Kostya Tszyu vs. Ricky Hatton

Kostya Tszyu vs. Ricky Hatton was a professional boxing match contested on 4 June 2005 for the IBF Light Welterweight championship. The 22,000 who attendanced the bout at the Manchester Arena witnessed one of the biggest upsets in British Boxing History.[1]

Tszyu vs. Hatton

Date	4 June 2005
Venue	Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester, UK
Title(s) on the line	IBF/The Ring/Lineal Junior Welterweight Championships
Tale of the tape
Boxer Kostya Tszyu Ricky Hatton Nickname Thunder From Down Under The Hitman Hometown Sydney, Australia Manchester, UK Pre-fight record 31-1 38-0 Height 5 ft 7 in (170 cm) 5 ft 7.5 in (171 cm) Weight 140 lb (64 kg) 139.75 lb (63 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition IBF/The Ring/Lineal Junior Welterweight Champion IBF No. 1 Ranked Junior Welterweight WBU Junior Welterweight Champion
Result
Hatton defeated Tszyu by 11th round corner retirement

Build-up

Kostya Tszyu was an established force amongst the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world and had been the first man to unify the light welterweight division in 30 years. At 35 years old he had been the champion for more than a decade and was considered a national hero in Australia. His only other defeat was in 1997 to Vince Phillips and was named the Ring Magazine upset of the year.[2]

Ricky Hatton at the time, held the minor WBU light welterweight belt,[3] having knocked out Tony Pep and was coming into the fight off stoppage wins against Michael Stewart and Ray Oliveira.[4] He was the underdog [5] for the fight known mostly in Britain as a young crowd favourite.

The fight was staged at 11pm local time to accommodate the American TV company Showtime and that it would on prime time in America. The referee was Dave Parris.

The Fight

Tszyu was a notoriously slow starter and Hatton won the first two rounds in an aggressive start to the fight, however the champion qualities of Tszyu shone through in rounds 3–5 as he settled into a rhythm and was able to time his counter punches. The sportsmanship of both competitors was questionable at times throughout the middle phases of the fight; Tszyu knocking Hatton to the canvas in the closing stages of the seventh with what was found to be an illegal low blow, and Hatton responding with a deliberate low blow after Tszyu was warned again in the ninth. Nevertherless, Hatton's aggression and pace had begun to slow the aging champion, and going into the twelfth he had a slight lead on all three judges scorecards (105-104, 106-103 and 107-102). After a back and forth battle in which both fighters took great punishment, Tszyu failed to emerge from his corner for the final round as his trainer Johnny Lewis threw in the towel.[6]

Despite parts of the fight being somewhat marred by illegal tactics from both sides, each fighter praised the other in post fight speeches; Hatton stating that he would be honoured to ever be a champion of the same ilk as Tszyu, and Tszyu humbly declaring that he was beaten by the better fighter. This performance is generally regarded as the peak in Hatton's career; the stamina and heart he displayed in the fight is now legendary.

Aftermath

Kostya Tszyu retired after an illustrious career and is still loved in Sydney to this day.

This fight formed one of two fights, the other being against Carlos Maussa that brought Hatton the award of 2005 Ring Magazine fighter of the year.[7] Hatton went on to beat such names Juan Urango, José Luis Castillo and Paulie Malignaggi but his time as a top class boxer came to an end after he lost to both pound-for-pound kings Floyd Mayweather Jr, in December 2007, and against Manny Pacquiao in May 2009 via a 2nd round KO. In the latter years of Hatton's career his level of fitness became questionable after he developed a pattern of ballooning up in weight between fights.[8]

In their March 2010 issue, Ring Magazine ranked Tszyu as the number one junior welterweight of the decade (2000's) ahead of Hatton who was listed at number two.

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:[9]

Broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
Hungary	Sport 1
United Kingdom	Sky Sports
United States	Showtime

References

1. "BBC | Superb Hatton springs Tszyu shock". Archived from the original on 2009-03-31. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
2. "Boxrec | Kostya Tszyu's professional career". Archived from the original on 2012-10-06. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
3. https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Kostya_Tszyu_vs._Ricky_Hatton
4. "Boxrec | Ricky Hatton's professional career". Archived from the original on 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
5. "The Guardian | Hatton vs Tszyu pre-fight". Archived from the original on 2016-03-12. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
6. "Boxrec | Kostya Tszyu vs. Ricky Hatton". Archived from the original on 2012-10-09. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
7. "About.com | Ring Magazine fighters of the year". Archived from the original on 2009-03-31. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-05-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
9. "BoxRec - event".