There will be quite a bit of intrigue Saturday night when Ricky Hatton takes on Paulie Malignaggi in Las Vegas, but alas, probably not the same atmosphere as the last time The Hitman fought in the States.
That time, of course, was his December 2007 loss to Floyd Mayweather, and at times you would have thought Hatton was fighting at home. I just returned from Vegas on Thursday, and one of the lead sports stories in the Las Vegas paper talked about how only a few hundred Hitman fans waited for his arrival this time compared to a few thousand back then.
Economic woes aside, Hatton is unlikely to meet the same fate he met on that night as Malignaggi has one of the lowest KO percentages of any top boxer you'll ever see (five in 25 victories). What the Magic Man does possess is enough slickness and movement to give Hatton fits as he comes forward - and you know Ricky will be coming forward.
The big question is which Malignaggi will show up. Will it be the guy who breezed to easy decisions in three of his four fights in 2006 and 2007 (with the lone loss to Miguel Cotto - no shame there) ? Or will it be the man who struggled to a split decision win over Lovemore N'dou the last time out, making more news for his in-match haircut than his ring prowess?
If Paulie has his head screwed on straight, and if he can stick to his game plan, and if he can avoid getting suckered into a brawl, and if he can avoid getting discouraged that his shots aren't slowing Hatton down, then he can win this fight. But man, that's a lot of "ifs."
I think Malignaggi may give Hatton more trouble than casual fans might expect, but I don't feel like that's enough reason to pick him to win. After a few rounds of frustration, I'm going with Hatton to grit his way to a close decision.
Uatu says...
Actually, right now, he says nothing. He is going to wait until after the weigh-in just in case there's any Hatton shenanigans on the scales. There's been a mixed bag of internet chat over whether or not Hatton is/was going to be able to make the weight properly.
Spartan117 says...
Malignaggi will be slick enough to get out of Hatton's way. Hopefully this will mean less clinching. We saw how good movement gives Hatton problems when he fought Mayweather. I think Hatton will show more boxing skill with Floyd Mayweather Sr. in his corner, but he'll drift back to his brawling ways. If Malignaggi stays away from slugging it out with Hatton he'll be able to score enough for a unanimous decision. Malignaggi by unanimous decision
Uatu says...
Abracadabra! Voila!
It's Magic time.
The amazing thing about these two malinged-at-times gentlemen is that between the two of them they only have two losses. On top of that, their losses are against two of the top ten fighters in the world. In Hatton's case an all-time great. In Paulie's case, he lost in highly competitive fashion with a gutsy performance against Miguel Cotto. Yet, these two fighters are not thought of as being among the truly elite of the game.
Hatton has been a grabbing, mauling, brawling, and honestly a tad boring of a fighter over the last few years. Paulie has a tiny KO%, bad hands, and has had a few boring fights on his resume as well. So what will happen tonight?
Hatton has a new trainer, but rumors abounded that he may have had some weight issues between fights. At the weigh-in, he still looked ripped and lean. But looking the part and making weight is one thing, having the cardio to go with the weight loss may be another.
One thing about Paulie is that he has always been in 100% good shape for his fights. Uatu thinks that that makes the difference. It is of course possible that Floyd Sr., could make a big difference, but Paulie has incredible toughness and heart to go with the speed and skill, so that results in Malignaggi UD 12.
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6 comments:
I just hope Hatton doesn't hold his way to a victory in this fight.
I think he will try to avoid holding because I think that he really wants to be a crowd pleaser. I forsee a conscious effort on his part to avoid doing so.
I hope you're right. Paulie is a slick boxer too. I'm guessing he's going to try and stay away from Hatton as much as possible.
Oh yeah, I too say Paulie 12 rd decision.
Paulie is slick, but I he looks more for his offense than people think. He just doesn't have power shots. He must doing something though to win all of his fights but one.
as a side pick I am going to take Kirkland by KO over Vera. Although I do think Vera could have him in trouble at some point.
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