The Sporting calendar

Ricky Hatton, was on top of the boxing world. Now, just four Vegas fights later, his boxing career is over.
Boxing is now and always has been, a cruel game.
Every little mistake is there for all the world to see, the glory is all too brief in comparison to the down sides. No matter how good a fighter, there will always be someone better who comes along and takes it all away.

Ricky’s devastating knockout at the hands of ‘Pacman’ in round two of their fight, has undoubtedly blown his fight career apart.
Entering the ring, Hatton looked apprehensive, not his usual jovial self. In the pre fight warm up, shown online, it pictured Ricky and Manny in Ricky’s local pub, playing drts, another photo opportunity maybe, but as Hatton admitted, if he wasn’t fighting the pacman, he would be a fan of his.
The questions arising from the fight are nothing more than incidental, where was Hatton’s defence?
Where was the movement we had heard so much about?
Where was the re found jab?
Where was the ferocious body attack that Hatton used to great effect in his UK title fights?

Wether or not Hatton thought he could win or was feeling the power of Manny in the opening exchanges and decided to get it over with quickly, is irrelevant.
Some fight fans in the crowd stated that Hatton should “fight again to go out on a win” which I totally disagree with, he should retire now, safe in the knowledge that he took on and challenged the very best, and in his own weight catagory, beat them all!
Both of his defeats, came at the hands of fighters who have fought and won many world titles and at weights higher than his own. There is no shame in that at all.

Hatton’s record speaks for itself, a fighter of huge heart and courage, some explosive knockout wins, feared by many in his own weight division, world titles held, respected all around the boxing world.
He has been open and honest with everyone, from the basic fan and local news reporter, to the world press and media, now he needs to be honest with himself.

A wonderful ambassador for the sport, he has never been a swaggering believer of his own self importance, he just wanted to take on the best in the world and had the courage to do just that.

As a trainer he would be a good asset to any fighter, but the track record of great fighters training other fighters, is not a good one.
As a promoter, I think he is too honest for that profession.
I would advise a move into television work within the sport. Not since Jim Watt, has the country had such an experienced voice to explain to joe public the knowledge of the game.

How will Hatton go down in boxing history?
As a lion!
Hatton never dodged any of the top ranked fighters, he displayed humility and courage in all his fights, a refreshingly honest fighter who just strived to be the best in the world, who for a few years, in his own weight division, was exactly that!
Good luck in the future Ricky.

Ricky Hatton is a rare breed of boxer, that cares more for his record than he does for his wages and the glamour.
I like the man, he’s humble, he’s funny, he’s not afraid to laugh at himself, but above all, he’s honest.
In the ring, Hatton will rip out his own heart and beat you with it, if he thought it would swing the fight his way, he is a warrior.

To me when he’s fighting, he is irritating!
I don’t like fighters who pressure, walking forward, easy to hit as they close down the ring space, as Mayweather showed, if you have the power, the counterpuncher will normally win later in the fight, but with Hatton, you get an added bonus, he is a great body puncher!
Nothing is more frustrating than watching a fighter struggling to catch his opponent, as their defence is good, for half the fight and they still don’t use the body shots.

With Hatton, he has a formidable body attack, which reminds me of the great Mike McCallum (the bodysnatcher), which makes Hatton my favourite to win in the later rounds as Manny runs out of steam (the step up in weights must have an effect at some point?)

The problem for me is that Manny isn’t like other fighters, in that as Hatton was forced to take his Mayweather fight at Mayweather’s preferred weight, Manny seems to carry his speed and some of his power over several higher weights.
His speed will cause problems early in the fight for Hatton, but looking at Manny’s fight record reveals that where he’s needed it the power has remained, even at a weight above light-welterweight.

With Mayweather training Hatton, I can see that having a fighter come up in weight to fight, would be to Hatton’s advantage, but many other dangerous world class fighters have thought the same thing and been found out!

This is one tough fight to call, but I am going with Hatton to win by late stoppage or points.
He must get body punches in from the start and mix his attacks, it doesn’t matter how effective a defence, body shots cannot be avoided, this will slow Manny down in the later rounds for Hatton’s power to tell.
The one big advantage for Hatton, is that in his defeat against Mayweather, he learnt a valuable lesson, patience!
Don’t rush in and take your time, or you will be picked off. Without the Mayweather defeat, Hatton’s style would not have changed a bit and he would be fighting the wrong fight come sunday morning.

WBC super-middleweight champion Carl Froch, retained his title in dramatic style, with a stoppage just 14 seconds from the end of his fight with Jermain Taylor.

Froch looked confused and off balance for the early rounds, as Taylor’s handspeed constantly beat him to the punch.
In round three Froch was put down for the first time in his career after taking two heavy blows to the temple, but his eyes were clear and Taylor seemed unsure of continuing the attack to finish him off.
Taylor was by far the more accurate puncher, faster and making Froch reach for his shots, with Froch’s left jab almost none existant in the early rounds.
Despite the knockdown in the third, Froch had more power than Taylor and took the fourth as his jab finally returned.
Froch’s corner reminded him that they expected Taylor to start fast and urged him to relax and stay to the fight plan they had gone through in training, wise words with the benefit of hindsight!
Slowly Froch began to to edge into the fight in the middle rounds, with Taylor only mustering a flurry of punches when the ten second sound signalled the end of the round was near, yet Froch continued to reach for his punches and was being made to look awkward and off balance.
Gradually Froch started to make his power felt, as Taylor started to tire, but more worryingly, Froch still didn’t go to the body.
Taylor had switched his attack flurry to the middle of the rounds by round ten and was trading toe to toe, playing peekaboo style as soon as Froch loaded up to throw a big shot.
By round 12, Froch was well behind on two of the judges scorecards (I had him one round behind) and unbeknown to him, Froch would need a knockout to hold on to his title.
Taylor started slow as Froch piled in the punches, both fighters now tiring, Taylor backed up from one exchange, then seemed to wobble slightly, Froch loaded up and for the first time in the fight, Taylor didn’t seem to be able to move his head out of the way.

As the fight entered the last minute, Taylor backed up on to the ropes and Froch was now punching with nothing coming back, but Taylor had his hands up. A huge uppercut rocked Taylor’s head back and he crumpled in the corner.

Taylor got up at the count of 9 and was immeadiately rocked again back to the ropes, with the fight ending in less than 30 seconds, Froch landed a succession of blows, one of which dropped Taylor’s hands down to his waist and the ref had no choice but to step in and stop the fight.

To Taylor’s credit, he wasn’t critical of the referee at all, despite prompting from the american commentator in the ring, if anything this fight will enhance Froch’s big fight credentials, as so often happens when a champion struggles, all the top fighters around will think they can now take his title away.

Make no mistake, this was a huge gamble for Froch which could easily have ended his world title defence before it even got started, he did well but must use the body attack more to drop the hands of fighters of this class.
Speed is good but they cannot move the body out of the way and if Froch can catch them in the later rounds he needs to use his head more during fights.

Highlights of fight can be seen on itv.com (not sure if American fans can get it?) who should be congratulated for picking up delayed coverage of the fight, when all the other so called “big channels” didn’t want to cover the fight.

I’ve seen Jermaine’s last 6 or 7 fights here in the USA.
I can’t explain how a guy beats Bernard Hopkins twice, then loses to Kelly Pavlik twice, who then gets beat (badly) by Hopkins.
The math doesn’t add up.
He looked good against Lacy a few months ago, and I guess this all has some UK connection.
Lacy was Calzaghe’s victim, that put Calzaghe on the road to fighting big names over here. He destroyed Hopkins and then Roy Jones Jr. I still think it was lame of Calzaghe to fight two guys at the end of their game and then calling it quits. But this isn’t about Joe now. This all leads to Froch.

I don’t know what to expect. Jermaine needs this to get away from his two loses to Pavlik. It’s even more interesting that HBO decided to pass on his fight. Which makes it even more pressing for him to get a win. And I’m guessing Froch needs this to get to that next echelon of fighters, and to make a name for himself. Jermaine is his Lacy. Unfortunately, I’m in the same boat as the UKer’s. I don’t get Showtime, so I won’t be seeing the fight either.
I guess we’ll hear what happens.
Source: Peebs, USA Boxing guest writer.

The fight will be shown on a delayed basis on ITV4 at 8.30pm on Sunday April 26th and repeated on ITV1 at 11.15pm the same evening. ITV broadcast Froch’s title winning thriller against the then unbeaten Jean Pascal last December.

Froch is the only champion we have got, well done ITV for stepping in and showing it, even if it is only a time delayed showing.