Well not a huge fight, but a very interesting fight. I’ll set the stage.
On one side is Juan Lazcano. ‘The Hispanic causing Panic.’ I love this guy’s nickname. Juan’s sort of an undera
chiever. He’s a darn good fighter but when he’s stepped up to an elite level, he’s fallen a little short. And times running out for him, in my opinion. He’s 37-4, so he can’t take any more loses really, or else he’ll fall out of contention. So, to not overstate it, his back is against the wall. Maybe he’s ‘the Hispanic in a Panic.’On the other side is Ricky Hatton. ‘The Hitman.’ It’s always bothered me he calls himself ‘the Hitman’ (hey, to me, that’s Tommy Hearn’s name) but Hatton is pretty great, personality-wise. He’s a limey, he drinks, he loves his family, the pub, and fried foods. And he loves fighting. So, sufficed to say, I like him. And the Brits ADORE him. They sing through his fights. No kidding. They have songs they sing about him. “Walking in a Hatton Wonderland” for instance. His fighting style leaves a bit to be desired. He’s rough on his
opponent, usually clinching and jostling them around and gradually beating them into submission, which can be a little boring as he’ll punch and clinch, but when he gets someone in trouble, he hooks to the body and they are brutal.Hatton is coming off his first loss. It’s not a bad loss. It was to the #1 lbs-4-lbs fighter in the world. You’ve maybe heard of his opponent. His name is Floyd Mayweather Jr. He was on dancing with the Stars and WWE. The hard part is that Hatton lost by KO, which is a rough way to go out the first time (he’s 43-1 now). Hatton charged, got caught with a hook and then ran himself into the turnbuckle due to his own momentum and the hook. Hatton was very cool after the loss, making jokes and being a good sport, which is rare in boxing. The worrysome part is that Ring magazine was saying he fell into a deep depression and went boozing and running around the world afterwards. Anyway, it makes me worry about his mental state. And he must win too, because he has to show he still has the goods or else people will say he’s ruined. That’s the way boxing works. It’s hard to build a reputation and people write you off after one or two losses.
These fights are always interesting to me, the crossroads fight (as the spinners of boxing clichés like to say). Often, a guy will give up before he gets in the ring when he starts realizing his career maybe over. You can see it everything the do when they walk to the ring, get in the ring, and by the way they fight. I don’t think either of these guys are quitters, but they’ve been through a lot. So the fight could be sad, as one or both of them has hit a wall and aren’t going to get past it and are having a ‘please don’t hurt me and let me retire after this fight’ fight, or it could be an awesome fight as both guys go from broke and try to show they’ve still got it.
The sad part for me is I probably won’t be able to see it. I’ll be out of town and most places don’t have Versus network. So I’ll have to read about it later. But if you’re bored on Saturday night and you have Versus, click over to it, pour some beer on the curb for me, and check and see if these guys are going for broke. If nothing else, listening to 50,000 Brits drunkenly singing is pretty great.
2 comments:
Well, I flipped on the TV to watch the fight Saturday night, only to find that it had happened that afternoon. I wish I was smarter.
That was my fault. I didn't think about it being on Limey-time.
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