{"id":164151,"date":"2025-09-27T16:46:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T16:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/164151\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T16:46:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T16:46:13","slug":"four-opponents-from-ricky-hattons-rise-recall-facing-the-hitman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/164151\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Opponents From Ricky Hatton\u2019s Rise Recall Facing \u2018The Hitman\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shaun Brown<\/p>\n

BEFORE RICKY Hatton\u2019s crowning moment in June 2005, when he forced Kostya Tszyu to quit on his stool, he underwent a long, hard education in the ring. His reputation was rising fast as the new century began, but the path to greatness was still some way off.<\/p>\n

From Manchester to York Hall, even Detroit, \u2018The Hitman\u2019 gathered the mettle, experience and ring craft that would one day make him a world champion.<\/p>\n

But what was Hatton like before the world titles and the Vegas nights? Boxing News spoke with four men who shared the ring with him \u2013 Jon Thaxton, Jason Rowland, Mike Stewart and Ray Oliveira \u2013 to find out what it was like to face Ricky Hatton.<\/p>\n

\"facing<\/p>\n

What are your memories of the fight?<\/p>\n

Jon Thaxton: \u201cMy favourite fight. We were knocking hell out of each other. I gave my all that night, but I got beat by the better person. He was a phenomenal fighter, a lot more talented than I was. I knew he was a body puncher, but I did 5,000 sit-ups a day. He hit me with some Brahmas, but I was so up for it \u2013 it was Wembley, it was for the British title. After the fight, we were both being stitched up. He had stitches in his eye, I had a load of stitches in my face. And I said to him, I said, \u201cRicky, I really enjoyed that. Thanks very much, we must do it again.\u201d And he just turned around and said: \u2018You can f*** right off!\u2019. Typical Ricky \u2013 always the comic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rowland: \u201cBeing beat is the first thing that comes to mind. It was a 50-50 fight. I know a lot more now. I would have gone into the fight differently. The occasion was massive; everything was for Ricky. I was meant to fight him in London and I had to pull out because I was ill. I remember being at the press conference and one of the reporters said: \u2018You\u2019ve been watching tapes of Ricky?\u2019 And I said: \u2018Well, he\u2019s on telly every other week, I don\u2019t need to.\u2019\u00a0 He was a great little fighter, great for the fans and he got so many kids into boxing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Stewart: \u201cI had to lose some weight and it killed me, but I\u2019ll tell you what: Ricky Hatton was strong as hell. He was probably the strongest guy I ever fought. Not only was he strong, he had a lot of energy. When I fought him, he was at the top of his game. In that fifth round, when I was knocked down, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to do anything more, because Ricky was too strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray Oliveira: \u201cI went to London and thought it was going to be hostile and rude, but Ricky just made me feel welcome. He was so excited. He\u2019s like: \u2018Ray, we got the same birthday.\u2019 I looked at him, I said: \u2018Yeah, but you\u2019re 10 years younger.\u2019 In the first round, he punched my left eardrum, and by round three, he punched my right eardrum. I had no equilibrium; I couldn\u2019t stand or nothing. Every time he hit me, I was off balance. When I was down on the ground, the referee was counting, he goes: \u2018Ray, you getting up?\u2019 I smiled, I said: \u2018Nah, I\u2019m good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"facing<\/p>\n

What was he like to fight?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thaxton: \u201cRelentless. I knew what I was going into, and I knew I had to be on my game. Even with his cut, he kept bobbing, weaving, coming at me. I didn\u2019t think he hit as hard as some of the people I boxed, but he was relentless. I went with him as much as I could. I gave my all that night, and I could not have given any more. Although I was his gatekeeper, he also made my name as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowland: \u201cI coped with him for a bit until that long left to the body caught me. He was probably the best fighter I boxed. It was what he\u2019d done with his feet \u2013 he was in and out. I couldn\u2019t get my jab going. I went to the body and that\u2019s when he cracked me with a left hook. His left hooks and his power punching \u2013 it soon takes its toll on you. It happened so quick. He was an exceptional fighter. He\u2019s probably the best body puncher to come out of this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart: \u201cI\u2019d seen him gun down all types of guys. You know who it was like fighting? Julio Cesar Chavez. I watched Chavez coming up and it was like fighting him. His strength, his output, the way he put his punches together\u2026 after I fought him, I paid more attention to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oliveira: \u201cRicky was a very smart boxer. The kind of opponents I liked \u2013 the guys that came at me \u2013 it gave me the chance to let my punches go. Ricky didn\u2019t stay in front of me; he gave me angles. I thought he would come at me and be as easy as me to hit. I\u2019d think he was in front of me, and then suddenly he steps to the left, boom. I think he\u2019s back in front of me, nope, he steps to the right, boom. He was very smart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"facing<\/p>\n

BN: Did you think he\u2019d become a world champion?<\/p>\n

Thaxton: \u201cYeah. To be fair, if they\u2019d have stopped it on that cut, we\u2019d have had a rematch, and the fight might not have been as memorable. I\u2019m proud of my performance that night. Sometimes, it\u2019s not how you win, it\u2019s also how you lose. But he was, by far, the better person. You knew he was going to be a future world champion. When he was ready for the big man, Kostya Tszyu, what a performance and what a night. That was his moment. Whatever he\u2019d done afterwards, that was his moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowland: \u201cYeah, I did, with his backing and all that. I thought he\u2019d go all the way. I went to see him a couple of times in Vegas with my wife, against Castillo and Mayweather. There was 30,000 people there \u2013 it was amazing. He was a friend; we got on well. He was loved by loads of people as well. And for getting kids off the street there was no one better than Ricky Hatton.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart: \u201cOh, yeah, no doubt. I fought Sharmba Mitchell, and Ricky was better than him. Mitchell would have gave Hatton a lot of problems because of his style. But when Ricky stopped Kostya Tszyu, I said: \u2018Oh, s***. I didn\u2019t expect Ricky to win. After that, I didn\u2019t hear guys like Zab Judah call him out, but the fight I wanted to see was Ricky vs Miguel Cotto. That would have been a game-changer for the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oliveira: \u201cYeah. Right after that fight, I told him \u2018you\u2019re more than ready to come to American and fight Mayweather\u2019. I always thought that. I did say \u2013 I\u2019m not gonna lie \u2013 \u2018Don\u2019t fight Mayweather first.\u2019 Ricky was this amazing champion, not just inside the ring, he was a champion outside the ring. I could see how the people loved him. I always remember that. I thought he would beat Kostya Tszyu. I didn\u2019t think that Ricky was just a banger \u2013 he had great footwork and fighting angles. He was very smart.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Shaun Brown BEFORE RICKY Hatton\u2019s crowning moment in June 2005, when he forced Kostya Tszyu to quit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-164151","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}