Calling out fighters you thought got a pass

[STEVENSKI]

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?

[SENTRAL]

Agree with the above post. I figure it's absolutely ridiculous and preposterously hypocritical to slate fighters for not going abroad when all you really mean is they don't go to America. Like Americans travel overseas.

[ROLLDEEP]

Thing is, Hatton DID travel abroad when the time was right to fight the two best p4p in the world.

Not many other boxers can say that.


He did spend a long time in the UK, but he was learning his trade, generating a big fan base, earning money and working his way up.....what's wrong with that?!

[Dickagon]

ROLLDEEP Wrote:Thing is, Hatton DID travel abroad when the time was right to fight the two best p4p in the world.

Not many other boxers can say that.


He did spend a long time in the UK, but he was learning his trade, generating a big fan base, earning money and working his way up.....what's wrong with that?!

i don't see a problem with fighters fighting in their home country if that's where they can make the most money, the real thing is who they fight and if they're getting home cooking. i can't remember Hatton getting a robbery over anyone so i don't really care, he fought everybody too.

[Fitz]

It's not like Hatton was over in the UK with a cheap WBC, WBA, WBO or IBF title defending it against scrubs either. I don't recall anybody ever mentioning Hatton before he became relevant, talking about when he is going to step up either.
Hatton got his first chance at a major world title when he fought Tszyu, since then he has taken risks and fought the best fighters period.
Like I said, he was not a champion what so ever before the Tszyu fight, nor were there people talking about him being protected, as why would they? He was just a WBU champion. People didn't even talk about him before Tszyu, so I am not sure how a guy that wasn't a priority in the division was being protected.

[Snoop]

I think the difference between criticizing a British fighter for not traveling abroad vs criticizing an American fighter for not traveling abroad is that the elite level athletes predominately compete in America, so they are still facing the best comp, whereas it's not so much the case in Britain.

[Fitz]

Snoop Wrote:I think the difference between criticizing a British fighter for not traveling abroad vs criticizing an American fighter for not traveling abroad is that the elite level athletes predominately compete in America, so they are still facing the best comp, whereas it's not so much the case in Britain.

I would say Hatton fighting the undisputed/linear champion at 140 in the UK is facing the best comp. That's all I can come up with.

[Snoop]

Fitz Wrote:

Snoop Wrote:I think the difference between criticizing a British fighter for not traveling abroad vs criticizing an American fighter for not traveling abroad is that the elite level athletes predominately compete in America, so they are still facing the best comp, whereas it's not so much the case in Britain.

I would say Hatton fighting the undisputed/linear champion at 140 in the UK is facing the best comp. That's all I can come up with.

I wouldn't disagree with you either, but I would also say that Hatton was the exception, not the rule. And it was only that one fight. For the most part the best fighters compete in America, simply because that's where heart of the industry is.

[ViperSniper]

Hatton being from Manchester was always bound to begin his career in his own country (like any non-American). So to bring up his fights in England is kind of pointless in this case as Hatton worked his way up by fighting top contenders (not journeymen) so what difference does it make if 'those' fights were in America or not..specially when no gifts or corruption came out of it??

He made the cross over at the right time (unlike Calzaghe) and didn't waste anytime in making the fights that matter happen. Fighting the best of the best not once, not twice but three times in Tszyu, Mayweather & Pacquaio! No many fighters can even say they fought the p4p best once! Yet he avoided competition?? LMAO! Seriously!!

[the ollie reed fan club]

Snoop Wrote:I think the difference between criticizing a British fighter for not traveling abroad vs criticizing an American fighter for not traveling abroad is that the elite level athletes predominately compete in America, so they are still facing the best comp, whereas it's not so much the case in Britain.

This is a fair point Snoop and one I actually agree with. However as the sport starts to spread more globally will American fighters start to get heat if they don't travel abroad? It's not meant to be a trick question either, just one I am genuinely interested in.

However in also keeping within the thread, I think Ward was clearly the best fighter in the Super 6 and deserved the title but it was interesting to me that he has largely been given a pass when he didn't go overseas for a single fight. To the best of knowledge every guy had to travel overseas in that comp except Andre but he seemed to cop no heat over it.

As I've mentioned before had Calslappy been in that tournament and refused to fight abroad you can rest assured he would've taken a pummeling on many boards and forums for it (and rightly so).