Ricky Hatton fought a number of big names, some truly great fighters. And, if one were to ask the “Hitman” to name the toughest fight of his entire career, a fan would likely expect the Manchester icon to reply Floyd Mayweather, or Manny Pacquiao, or Kostya Tszyu. But no, Hatton, when asked this very question by the folks at Talk Sport, gave a perhaps wholly unexpected, surprise answer.
Luis Collazo, who Hatton moved up in weight to fight back in May of 2006, is the man the 44 year old says gave him the most trouble – to the extent that Hatton was “shaky, shivering,” and had “hot sweats” after the fight. Hatton picked up a close, debatable decision win, this along with the WBA welterweight title, this Hatton’s second world title. But the win was far from easy.
Hatton, a natural 140 pounder, was advised by his trainer Billy Graham not to go up to 147, yet the at his peak Hatton, who had shocked the great Kostya Tszyu the previous summer, went against his trainer’s advice. And it almost proved disastrous.
Hatton scored a flash knockdown in the opening seconds of the fight in Boston, but after that it was a real war.
“That was my toughest fight,” Hatton said of the Collazo battle. “I mean, getting beat by Pacquiao like I did was very tough to come to terms with and Floyd Mayweather was just technically so good. From a physical point [Collazo was a harder fight]. I’m 5’6.” I’m not tall for junior-welterweight. So, to move up to welterweight…..Billy Graham said, ‘No, don’t do it, Rick. Don’t do it.’ But I wanted to do what my heroes had done. I wanted to try to become a world champion in two divisions. I knocked him down in the first ten seconds. I thought, ‘I’ll be in the bar in half an hour.’ But he got up and I won it on a unanimous decision but only by one point.
“The people that I could bully at 10 stone, I couldn’t do it at 10st 7lbs. I hit him, and the shots just bounced off him. It was the worst after I’ve felt. I had hot sweats, shaky, shivering and I couldn’t even go to the afterparty I was in such a bad way. Every time he hit me – Mayweather wasn’t a big puncher, he was technically unreal – but [Collazo] was a big-punching southpaw, and every time he hit me, oh my Lord!”
Hatton as we know was crushed in two violent sessions by Pac-Man, and he was stopped in ten by “Money.” So it shows how tough, how unpleasant that night with Collazo must have been for Hatton for him to rank that win as a tougher experience than the two stoppage defeats. Collazo always wanted a rematch, but Hatton was not about to agree. And, in light of what Ricky has said about the pain of the 2006 fight, who could blame him!
One thing about Hatton, win or lose, he was always worth watching. To say the least.
