21.11.07 – By John Carter: Floyd Mayweather, current undisputed P4P king, 38 fights, 38 wins and 24 victories by way of KO. He is a multiple ( five ) weight champ, winning the WBC 130lb strap back in 1998 and slicing his way through the divisions to recently relieve ATG Oscar de la Hoya of his 154lb light middleweight belt, like him or loathe him, Floyd Mayweather already has an incredible resume.
Richard Hatton, likeable, amiable and himself a more modest 2 weight world champion. He currently holds no championship belts but is in possession of the ring’s 140lb Jnr Welterweight gong. He boasts a record of 43 fights, 43 wins with 31big wins by KO, he is a ruthless modern day body puncher who likes to rough it up a little. He has a style that is not to everyone’s taste but it is hasn’t let him down to date so he must be doing something right.
Opinions for the outcome of this fight are anything but divided, most are reckoning on an easy Floyd UD or stoppage on cuts.
A quote or two from respected ESB posters: “Fewer fights are easier to pick “, “I think the “surprise” will be that there is nothing new to be seen in this fight. If Ricky Hatton shows up to fight Floyd Mayweather, then we know exactly what to expect – no surprises. An aggressive, brawling, fouling, short-reach fighter will be meeting a fast-handed, slick boxer who has significantly more experience at this and higher weights against significantly better opposition. Where will the surprise be? This is a painfully easy fight to pick “
But boxing has a habit of throwing up a surprise or two of its own. Lets not forget Rahman / Lewis, Tyson / Douglas, Clay / Liston, Tunney / Dempsey, Sanders / Klitschko, Baldomir / Judah or Honeyghan / Curry and even Hatton / Tsyzu.
Floyd has fought and defeated EVERY kind of fighter that there is to be defeated, no-one has come close to denting this record, although some may argue Oscar got as close as any since Castillo 1 so why should this fight be different to all the others? Perhaps it wont but Ricky Hatton has 36 fighting minutes in which to rough house Floyd Mayweather. Maybe Hatton has been watching Bernard Hopkins of late? A fighter who uses all the tricks in the book and forces his own fight plan on his opponent, as in the Trinidad and Winky Wright fights but of course, Hatton is no Hopkins. So can Hatton win? The obvious answer is NO, he cant. However, I think it is more than possible for Hatton to actually upset the odds on this one. Mayweather has never been caught with a top-drawer quality body shot similar to the one Hatton landed on Castillo to stop that fight. There will be an issue with styles for Ricky – the fight game has rarely seen a better defensive boxer/fighter than Mayweather. I don’t think Floyd has the power to knock Ricky out but he does have the undoubted ability to dance, stick, move and lure him onto flurries that will make Floyd look good to the judges. Hatton has no or little defence and Floyd will be his most elusive, most defensive, most gifted and most talented opponent to date BUT is Floyd gonna be OVER CONFIDENT for this one? Leaving himself open to Hatton’s famed body punching powers?
Thirty-Six Minutes of Mayhem???? Probably not, but Hatton has 36 minutes to land and pin Floyd to the ropes and stop him. As Hatton said himself, “Regardless of what I think of him as a person, as a fighter he is second to none. But ability and speed is only good against someone who lets you use it, so anyone who says I haven’t got a chance doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
“I’ve got a massive chance.”
December 8th can’t come soon enough.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
MAYWEATHER/HATTON 24/7 – NOV. 25 EPISODE
Episode #2
Debut date: SUNDAY, NOV. 25 (10:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT)
Other HBO playdates: Nov. 26 (11:30 p.m.), 27 (4:30 p.m., 11:00 p.m.), 28 (9:30 p.m.), 29 (10:30 p.m.) and 30 (10:15 p.m.), and Dec. 1 (10:30 a.m., 12:40 a.m.), 2 (9:30 p.m.), 7 (8:30 p.m.) and 8 (9:30 a.m.)
HBO2 playdate: Nov. 29 (7:30 p.m.) and Dec. 13 (9:30 p.m.) and 15 (8:30 a.m.)
HBO On Demand availability begins: Nov. 27
Ricky Hatton’s fitness regimen to get to welterweight is explored and he spends time with his family as he prepares to move training camp from Manchester, England to Las Vegas. Floyd Mayweather’s remarkable and unusual training schedule and its benefits is chronicled.
The executive producers of MAYWEATHER/HATTON 24/7 are Ross Greenburg and Rick Bernstein; coordinating producer, Dave Harmon: producers, Jason Hehir and Scott Boggins; narrator, Liev Schreiber.