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One thing
that I can definitely predict with confidence is that this fight is
going to be an action packed event full of drama and excitement.
Both of these fighters have exciting styles and the tough mental
attitude that makes this a must-see fight. Tszyu will walk into the
ring as the obvious favorite, but while his record speaks for
itself it will be interesting to see how he responds to the hostile
home crowd in Hatton’s native country of England. While many see
the hometown crowd as a definite disadvantage for Kostya Tszyu, I
don’t believe that Tszyu a true professional in every sense of the
word will be affected in any way by the hostile surroundings.
However, it is certainly possible that the crowd will sway the
judges in any close rounds if the fight does go to decision.
Overall, I expect Tszyu to
be in tremendous shape as usual and to go into the fight with the
determination to knock Hatton out. While Hatton has a reputation
for his pressure/volume punching style, I expect Tszyu to control
the pace of the fight after either hurting Hatton early on or by
out-boxing the less experienced Brit. Kostya Tszyu’s power and edge
in experience should give him the necessary edge to defeat a
determined Ricky Hatton.
With that said this fight
will be far from easy for Kostya Tszyu. We can expect Ricky Hatton
to test Tszyu from start to finish with his relentless body work
and machinegun style punching. While on paper Tszyu appears to be
the stronger fighter, we can’t underestimate the hungry challenger
who will most certainly try to fight the fight of his life in front
of his loyal hometown fans. In addition, I expect Hatton to be more
under control and display a much tighter defense, which he will
have to do to avoid the crushing right hands of Tszyu. If Hatton
can find a balance between being aggressive and not being careless
with his attack then the fight will be a very tightly contested
match-up, which might come down to who simply wants it more.
Barring any dramatics and unlikely scenarios my belief is that
Tszyu will most likely come out victorious. I expect him to come
out aggressively but take his time and capitalize on any openings
Hatton might give him. With each successive round, Tszyu’s power
should take a toll on Hatton who can take a punch but unfortunately
is very susceptible to cuts. If the fight is not stopped on cuts in
the later rounds then look for a TKO stoppage as Tszyu imposes his
power on the weary Hatton. In the end, on the Saturday of June 4th,
regardless of who wins this fight, I predict that we the fans will
be the real winners.
6-1-2005
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