Gandalf The Black Wrote:

lloyd mayflower Wrote:

Gandalf The Black Wrote:

STEVENSKI Wrote:

Gandalf The Black Wrote:How many fights did Hatton have outside the UK before he fought Floyd? He almost lost his American debut fight against Collazo then got creamed by Floyd and Pacquiao. I just looked Hatton's record on Boxrec. Every single fight he had was in the UK(Including Tszyu) before the Collazo fight. Protected....maybe not. Avoiding competition......maybe so!

How many fights has Floyd, Roy, Hopkins, DLH & Mosley have outside the USA in total?

Roy: Two both extremely late in his career when he was as done as minute steak cooked for a hour.
Hopkins: had one when he went on the road to win his first real belt & none as a champion. Two in Canada very late in his career.
DLH: Zero
Mosley: Zero

Lets be real here. Hatton ducked no one, fought anyone & fought anywhere. See the thing is that great fighters can fight at home provided

They generate huge gates
They generate maximum buzz in their country
They import the best fighters they can to fight

Not many do that but Hatton certainly did. As for avoiding competition I would be interested to see who you thought he avoided?

In the same fashion that the Beatles didn't become "The Beatles" till they set foot in America. The same applies to the sport of boxing. The mecca of boxing is Madison Square Garden. The point that I'm trying to make is that you're not anybody music or boxing wise until you conquer America.

Hatton and Calzaghe were protected in the fashion that they didn't leave their own backyards to seek out better competition. When they did, one got knocked out twice in three fights. The other fought past their prime fighters.Even Jeff Lacy had to travel to England to Fight Calzaghe. Joe fought a brilliant fight, I give him that. Roy and Hopkins were old when they fought Joe(both still managed to drop him). When Jones was young, he was Superman!!! Super-fast, super-strong and super-skilled. Would have tore Calzaghe up. Remember Jones was coming up two of his worst fights that ended in KO.

I'm not trying to make this into a childish US VS UK crap. If Manny never fought outside the Philipines, I would say the same thing.

Ricky Hatton built up possibly the biggest travelling army of sports fans there has ever been. Only in football are there travelling supports that rival what he took to Vegas for the Floyd fight, and in football, only Scotland and England get close to regular travelling supports of that magnitude. 40,000 people travelling across half the world to see one fighter in one fight is unheard of. Do you know how expensive it is to go to Vegas from here? I do cos I did it 4 times for fights. That shit has never been done by anyone else, the money Ricky Hatton generated over here was immense. America had nothing to offer Ricky except the fight against Floyd which he got for himself (And the PPV money from the UK he earned was huge)

After Kostya Tszyu was dethroned, Ricky was top of the pile at 140, in the ring and at the negotiating table. Like I said earlier, on this subject he is beyond reproach. MSG might be the Mecca of boxing, but it has never seen a night like the one in the MGM when a little short armed drunk turned it into mini Manchester.

Lennox Lewis and Prince Naseem both fought outside of the UK. Both had large followings and they came to the States to watch them fight. I specifically remember the Lewis/Tyson fight. You could barely here the announcers from all the British fans.

The states having nothing to offer Hatton is pure Bollocks(hope I spelled that right). You're nothing in boxing if you haven't fought the best. Sometimes that requires a plane ticket.

If you apply what you said to football(soccer), English Professional Football players should only play each other and never play other countries? Because they have a large following and other countries have nothing to offer with regards to competition?

gravytrain Wrote:

Gandalf The Black Wrote:

lloyd mayflower Wrote:

Gandalf The Black Wrote:

STEVENSKI Wrote:

Gandalf The Black Wrote:How many fights did Hatton have outside the UK before he fought Floyd? He almost lost his American debut fight against Collazo then got creamed by Floyd and Pacquiao. I just looked Hatton's record on Boxrec. Every single fight he had was in the UK(Including Tszyu) before the Collazo fight. Protected....maybe not. Avoiding competition......maybe so!

How many fights has Floyd, Roy, Hopkins, DLH & Mosley have outside the USA in total?

Roy: Two both extremely late in his career when he was as done as minute steak cooked for a hour.
Hopkins: had one when he went on the road to win his first real belt & none as a champion. Two in Canada very late in his career.
DLH: Zero
Mosley: Zero

Lets be real here. Hatton ducked no one, fought anyone & fought anywhere. See the thing is that great fighters can fight at home provided

They generate huge gates
They generate maximum buzz in their country
They import the best fighters they can to fight

Not many do that but Hatton certainly did. As for avoiding competition I would be interested to see who you thought he avoided?

In the same fashion that the Beatles didn't become "The Beatles" till they set foot in America. The same applies to the sport of boxing. The mecca of boxing is Madison Square Garden. The point that I'm trying to make is that you're not anybody music or boxing wise until you conquer America.

Hatton and Calzaghe were protected in the fashion that they didn't leave their own backyards to seek out better competition. When they did, one got knocked out twice in three fights. The other fought past their prime fighters.Even Jeff Lacy had to travel to England to Fight Calzaghe. Joe fought a brilliant fight, I give him that. Roy and Hopkins were old when they fought Joe(both still managed to drop him). When Jones was young, he was Superman!!! Super-fast, super-strong and super-skilled. Would have tore Calzaghe up. Remember Jones was coming up two of his worst fights that ended in KO.

I'm not trying to make this into a childish US VS UK crap. If Manny never fought outside the Philipines, I would say the same thing.

Ricky Hatton built up possibly the biggest travelling army of sports fans there has ever been. Only in football are there travelling supports that rival what he took to Vegas for the Floyd fight, and in football, only Scotland and England get close to regular travelling supports of that magnitude. 40,000 people travelling across half the world to see one fighter in one fight is unheard of. Do you know how expensive it is to go to Vegas from here? I do cos I did it 4 times for fights. That shit has never been done by anyone else, the money Ricky Hatton generated over here was immense. America had nothing to offer Ricky except the fight against Floyd which he got for himself (And the PPV money from the UK he earned was huge)

After Kostya Tszyu was dethroned, Ricky was top of the pile at 140, in the ring and at the negotiating table. Like I said earlier, on this subject he is beyond reproach. MSG might be the Mecca of boxing, but it has never seen a night like the one in the MGM when a little short armed drunk turned it into mini Manchester.

Lennox Lewis and Prince Naseem both fought outside of the UK. Both had large followings and they came to the States to watch them fight. I specifically remember the Lewis/Tyson fight. You could barely here the announcers from all the British fans.

The states having nothing to offer Hatton is pure Bollocks(hope I spelled that right). You're nothing in boxing if you haven't fought the best. Sometimes that requires a plane ticket.

If you apply what you said to football(soccer), English Professional Football players should only play each other and never play other countries? Because they have a large following and other countries have nothing to offer with regards to competition?

Hatton and Hamed did about the same thing, Lennox Lewis fought in America more because he'd an American promoter. Hamed fought in England most of the time because that's where most of his fans were and his promoter could get the biggest site fee and gate, he just came over here to fight when the money was right.

Gandalf The Black Wrote:Exactly. How many phenomenal boxers did Lennox face? He fought the cream of the crop!! Tyson, Evander, Mccall, Briggs, Mercer, Rahman, Tua, Klits!!! He travelled and fought people!!!! This is why he is held in such high regard in the boxing world!!!

Yes it's nice to pick safe opponents and make as much dough as you can. Eventually you will have to step up and face a challenge. Lewis did that throughout his career. Not in the end.

Fitz Wrote:

Gandalf The Black Wrote:Exactly. How many phenomenal boxers did Lennox face? He fought the cream of the crop!! Tyson, Evander, Mccall, Briggs, Mercer, Rahman, Tua, Klits!!! He travelled and fought people!!!! This is why he is held in such high regard in the boxing world!!!

Yes it's nice to pick safe opponents and make as much dough as you can. Eventually you will have to step up and face a challenge. Lewis did that throughout his career. Not in the end.

When you are the cream of the crop, you fight the cream of the crop....period. Lennox Lewis was the CREAM of the crop. Of course comparing him to other fighters that were not great will not stack up. Lewis is an ATG and one of the great heavyweights.

That's like me saying that Leonard fought the cream of the crop, but Cory Spinks didn't. How is that even fair or makes sense?

Lewis was also an Olympic medallist, that already is a head start and traditionally, olympic medalilsts will move through competition and build a fan base with their back ground history. Which is why you didn't see Lewis slowly try and build a career.

Gandalf The Black Wrote:

gravytrain Wrote:

Gandalf The Black Wrote:

lloyd mayflower Wrote:

Gandalf The Black Wrote:

STEVENSKI Wrote:

Gandalf The Black Wrote:How many fights did Hatton have outside the UK before he fought Floyd? He almost lost his American debut fight against Collazo then got creamed by Floyd and Pacquiao. I just looked Hatton's record on Boxrec. Every single fight he had was in the UK(Including Tszyu) before the Collazo fight. Protected....maybe not. Avoiding competition......maybe so!

How many fights has Floyd, Roy, Hopkins, DLH & Mosley have outside the USA in total?

Roy: Two both extremely late in his career when he was as done as minute steak cooked for a hour.
Hopkins: had one when he went on the road to win his first real belt & none as a champion. Two in Canada very late in his career.
DLH: Zero
Mosley: Zero

Lets be real here. Hatton ducked no one, fought anyone & fought anywhere. See the thing is that great fighters can fight at home provided

They generate huge gates
They generate maximum buzz in their country
They import the best fighters they can to fight

Not many do that but Hatton certainly did. As for avoiding competition I would be interested to see who you thought he avoided?

In the same fashion that the Beatles didn't become "The Beatles" till they set foot in America. The same applies to the sport of boxing. The mecca of boxing is Madison Square Garden. The point that I'm trying to make is that you're not anybody music or boxing wise until you conquer America.

Hatton and Calzaghe were protected in the fashion that they didn't leave their own backyards to seek out better competition. When they did, one got knocked out twice in three fights. The other fought past their prime fighters.Even Jeff Lacy had to travel to England to Fight Calzaghe. Joe fought a brilliant fight, I give him that. Roy and Hopkins were old when they fought Joe(both still managed to drop him). When Jones was young, he was Superman!!! Super-fast, super-strong and super-skilled. Would have tore Calzaghe up. Remember Jones was coming up two of his worst fights that ended in KO.

I'm not trying to make this into a childish US VS UK crap. If Manny never fought outside the Philipines, I would say the same thing.

Ricky Hatton built up possibly the biggest travelling army of sports fans there has ever been. Only in football are there travelling supports that rival what he took to Vegas for the Floyd fight, and in football, only Scotland and England get close to regular travelling supports of that magnitude. 40,000 people travelling across half the world to see one fighter in one fight is unheard of. Do you know how expensive it is to go to Vegas from here? I do cos I did it 4 times for fights. That shit has never been done by anyone else, the money Ricky Hatton generated over here was immense. America had nothing to offer Ricky except the fight against Floyd which he got for himself (And the PPV money from the UK he earned was huge)

After Kostya Tszyu was dethroned, Ricky was top of the pile at 140, in the ring and at the negotiating table. Like I said earlier, on this subject he is beyond reproach. MSG might be the Mecca of boxing, but it has never seen a night like the one in the MGM when a little short armed drunk turned it into mini Manchester.

Lennox Lewis and Prince Naseem both fought outside of the UK. Both had large followings and they came to the States to watch them fight. I specifically remember the Lewis/Tyson fight. You could barely here the announcers from all the British fans.

The states having nothing to offer Hatton is pure Bollocks(hope I spelled that right). You're nothing in boxing if you haven't fought the best. Sometimes that requires a plane ticket.

If you apply what you said to football(soccer), English Professional Football players should only play each other and never play other countries? Because they have a large following and other countries have nothing to offer with regards to competition?

Hatton and Hamed did about the same thing, Lennox Lewis fought in America more because he'd an American promoter. Hamed fought in England most of the time because that's where most of his fans were and his promoter could get the biggest site fee and gate, he just came over here to fight when the money was right.

Exactly. How many phenomenal boxers did Lennox face? He fought the cream of the crop!! Tyson, Evander, Mccall, Briggs, Mercer, Rahman, Tua, Klits!!! He travelled and fought people!!!! This is why he is held in such high regard in the boxing world!!!

Yes it's nice to pick safe opponents and make as much dough as you can. Eventually you will have to step up and face a challenge. Lewis did that throughout his career. Not in the end.

Gandalf The Black Wrote:

Fitz Wrote:

Gandalf The Black Wrote:Exactly. How many phenomenal boxers did Lennox face? He fought the cream of the crop!! Tyson, Evander, Mccall, Briggs, Mercer, Rahman, Tua, Klits!!! He travelled and fought people!!!! This is why he is held in such high regard in the boxing world!!!

Yes it's nice to pick safe opponents and make as much dough as you can. Eventually you will have to step up and face a challenge. Lewis did that throughout his career. Not in the end.

When you are the cream of the crop, you fight the cream of the crop....period. Lennox Lewis was the CREAM of the crop. Of course comparing him to other fighters that were not great will not stack up. Lewis is an ATG and one of the great heavyweights.

That's like me saying that Leonard fought the cream of the crop, but Cory Spinks didn't. How is that even fair or makes sense?

Lewis was also an Olympic medallist, that already is a head start and traditionally, olympic medalilsts will move through competition and build a fan base with their back ground history. Which is why you didn't see Lewis slowly try and build a career.

The point I was trying to make is that he fought contenders and sometimes had to leave his country to do so. Enough with the cream.

Fitz Wrote:

Gandalf The Black Wrote:

Fitz Wrote:

Gandalf The Black Wrote:Exactly. How many phenomenal boxers did Lennox face? He fought the cream of the crop!! Tyson, Evander, Mccall, Briggs, Mercer, Rahman, Tua, Klits!!! He travelled and fought people!!!! This is why he is held in such high regard in the boxing world!!!

Yes it's nice to pick safe opponents and make as much dough as you can. Eventually you will have to step up and face a challenge. Lewis did that throughout his career. Not in the end.

When you are the cream of the crop, you fight the cream of the crop....period. Lennox Lewis was the CREAM of the crop. Of course comparing him to other fighters that were not great will not stack up. Lewis is an ATG and one of the great heavyweights.

That's like me saying that Leonard fought the cream of the crop, but Cory Spinks didn't. How is that even fair or makes sense?

Lewis was also an Olympic medallist, that already is a head start and traditionally, olympic medalilsts will move through competition and build a fan base with their back ground history. Which is why you didn't see Lewis slowly try and build a career.

The point I was trying to make is that he fought contenders and sometimes had to leave his country to do so. Enough with the cream.

Go have a look at how many times Lewis fought in the UK and the quality of opposition he fought before winning a MAJOR world title.
Lewis stepped up in competition once he won a major world title, just like Hatton stepped up in compeititon when he won a world title. The difference between the two is that Lewis won a world title quicker than Hatton did, and also had a lot more longevity as well, which explains why his resume is longer than Hatton's.

Hatton fought Tszyu, who was arguably top 3-5 p4p at the time, he then fought Mayweather who was #1 p4p at the time, and then fought Pacquiao who was p4p #1 at the time.
Some fighters go a full career without ever facing the #1 fighter in the world. Hatton fought separate #1 fighters and the undisputed 140 champion, who was at least top 5 p4p at the time, I may have had him at #3 then.
I don't know how you can think he took an easy path.