On Sunday morning as I woke up to see what had taken place in the fight between Naoya Inoue and Murodjon Akhmadaliev in Japan, I was stunned to read about the passing of Ricky Hatton at the age of 46. How he died, and the circumstances surrounding his death are not particularly important to me at this moment.
46 is way too soon to die. At my age, it's always a bit jarring to see people who are younger than you pass. In many respects, while you're not necessarily young anymore, you are still in many respects in the prime of your life with many years to go.
On Tuesday we woke up to the news that iconic actor, Robert Redford, had passed away at the age of 89. To me, he'll always be 'Roy Hobbs'. 'the Natural' is one of my favorite movies (any time it's on, I'll make sure to watch at least a few minutes of it. The best part is that Redford actually looked like a ballplayer from that era.). 'the Electric Horseman' is another one of my personal favorites that has Redford in it.
Variety
Regardless, the point is that he was 89. He absolutely lived a full life. It's interesting how we view deaths. You die relatively young, and it's viewed as a tragedy. You stick around long enough and it's a celebration of a full life. That's probably a fair perspective on this.
Larry Merchant -- who has certainly lived -- once told me that athletes die two deaths: one at the end of their careers, and then their eventual passing later on. But the end of their athletic lives are oftentimes more difficult to deal with.
I get the sense that was the case with Hatton, whose battles with mental health and alcoholism were well-chronicled. This isn't to make any judgement on him. Everyone is a flawed human being, only guys like him have their problems play out in public.
Ricky Hatton
How I choose to remember Hatton is very simple -- as a hard-nosed, honest fighter, who had an everyman quality to him. Which is why he had such a rabid fan base that emanated from his hometown of Manchester, and spread throughout Britain. He would punch out opponents, and down pints with equal vigor.
Where I believe he made his biggest impact was not in just winning the junior welterweight champion against the highly regarded Kosta Tszyu in 2005, but parlaying his popularity into bridging the UK and American boxing business together. In that era, guys like Joe Calzaghe and Chris Eubank basically stayed on their home turf. (And yeah, I haven't forgotten about Lennox Lewis but lets be honest, he wasn't truly embraced by the British fans for a long time and he waved more flags than the United Nations.)
By 2006, he had struck a deal to come Stateside and started appearing on HBO. And it was quickly apparent that this was the boxing version of the British invasion as he brought a large swath of Manchester with him. When he came to town, the casino loaded up on the Guinness. Many fighters have crossed the ocean to ply their trade, but really as opponents. Hatton came as a bona-fide attraction.
Ring Magazine
It's safe to say that Hatton imported more fans to his fights to the States, than most American boxers could draw in their own country.
His star power allowed him to land significant paydays versus both Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in major pay-per-view event, back when there was such things as 'major pay-per-events. While he was the underdog and got treated as such in these bouts, without him, these fights wouldn't have taken place. He absolutely played a part in these fights being big.
With his physically taxing, grinding style inside the ring, and his hard living ways outside of it, his drop-off as a fighter was pretty dramatic. After his devastating KO loss to Pacquiao in 2009, he returned to the ring in 2012 where he was halted in nine rounds by Vyachaslev Senchenko in nine to bring an end to his career with a record of 45-3 (32). It was a memorable and honest career.
Ring
The tributes have flowed in for Hatton, whose good natured manner won admiration from those within the boxing world. He wont be soon forgotten. Boxing has a challenge nowadays in creating the next generation of stars, not just boxers who happen to have large social media followings. Hatton, may have not necessarily been an elite fighter, but he was a bona-fide star. There is a difference.
Much like Redford is considered one of the last true Hollywood 'leading men', Hatton is one of boxing's last true stars. Indeed, there was only one Ricky Hatton.
INOUE
Speaking of 'the Monster' he successfully defended his undisputed junior featherweight championship by clearly out-pointing Akhmadaliev over 12 rounds by the scores of 118-110 (twice) and 117-111. For the first time in 11 fights, dating back to his initial encounter with Nonito Donaire in 2019, Inoue didn't score a stoppage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ouNiwYqkYY
But it was a sharp and disciplined effort from Inoue, who boxed smartly while still applying intelligent pressure on the well-built Akhmadaliev. Unlike his bouts versus Luis Nery and Ramon Cardenas, there were no defensive lapses. By the late rounds, Akhmadaliev seemed content to just see the distance.
Naoki Fukuda/Top Rank
As he eventually moves up to featherweight, you get the sense that this will more or less be the version of Inoue we'll be seeing. Still an entertaining and exciting performer, but one that is more measured in how he will attack naturally bigger foes.
3KR
This week on 'the 3 Knockdown Rule', Mario Lopez and I with a full review of Terence Crawford's victory over Saul Alvarez:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJWf01AhSjQ&t=6s
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