Both Tszyu and Hatton have shown each other a tremendous amount of respect whilst remaining supremely confident of victory, a pleasant change to the endless array of trash talking we have become accustomed to in recent times. The build up and interest in this bout has continued to increase and there is an enormous amount of media attention not only in the UK, Russia, and Australia, but also in the USA. I am very pleased about this. Often time American boxing fans miss very good bouts just because there is no American participating and/or the bout is held overseas.

After listening to comments from both men, I am convinced that Tszyu’s left hand will be the key to victory for the current undisputed champion. Hatton seems only really concerned about Tszyu’s lethal right hand and while this is Tszyu’s signature punch, his left hand measures, distracts and dissects his opponent and opens them up for the crushing right hand. Even though Tszyu took out Mitchell with right hand shots, I was more impressed with the re-emergence of his effective left hook. I think Hatton will be very surprised with what Tszyu is capable of doing with his left hand.

I believe Hatton might be surprised by Tszyu’s ability to fight in close and just how hard he punches to the body. Tszyu is well aware of Hatton’s trademark body attack; he will be prepared for Hatton’s onslaught in this department. Tszyu has apparently been working on his body punches and sent home one of his sparring partners early because he couldn’t handle the pace. I am going to go out on a limb here and predict a Tszyu left hook during this bout will drop Ricky Hatton. In addition, I believe Tszyu will give Hatton a taste of his own medicine and drop “The Pale Puncher” for the first time in his career with a body shot.

After just watching Hatton’s bout with Ben Tackie, it was interesting to note that Tackie was able to throw Hatton off his game plan by coming forward and fighting back. I think Hatton’s bout with Tackie was probably the pale puncher’s toughest and most impressive fight to date (followed by the Vince Phillips & Eamon Magee bouts). Even though Hatton came through this contest with flying colors and showed some boxing skills we hadn’t seen before, it showed me he can be thrown off his game when a strong fighter takes his punches and moves forward. Tackie is slow and ponderous and telegraphs his right hand and Hatton used excellent head movement to evade this punch most of the time. Tszyu is much faster and throws his punches much straighter.

The most important factor in this fight is whether Ricky Hatton’s chin can take Kostya Tszyu’s power. If Hatton is able to take Tszyu’s best shots and keep coming forward with his effective work rate he will win this fight. I personally don’t think Ricky’s chin will be able to handle Tszyu’s power and I believe Hatton’s game plan is going to be thrown off as soon as Tszyu lands a flush power shot or two. Very few boxers who have stepped into the ring have not felt his power. Only Juan LaPorte, Hector Lopez, and Ben Tackie have not been seriously rattled by Tszyu’s power and I don’t believe Ricky’s chin is in the same class as these men.

I am always amazed when I see the look on of Tszyu’s opponents face when hit flush by the pigtailed assassin. It’s always the same expression, “I have never been hit that hard before and where did the punch come from!” Eamon Magee was able to hit Ricky Hatton with at least six exceptional punches that were flush and hard in the first 2 rounds and from that point on he had only limited success. Once Tszyu finds the range, he will continue to land fast and heavy bombs and the more he lands, the less head and foot movement Hatton will be able use. If Tszyu gets Hatton moving backwards the fight is a good as over. Hatton may have displayed good movement in the past and the ability to fight off the back foot against Tackie and Magee, but he is no Sugar Ray Leonard when it comes to movement and whilst he has only been dropped once in his career, he certainly does not appear to possess a chin like Oktay Urkal’s or Ben Tackie’s. A good chin is what Hatton needs most for this bout and we will find out just how good it is soon.

Perhaps one of the most interesting quotes I have read concerning this bout comes from Vince Phillips, the only man to defeat Tszyu and a man defeated by Hatton six years after his triumph over Tszyu. Vince had this to say about a proposed Tszyu-Hatton match up (quotes taken from Ring magazine)”: If I was Kostya I would do everything to make this fight happen. Hatton’s style is tailor-made for Tszyu. If I were Hatton however, I would stay far away from Kostya. I have fought in the higher weight classes against bigger fighters, but none of them could hit as hard as Tszyu.” It is funny that the only man to beat Kostya Tszyu gives him more respect than two recent Tszyu victims do.

Sharmba Mitchell (in his first bout with Kostya) and Jesse James Leija both said Tszyu didn’t hit that hard and that they were winning at the time their respective bouts were stopped. It is even funnier to me that both men made these comments after quitting in their corner against the Russian Assassin and I guess they needed to save face. Mitchell recently made a fool out of himself by saying that Tszyu didn’t hurt him in the rematch and that weight loss was what caused those knockdowns.

I have also read much coming from the Hatton camp that Ricky Hatton possesses superior speed to Tszyu. It sounds to me like someone is blowing his own trumpet here. I would say the two men’s speed is about the same but Tszyu uses a more efficient technique that might just help him beat Hatton to the punch. I will be interested to see if Ricky tries to land that big left hook from the outside and Kostya stands his ground and blocks the punch as he did against Ahmed Santos and then counters.

As a big time Tszyu fan I must say again that I do genuinely like Ricky Hatton the boxer and the style he uses in the ring. He is very brave and he gives the fans their money’s worth when ever he fights. On top of that, he really believes in himself and just cannot comprehend the thought of losing. On top of these good qualities, he shows his opponents respect outside of the ring and he doesn’t say stupid things. Even though I am hoping for an exciting fight and relatively quick Tszyu devastating knockout, I sincerely hope that Ricky Hatton is not seriously hurt. I would be very disappointed if Ricky sustains a career ruining beating. Fighters like him, with big hearts, run the most danger of this occurring.