Friday, December 14, 2007

Mayweather-Hatton.. The Grades Are In.

This is my first installment of the grades are in. After each big fight I will break down and grade the fighter's performances in regards to conditioning, strength, speed, and power.

Albeit it's a bit late, here's how I graded Mayweather-Hatton

Conditioning

Mayweather-A+
Hatton-C

Mayweather's conditioning was superb as usual. He was able to out maneuver Hatton and throw combos late in the fight with ease. This allowed him to close the show with dramatic fashion.

To really gauge Floyd's conditioning, we need to see him in there with a strong pressure fighter that will push him. Cotto or Margarito anybody?

Hatton's conditioning faded badly after six rounds. Lack of big fight experience does this to a fighter. Ricky wasted a lot of energy early and it cost him late in the fight. Experience will remedy this. Ricky trains hard we know. Did he leave too much in the gym? Dropping excessive amounts of weight, 35+ before a big fight doesn't bold to well for expectations of an elite performance.

He needs to get this under control and stop abusing his body that's letting him down, when he needs his best performance the most. This fat camp scenario is robbing him of vitality.

Strength

Mayweather-B+
Hatton-C-

Mayweather was by far the stronger fighter in the fight no doubt. Fighting a fighter coming up from 140 should make this obviously apparent though. His strength will need to improve drastically if he fights Cotto or Magaritto.

Playing with the machines won't get this done for Floyd. He needs me now more than ever if he's to get in the ring with the ultra strong Cotto and Margarito.

Well, all that hype about Ricky 1/4 pressing 1000lbs. on a leg press really didn't do shit did it?! Rightfully so, that was a bunch of hype bullshit that those of us in the know knew wouldn't carry over into the fight.

Ricky needs to get stronger fast. He needs to be put on a real program in between fights to strengthen him and keep his body weight down. Ricky just isn't getting what he needs. His blatant weaknesses are not being addressed and it shows up where he needs these improvements the most.. Fight night!

Ricky's people can go ahead and send me my ticket to the UK next week. This will be plenty of time for me to clear my schedule and go over there to get shit right and actually build a fighter who can perform on an elite level.

Speed
Mayweather A
Hatton B-

Mayweather was born with speed. The question with Floyd will never be speed. Can he improve upon it?... Yes! How you may be asking? By getting stronger I say!

Talent only stays with you for so long. There comes a time when you have to build speed. If Mayweather wants to keep fighting and actually fight some REAL 147lb. fighters, he needs to start picking up some weights and put those toys back in the toy box.

Ricky showed good hand speed early. Just like everything else though, it faded.
The problem isn't with Ricky. It's what he's doing to his body to prepare for big fights. Ricky has talent. He lacks strength and it showed in his other appearance at 147 against Collazo. If he's not strong, he's not going to be fast.

If Ricky wants to prolong his career with big wins, he needs to be put on a strength program that can actually strengthen his ever so telling weaknesses. He needs to build a solid strength base that real speed, speed he would think he never would have, is born from.

Power
Mayweather- C+
Hatton- D

With Floyd's fast hands, you would think he would develop real power behind them. Floyd is not a powerful puncher we know. He could be though if he trained for it. I will tell you this, if Floyd has the balls to fight Cotto or Margarito he will need to stop the bullshit he's doing now and really get proper training that gives him the power he will need to be able to F*** with those boys.

Hatton needs to improve his power drastically too. I hear a fight with Oscar De La Hoya has been proposed. Ricky must start to train in a way that will give him the power he needs to make those heavy fighters respect him. The power training, or really lack there of will cause Ricky to be overcome by the offensive onslaught fighters will dish to him, do to his own lack of power that will make fighters think twice about coming right in.

As you can see, work needs to be with to both fighters. I have no problem with giving them what they truly need either.

1 comment:

Holistic Welnesz said...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year..
Have a safe and happy and fun Holidays! ;-)