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Why I Was Right About Collazo vs. Hatton
MON May 15, JASPREET PANCHHI - As I pondered who would win this fight and how, I thought of Ricky
Hatton’s ability to exert relentless pressure but such thoughts were fairly quickly overtaken by the feelings about the American and his style, thus prompting me to forecast that Luis Collazo would halt the British express and establish a defense via an unanimous decision.
As HBO announcer Bruce Buffer was about to proclaim the champion, having scored the fight myself to the gritty American, I was expecting the word “Still” to be echoed around TD BankNorth Garden in Boston. However, as the word “New” was uttered, I took a sharp intake of breath as an air of surprise confronted me.
The judges’ scorecards read 115-112, 115-112 and 114-113, meaning that two of the judges only believed that Collazo had won five rounds. Having given Collazo eight rounds myself, thus scoring the bout 115-112 for the American once the knockdown in the first round is taken into account, I was somewhat perplexed by the decision.
Firstly, the fight was in Collazo’s home country. If the encounter was in England, I would not have been surprised to see “The Hitman” to be awarded a dubious decision. Also, it was Collazo who held the WBA Welterweight Title; it was he who was the champion. Usually, the judges tend to favor the champion in close rounds as it is the challenger who has to take the belt away from the title holder. In spite of this, the judges seemed not to adhere to such guidelines.
However, as the initial wave of a resounding feeling of surprise began to fade away and as I pondered the outcome more deeply, I began to understand why the judges favored the Englishman. First of all, in the tighter rounds, it was Hatton who was fighting on his front foot, attempting to be aggressive. It has be shown recently that in big fights, the American judges, particularly those in Las Vegas, have been more obliged to prefer the more aggressive fighter, rather than the man who lands the more cleaner punches with his impressive boxing on the back foot.
Also, as shown when the judges somehow favored Jermain Taylor in both of his contests versus Bernard Hopkins, the judges tend to be favorable to the fighter who has the prospect of fighting for bigger money in the future for a fairly long time. That’s when I thought it was no surprise that HBO’s unofficial judge scored the contest in favor of the Englishman 114-113, thus awarding the native New Yorker six rounds and eight points in the first round due to the knockdown in the very first fifteen seconds. HBO had signed a three-fight deal with Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton. Rumors of potential showdowns with Floyd Mayweather Jr, Miguel Angel Cotto, Antonio Magarito and Oscar De La Hoya were prominent throughout the boxing media.
As I had forecasted, Collazo showed good heart, as did the Englishman, particularly in the last round. The American showed good stamina like Hatton and Collazo was the one landing the cleaner shots. Hatton’s chin had not been tested like it was against Collazo and he did not cope with the power of welterweight fighter Collazo as he had expected to. He had to grab to recover on nearly every occasion that Collazo landed a clean shot.
Towards the end of the bout, Collazo began to hit the mark increasingly with counters and quick combinations, beating the Englishman to the punch and varying is attack to the body and head of Hatton. Billy Graham, Hatton’s long-time trainer, thought that Hatton had to produce a big last round as he called for “mayhem” and despite losing the twelfth round in a big way, he was still given the decision, much I’m sure to the surprise of Hatton’s own trainer.
Hatton had not tasted the venom of the welterweight fighters and this
was his first time stepping into the ring in America against a title
holder. Hatton has to improve if he is to emerge victorious against the likes of De La Hoya or Mayweather Jr. The American proved that his win over Jose Antonio Rivera was not simply a one-off. I believe Ricky Hatton should give Luis Collazo a rematch that he rightly deserves.
Questions or Comments : jpanchhi@talkingboxing.com
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