Watchdog’s Pay-Per-View Criteria for Floyd Mayweather vs Ricky Hatton


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Watchdog’s Pay-Per-View Criteria for Floyd Mayweather vs Ricky Hatton

Watchdog by Steve Hudgins (Dec 8, 2007) Doghouse Boxing (Photo © Will Hart, HBO-PPV)

The purpose, I don't think any one fight can be made in boxing today, that alone, is worth the price of a PPV. Unless of course, they can conjure up Dempsey vs Marciano or Joe Louis, but until that day comes, I want some quantity to go along with quality!

I say, if they want us to shell out 30, 40 sometimes 50 bucks per PPV, they should give us some bang for our buck! The card should be solid from top to bottom! Or at least it should be so top heavy with excellent fights that

they can get away with a showcase fight to kick off the festivities, but these 2 or 3 showcase fights and 1 decent to mega main event PPV's are for the birds! (My apologies to any of the birds I may have offended with that statement.)

SO HERE'S MY SYSTEM:

I preview and rate every fight that is scheduled to be televised on a PPV Boxing Card, and try to determine whether that card is worth purchasing or not based on my point system below.

Please note that at the end of each preview, I will mention what weight class the bout is being fought at and where each fighter ranks within that weight class. This is done by using "The Ring" ratings.

HERE'S HOW STEVE'S PPV CRITERIA WORKS!

POINTS:

6 = MEGA MATCHUP
5 = Excellent Matchup
4 = Good Matchup
3 = Decent Matchup
2 = OK Matchup
1 = Bad Matchup

If a fight is scheduled to be televised on the card, it gets at least 1 point. This helps to reward quantity.

POINT SYSTEM:

14 or higher = GET IT!

13 = If you can find someone to split it with you or the price of the PPV is 24.99 or less, GET IT!

12 = If you can find someone to split it with you or the price of the PPV is 19.99 or less CONSIDER getting it.

11 = If you can find a place that is showing it, or get enough people over to split it with you, so that you are not paying more than 10 dollars for the card, CONSIDER getting it.

10 or under = Save your money and sleep well at night knowing you didn't get ripped off!

AND AWAY WE GO!

December 8th - PPV PRICE: 54.95

FLOYD MAYWEATHER (38-0 24 KO’s) vs RICKY HATTON (43-0 31 KO's) - This fight is extremely significant as the one and only Jr Welterweight Champion of the world moves up in weight to take challenge the one and only Welterweight Champion of the world. If Floyd Mayweather has his way, he’ll make this fight as boring as possible. It will be up to Ricky Hatton to make the fight and if he can pressure Mayweather and throw barrages of non stop punches for 12 straight rounds, he has a great shot here. It’s tough to say what will happen. There’s a chance that this fight is a lot of fun, but there’s also a chance that this fight stinks out the joint.

*Floyd Mayweather is the Welterweight Champion of the World (147 lbs) – Ricky Hatton is the Jr. Welterweight Champion of the World (140 lbs) – This fight is taking place at Welterweight (147 lbs)*

SCORE = 4

JEFF LACY (22-1 17 KO's) vs PETER MANFREDO (28-4 13 KO’s): A lot of people, including the odds makers are expecting this to be a one sided beat down in favor of Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy. Personally, I don’t think near as much of Lacy as most people apparently do and I’m feeling like this is going to be a pretty good scrap. If Manfredo can get out of the first 3 rounds, I think he’ll give Lacy quite a bit of trouble.

*Jeff Lacy is rated # 4 at Super Middleweight (168 lbs) – Peter Manfredo is not rated*

SCORE = 3

DANIEL PONCE DE LEON (33-1 30 KO’s) vs EDUARDO ESCOBADO (20-2 14 KO’s): When I heard they were going to put Ponce De Leon on the undercard, I was really hoping it would be in a rematch against the only man to beat him, Celestino Caballero,. Instead they went with a light touch in Eduardo Escobado. Escobado is on a 7 fight winning streak, and while he hasn’t lost since 2004, that loss was to a fighter with a record of 6-11. He can punch a bit though and I do think Escobado will be game but, while this is not a total showcase fight, it’s hard to see Ponce De Leon having much trouble here.

*Daniel Ponce De Leon is rated # 3 at Jr Featherweight (122 lbs) – Eduardo Escobado is not rated*

SCORE = 2

EDNER CHERRY (22-5-2 10 KO’s) vs WES FERGUSON (17-2-1 5 KO’s) Cherry won a close decision over Ferguson in a match many of you may have seen on ESPN2’s Friday night fights back in June of this year. It was a pretty close, good, back and forth battle and being that it’s a mere 5 months later, I don’t know why we would expect anything different this time around. Pretty decent opening fight for a 4 fight PPV card.

*This fight is being fought at Lightweight (135 lbs) – Neither Fighter is rated*

SCORE = 3

FINAL SCORE = 12

SUMMARY: The price tag of 54.95 is absurd. That’s a lot of money to fork out for any PPV let alone for one with a main event that is iffy as to whether or not it will be fun to watch. The undercard is decent. Nothing to jump around about, but decent. With a price tag this big, my advice would be to only get this PPV if you can get at least 3 people to split it with you. Otherwise, it’s just too much of a gamble and you should pass.

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