Fighters Should Be Known For Their Accomplishments: Not Rapid Falls From Grace/Weight Cutting Leading to Decreased Punch Resistance – Think About It!

By Travis “Novel” Fleming

Boxing fans, and media alike, tend to subscribe to the “what have you done for me lately?” train of thought. This is good in theory, when disputing who deserves a title shot and big money fights, but tends to reflect poorly on talented fighters who suffered multiple beat downs at the end of a career. We’ve seen it a hundred times, fighters “getting old overnight”, looking on top of their game in one fight then looking like but a shell of their former selves in the subsequent bout. They can’t all be Hopkins, and to lesser extent Mayweather, when it comes to longevity. Sometimes “when a chin cracks it don’t come back.”

Cutting a significant amount of weight as an old guy has proved to be the detriment of more than a few fighters as well. When a fighter has taken multiple brutal beatings, it often leads to people underrating their primes. Of course the most notable example of this would be Roy Jones, JR., but even though I’ve seen a few out there use Roy’s late career losses to try and discredit his career, most are wise enough in his case to recognize that he was one of the most talented fighters we have ever seen, so they correctly dismiss his losses as a result of Roy’s extreme weight loss after his one time trip to heavyweight and back down, along with him fighting on too long past his prime. Most give Roy the benefit of the doubt, but other fighters who were very talented yet not not pound for pound number one, greatest of a generation, talents are not afforded the same reflection and are remembered as much by their late career losses as they are for their quality professional careers. They can’t all be pound for pound number one and any fighter who makes contender level, let a lone grabs a world title, has accomplished more than 99 percent of professional fighters. I’m going to take a few moments to reflect on a couple talented fighters who seem to get a bad rap for their late losses. These men deserve credit for their outstanding careers, not their sudden falls from grace.

Chad Dawson, 32-4, 18 KO’s

There was a time when “Bad” Chad was the king of the light heavyweights, a top five pound for pound fighter in the world, and declared by no less than Floyd Mayweather, JR. to be the most skilled fighter in the sport, besides himself of course. Dawson was a smooth operator, a slick southpaw with blazing handspeed for a big man, and respectable power in both hands. He was master of controlling distance, and very responsible defensively. He looked comfortable and relaxed in the ring, sometimes too relaxed, but it was evident that this man had incredible talent.
Undefeated after 22 fights, he captured the WBC light heavyweight title in a wide unanimous decision win over the favored and undefeated Tomasz Adamek. He went on to beat top tier talents like former champion Glen Johnson and current champion Antonio Tarver twice each, both would go on to notch significant wins after their losses to Dawson, proving they were still very good fighters.

After six successful title defenses, Dawson would lose his title in an upset to Jean Pascal, at the time 25-1, 16 KO’s, in Pascal’s hometown of Montreal. Pascal built up an early lead that Dawson began to close in on. Late in the fight, knowing he was down, Dawson started to unload on Pascal and rocked him several times, looking as if he might score a come from behind stoppage win until an accidental head clash opened up a gash over Dawson’s left eye in round eleven. The ringside doctor ruled the fight could not continue so they went to the scorecards and Pascal got the nod as well as Dawson’s world title.

Dawson would bounce back to beat former champ Adrian Diaconu while Bernard Hopkins would eventually wrestle the title from Pascal, setting up a battle between Hopkins and Dawson. The first Hopkins versus Dawson fight ended when Dawson injured Hopkins by throwing him off of his back in the second round, and it was eventually ruled a no contest. They would rematch six months later, and Dawson would hand Hopkins the most decisive loss of his great career until he was 50 years old against Sergey Kovalev.

Now a two time light heavyweight champion, five months later Dawson would make a horrible mistake that would end his career. He signed to fight undefeated super middleweight king, and the number 3 pound for pound fighter in the world, Andre Ward at 168 lbs, a weight Dawson hadn’t made in seven years. At age 30, and already filled out into his 6’1″ frame, the weight cut severely weakened him and Ward whooped him badly, scoring three knockdowns and beating Dawson by TKO in the tenth round.
Dawson still had his light heavyweight title, so he went back to light heavyweight to defend his title nine months later, but the damage was done. His body would never recover from the weight cut, much like Roy Jones Jr. Dawson would go on to get KO’d by current power punching light heavyweight king Adonis Stevenson and then, even more shockingly, he would lose a split decision at the end of 2014 to journeyman Tommy Karpency, ultimately ending Dawson’s career at the top level which in reality was finished the moment he made the ill advised decision to drop seven pounds at an advanced age to fight Ward.

The sight of Dawson on the canvass against Ward and Stevenson is fresh in the heads of boxing fans that I’ve seen discredit Dawson’s stellar career. What he should remembered for is being a top pound for pound talent, a two time light heavyweight champ , and the conquerer of Bernard Hopkins, Antonio Tarver, Glen Johnson, Tomasz Adamek, and Adrian Diaconu.

Ricky Hatton, 45-3, 32 KO’s

Ricky Hatton had a whole nation on his shoulders. He is the undisputed king of popularity when it comes to the notoriously raucous British fanbase, who even followed him over to Las Vegas in record numbers to make him sound like the home fighter against superstars of the sport while they sang silly songs about him in his honor. Not only is he the most beloved and popular British fighter of all time, but the man could really fight and loved nothing more than a good tear up which endeared him to fans along with with his humble, working class, fun loving personality. Hatton beat some excellent fighters in impressive fashion and he was among the top pound for pound fighters in the sport for four straight years in his prime, peaking at number four. He was the king of the junior welterweights, and moved up to welterweight to capture a title in his second weight division. He was a rugged fighter and a master of the exciting art of infighting. He was relentless in his attack, employing calculated pressure to breakdown an opponent. Hatton was also a devastating body puncher that went to work on the body from the opening bell, and his deadly left hook was among the best in the sport.

In 2005, Hatton, at the time 38-0, 28 KO’s, won the IBF junior welterweight title in spectacular fashion over the long reigning king of the division, and recent hall of famer, Kostya Tszyu. Hatton was relentless with incredible stamina and pressure, and after eleven rounds, Tszyu could take no more and quit on his stool. Also in 2005, after becoming the king of the division by dethroning Tszyu, Hatton would unify the division by destroying WBA champion Carlos Maussa by KO which earned Hatton the prestigious fighter of the year distinction by Ring Magazine and ESPN.
The following year, Hatton would move up to welterweight to capture a world title in his second division by beating WBA champion Luis Collazo via close decision. In 2007, Hatton would go back down to junior welterweight to defend his championship successfully versus undefeated power puncher Juan Urango who had picked up Hatton’s vacated IBF championship. Later in the year, he would defend his junior welterweight title against Floyd Mayweather’s toughest opponent, Jose Luis Castillo, who Hatton crunched with a nasty left hook to the body in round four that caused Castillo to wince in pain and take a knee until he was counted out by referee Joe Cortez. The win over Castillo set up a massive pay per view fight against the pound for pound king of boxing Floyd Mayweather, JR., back up at welterweight.

Thousands of Brits made the trip to Las Vegas and cheered so loudly you would think the fight was happening in England. Hatton gave a good effort, and applied enough pressure to make Mayweather uncomfortable at times, but was hit by a highlight reel check hook in the tenth round that sent him head first into the corner post then to the canvass in a daze. He got up, but was teed off on with sharp punches while on shaky legs with a clouded head, and he got dropped again before referee Joe Cortez waved off the fight, awarding Mayweather the tenth round TKO victory.
Hatton sunk into a deep depression and turned to alcohol abuse to help him wash away the misery of his first career defeat. Hatton was now 29 years old, and was well known for his love of food and beer which caused him to balloon up in weight in between bouts, and gave him the moniker “Ricky Fatton”. He regularly had to cut between 35-45 pounds in a training camp which causes a lot of wear and tear when coupled with his aggressive give and take style that had endured punishment throughout 43 pro contests.

Hatton would bounce back with a unanimous decision over Juan Lazcano but he didn’t look like his old self and got rocked by his unheralded challenger. He would notch his last significant victory in late 2008 when he stopped Paulie Malignaggi in the eleventh round. This would set up a 2009 showdown with pound for pound great Manny Pacquiao.

Hatton fought a very unintelligent fight from the opening bell and rushed headfirst into counter punches by the power punching peak version of Manny Pacquiao. Hatton was dropped twice in the first round, and brutally knocked out in the second with another highlight reel KO.

At 31 years old, Hatton would take three years off which brought a whole new meaning to “Ricky Fatton”. He would make an ill advised comeback in 2012, this time having to literally cut half his body weight, to face former welterweight title holder Vyacheslav Senchenko who knocked out Hatton in ninth round. Hatton would announce his retirement shortly after.
I’ve heard a lot people claim Hatton was an overrated brawler, citing his losses to Mayweather and Pacquiao. Is losing to the two best fighters of the generation anything to truly be ashamed about? I think not, especially when you consider the man was a top ten pound for pound talent for over four years, was the most popular British fighter of all time, was a two weight champion, a unified champion, and held victories over the likes of Kostya Tszyu, Jose Luis Castillo, Paulie Malignaggi, Carlos Maussa and Juan Urango.

In the cases of Dawson, Hatton, Roy Jones, JR., and countless others, it seems as if cutting a significant amount of weight at advanced aged results in weaker punch resistance. There’s also the old aforementioned saying “once it cracks it don’t come back”, meaning when some fighters suffer their first knockout their punch resistance significantly decreases, making blows that they would normally be able to handle turn into potentially concussive shots.

Hatton and Dawson may have come up short in their biggest fights, but they fought the best and deserve credit for doing what you’re supposed to do as fighters in not avoiding challenges. They made the fatal error of cutting weight when they were at an age that was too advanced to allow them to do it without severely weakening them, regardless, they had careers that put most to shame and deserve to be remembered as talented fighters that were one time among the best in world.

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