Watch Dog: Steve’s PPV Criteria: Hatton vs Maussa
By Steve Hudgins (November 25, 2005)  
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!

November 26th - PPV PRICE: 19.95

RICKY HATTON (39-0, 29 KO's) vs CARLOS MAUSSA (19-2, 16
KO's)

Maussa is coming off of a huge upset victory over Vivian Harris. He is extremely awkward and he can punch. Still, it's hard to imagine him giving the king of the 140 lb weight division much trouble. Hatton looked sensational in dethroning Kostya Tszyu, however, Maussa's style might throw him off some, maybe enough to give this fight some entertaining moments, but it certainly seems more likely that this would be a one sided affair than it would a competitive one.

*Ricky Hatton is the Jr Welterweight Champion Of The World - Carlos Maussa is rated # 3 at Jr Welterweight (140 lbs)*

SCORE = 3

CARL THOMPSON (33-6, 25 KO's) vs. FREDERIC SERRAT (23-4, 9 KO's)

Carl Thompson is back in the ring for the first time in over 1 year after racking up a couple of decent wins over Sebastian Rothmann and knock out artist David Haye in 2004. The majority of Serrat's victories are against unknowns with dubious records. Serrat has yet to earn a victory when stepping up the competition and Carl Thompson is exactly that. Of Serrat's 4 losses, only 1 is via KO and that was back in 2000. Serrat should prove durable enough for Thompson to get some of that year long rust off, the question is can he make a fight out of it?

*Carl Thompson is rated # 4 at Cruiserweight (200 lbs) - Frederic Serrat is not rated *

SCORE = 2

MATTHEW HATTON (25-2-1, 10 KO's) vs SERGEY STARKOV (14-30-2, 2 KO's)

Why in the world they decided to televise this fight is beyond me. Perhaps it has to do with one of the fighter’s last name being Hatton? Hmmm… Mathew Hatton typically fights guys with records of .500 and below. Sergey Starkov certainly fits that mold with a whopping 30 losses in 46 fights. Ugh.

*This fight will be at Jr Middleweight (154 lbs) - Neither fighter is rated at Jr Middleweight*

SCORE = 1

MATTHEW MACKLIN (15-1, 11 KO's) vs ALEXEY CHIRKOV (17-1,
11 KO's)

Matchup of two young middleweights who are both probably facing their toughest challenge to date here, but that's mainly due to the fact that they both are normally fighting .500 and below fighters. The only noticeable name on either fighters resume is Julio Cesar Vasquez, whom Chirkov decisioned earlier this year. Of course, Vasquez is light years past his prime so take that for what it's worth. *Please note, this fight is only scheduled to be televised if the other 2 undercard bouts runs short.

*This fight will be at Middleweight (160 lbs) - Neither fighter is rated at Middleweight*

SCORE = 1

FINAL SCORE = 7

SUMMARY: While I do think it's nice that the folks in the good ole' U S of A are given the option of seeing a fight card that is taking place in Europe, where more and more interesting fights are winding up, I sure wish they would have picked a better card to offer us than this.  Maybe next time.
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