Boxing - Hatton Vs. Lazcano

[Old Man River]

Did anyone else catch the Hatton - Lazcano fight over the weekend? Clearly, as rumored, Hatton's best days are behind him. While he won a lopsided decision, which he deserved, he was rocked in both the 8th and 10th rounds against an opponent who hadn't even fought in 15 months and only twice in the last 27 months. Fighting in his home town (Manchester), Hatton was lucky to survive the 10th, doing so only when his hand picked ref stopped the fight to warn Lazcano and then, unbelievably, re-tie Hatton's shoelace! It gave Hatton a 1 minute rest at a time when he may well have been knocked out despite being far ahead on the scoring.

Hattton's next fight is supposedly against the light hitting Paulie Malignaggi (only 5 KO's in 25 fights). I had hoped better for Hatton, but as Ronnie Shields said before the fight (Lazcano's trainer), Hatton is no longer the same fighter that beat Kostya Tszyu three years ago. Mayweather showed that and Saturday's fight didn't do anything to change it.