be fireworks. Nobody expected the fireworks to end as quickly as they did...
  
  

• Pacquiao: Blunting Greatness – November 9th, 2011

  Some sick and sad process of dulling the luster and blunting the greatness of Manny Pacquiao has and is taking place before our very eyes…
  
  

• El Temible: No Happy Endings – November 27th, 2011

  
  
  

• Bam Bam Hits New York City – December 1st, 2011

  
  
  

• Manny vs. Floyd: Public Perception and Shifting Leverage – January 3rd, 2012

  Public perception shifted once again in Pacquiao’s favor thanks to Floyd’s domestic violence case for which he was sentenced to 90 days...
  
  

• Book Review: Mike Silver's 'The Arc of Boxing' – January 11th, 2012

  While ‘The Arc of Boxing’ may be overly subjective at times, boxing by definition is a pretty subjective business…
  
  

• Open Letter to Mayweather and Pacquiao – January 24th, 2012

  Do Floyd and Manny really want to be the undisputed king of boxing, or do they just want to look good as elite fighters…
  
  

• My Biased Case for Miguel Cotto – February 8th, 2012

  I’ll put on my biased glasses and root for quiet wisdom to stifle brash ego, for confidence to trump arrogance...
  
  

• Roger, Floyd, and Sugar Ray Robinson – March 14th, 2012

  Roger Mayweather the boxing historian should have stopped while he was ahead. But stopping while he’s ahead is not Roger’s style…
  
  

• Golden Days Donny Lalonde – March 28th, 2012

  Donny "Golden Boy" Lalonde always dreamed and still dreams big, and more often than not those dreams have come to fruition…
  
  

• Boxing’s Five Greatest Moments: 2000-2009 – April 6th, 2012

  It’s about the individual moments, indistinct passages of time where, as we’ll see, two minutes can seem like a second and a second can seem like two minutes…
  
  

• Postcard from Panama: Gimnasio, of Dreams to Heroes – April 16th, 2012

  We started to think that perhaps midway through the dinner there would be a bongo drum roll and Duran would make his entrance…
  
  

• Paulie in the Winner’s Circle – April 30th, 2012

  
  
  

• A Real Fight: Mayweather vs. Cotto – May 4th, 2012

  It’s sad when a fighter loses his reservoir of skills; it’s justice when he walked on everyone in his path on the way up...
  
  

• Two Guns, Six Heads and Three Fouls – May 8th, 2012

  In the end, when they tally up the guys who fight under the creed of “anything goes,” Teddy Reid's name will be near the top…
  
  

• On Champions, “Champions,” and “Championships” – May 18th, 2012

  In terms of scoring and ranking, boxing has more in common with gymnastics or synchronized swimming than it does basketball or football...