Welcome to America! Ricky Hatton scores a unanimous decision over Luis Collazo to capture the WBA Welterweight Championship in Boston.
Ricky Hatton had a somewhat bumpy welcome to America. In his first big fight here in the states, Ricky “the Hitman” Hatton scored a unanimous decision over Slick Lefty Luis Collazo in very exciting and entertaining bout for the WBA Welterweight championship. Hatton, (41-0, 30KO’s) moved up from his natural weight at 140 for this bout and early on looked like the move in weight did not faze him at all, as Hatton would drop Collazo with the first big left hook he threw. Collazo, (26-2, 12KO’s) who looked surprised at the power the little Englishman had, was able to recover and survive the rest of the round.
Throughout the fight Ricky Hatton pressed forward like a raging bull, constantly smothering Collazo while working the body and head. However, in the middle rounds Collazo made the necessary adjustments and quickly took advantage of the fight. While smoothly dancing around the ring and landing cleanly with his left, Hatton virtually shut down. His punch output numbers dropped and he was left looking confused as he could not get close enough to Collazo to bully him around the ring. As the fight progressed, the tides turned once again, with Ricky closing the gap and punishing Collazo.
The fight would commence with a very appropriate 12th and final round. Early on in the round, Hatton seemed to look as fresh as he did in the first round. Mauling his opponent, Ricky continued to frustrate Collazo. In the second minute of the 12th round, Collazo landed numerous power shots to Ricky causing the Englishman to wobble and nearly go down. Hatton was able to withstand the near knockdown and again seemed to take control in the last minute of the round. The fight ended with both fighters raising their arms in victory.The Judges at ringside has the fight scored 115-112, 115-112, and 114-113 all in favor on Hatton.
More to come soon….
