Walking in a Hatton Wonderland

I first saw Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton fight two Decembers ago against Floyd Mayweather Jr..

I knew nothing about boxing, had only really seen Pacquiao fights by VCD in the Philippines, and found out recently that both Hatton and Mayweather were undefeated boxers at the top of the fight game.

This was the fight to watch, and my first time watching a mega fight live on TV since Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, when I really didn't know what I was watching.

Ricky was hyped going into the fight as an extremely physical brawler. Floyd Jr. was the pound for pound best, and a boxing wizard. Both were bigger in the sport than my man, Manny Pacquiao.

I did my best to research the fight and the fighters. Pacquiao was getting big in the boxing world, and I wanted to know how he measured up to the other bigs.

One name that everyone kept bringing up when discussing Hatton was Kostya Tszyu.

I forget why, besides his name's funny spelling, but I assumed he was Japanese. I thought I saw something about him fighting in Japan, and put it together.

So I always envisioned Hatton fighting a really tough Japanese bugger when people talked about that fight. They reflected with amazement on how Hatton "bulldozed" his way through Kostya.

These days a lot of people are saying he will do the same thing to Manny. Finally, I went back and watched the fight.

Wow! That was a totally different Hatton than the one I've seen.

I've seen him get schooled by Mayweather, no shame in that. He's looked terribly easy to hit against Juan Lazcano. Then he beat the light-fisted Paulie Malignaggi to rave reviews by experts, but failed to impress as many fans.

Watching Hatton fight Tszyu was like watching Michael Jordan dominate the 1993 Knicks!

He was mean, violent, ugly, dirty, hungry, and never quit brawling and rough-housing. That's the Ricky Hatton Pacquiao has to train for.

My first impression of the fight was not good. Hatton looked like someone who couldn't box, and didn't even want to try.

He did more grabbing, holding, and clinching than Georges St. Pierre against BJ Penn at UFC 94. He looked to have the same fight plan as GSP: make Kostya wrestle until his arms get tired and his striking isn't as effective.

Really, for the first few rounds I couldn't believe the referee would let anyone fight like that. Points should've been deducted. Hell, the fight could've been called off if it kept up.

Ricky was not boxing. It was kind of a sham. I felt disgusted. He was going out of his way just to dive on Kostya, grab his head, swing him, and tie him up.

When I first watched Mayweather/Hatton, I thought the referee did a horrible job, jumping in far too quickly to stop the action, and warning the wrong fighter, in Hatton.

Mayweather was the one ducking under armpits every chance he got, and weaving so low it was impossible to do anything other than fall on him.

Why was Joe Cortez beefing with Hatton so much?!

Now I know.

After watching the referee in Manchester let Ricky perfect his Muay Thai clinch, I would've been paranoid, too, if I were Joe!  

In the end, both fights were kind of ridiculous, and either could have had a different outcome if fought on different soil.

Back to the Kostya fight, however, neither fighter was willing to back down.

Maybe Tszyu had too much pride, or had just never dealt with a physical style and phenom such as Hatton before, but he walked in Hatton's wonderland, and fell prey to his game.

There were times in the fight when Kostya traded blows nicely with Hatton, but they were usually when he was boxing backwards. Too bad for him, Hatton was a lot faster going forwards.

I admired Hatton more and more as the fight went on. He started to box more and wrestle less.

But more than that, his stamina was the stuff of legends. It was like watching a Manny Pacquiao fight in a way, because the energizer bunny was in the house and getting his ass worn down!

Except I've never seen Manny keep up the pace in a brawl like that before. I've never seen him wrestle!

How the Pacquiao/Hatton fight goes down depends a lot on the style of the referee. It also comes down to who's done their homework.

Hatton's two fights with Kostya and Mayweather are like a how to and what not to do guidebook for Pacquiao.

Don't engage like Kostya. Duck like Mayweather. Let the referee do the wrestling for you.

And let us not forget that Pacquiao's lateral movement is probably quicker than Hatton coming forward.

Hatton may have learned a thing or two from those fights as well, and even more under the tutelage of Floyd Mayweather Sr., his recent trainer.

I just worry for Hatton that he may get away from what he is best at, in trying to fight a new style he is not used to.

Needless to say, this is going to be a war. Ricky ain't Oscar. And Manny ain't Paulie.

Let's get ready to rumble.