Hatton and Graham on how they'd beat Mayweather...

[WWatt]

Hatton from last night (in the MEN - Manchester Evening News):

"I don't mind telling Floyd how I'm going to fight him and beat him. It'd be up to him to deal with it which I don't believe he could.

"I'll jump all over him. He has a longer reach and faster hands (than me), and better combinations and dexterity than anything I've seen in me life.

"So it's not rocket science that I shouldn't stand off the guy. He's not exactly the easiest to hit either.

"So if I tried to stick-and-move and use side-to-side movements and all that he'd be finding my head more than I'd be finding his head, without a shadow of a doubt. He's just a class act.

"But I'm bigger, stronger and fitter than him and cute enough not to go at him in a straight line.

"I'll be on him like a rash, smothering his work, stepping around, always looking for any variety of bodyshots and switching upstairs.

"He will not be able to operate on my tempo and I don't expect him to last 10 rounds.

"He can only beat me on cut eyes, but with those big gloves he wears because of his bad hands he's not exactly a cutting puncher."


Graham from a little while back (in the MEN):

"He'd of already tasted defeat against Oscar so he'd be coming into the fight hungry to get back on track.

"We won't match him for pure boxing ability, but he won't match us for balance and agility on top of strength and workrate.

"Ricky is the only fighter who can take Floyd at light-welter or welter. No question about that.

"Floyd relies on physical gifts more while Ricky uses more anticipation, we'll drain him physically and then we'll start to out-box him and get him out of there.

"It'll be the biggest win in British Boxing history, one in front of Hatton-Tszyu."


Graham from '05:

"I'm a big Mayweather fan. I think he is fantastic, a wicked talent. The Mayweather fight is the one me and Ricky has talked about for over two years.

"We knew he'd come, we knew we'd fight him at some point and I've been watching Mayweather very closely for exactly that reason.

"But this is the biggest fight of Mayweather's career, too, because he's not had a super fight in a long time, if ever.

"Mayweather should forget all the talk of fighting Winky Wright at middleweight and start building to what would be a huge, a mega fight in the summer.

"I've been against Winky Wright twice before so I know him well and Winky would dwarf Mayweather and absolutely pulverise him.

"Mayweather, if he is serious about Wright, needs a frontal lobotomy. He should concentrate on all the great fighters in any around his own division and forget Winky Wright because he wouldn't have a hope in hell's chance."

"Actually, I think it could be one of the easiest fights for me. But let everyone build Floyd up - more kudos for us when he beat him.

"Everyone says the one fighter to give him trouble was Castillo (in the first of their two fights) but Castillo made every mistake a pressure fighter shouldn't make. He threw punches to arms and elbow, there was no thought to go along with his pressure, he was committing himself first. I remember watching the fight and thinking Ricky wouldn't make any of the types of mistakes Castillo was making.

"And people who say Ricky is just an English Gatti - and look what Mayweather did to Gatti (in June) are dead wrong. I knew Gatti had no chance. He didn't have a plan at all, he was even asking Ricky for advice on the day of the actual fight!

"Ricky is bigger, stronger, faster, younger, a much bigger puncher and an all-round more talented fighter than Gatti. As much as I love Gatti, he never had a chance with his style against Mayweather.

"But trust me. Take cuts away and Ricky beats Mayweather seven nights a week."


Graham from June '05:

"We have talked about Floyd Mayweather for the last couple of years and nothing has changed.

"Ricky Hatton isn't Arturo Gatti. I know what to do to beat Mayweather.

"Ricky has got the tools. He needs educated pressure. Mayweather has got wicked balance but Hatton has fantastic balance as well."

[El Kabong]

I think Miguel Cotto has the best chance of beating Floyd at 147...I liked Hatton's chances at 140 better

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

"Floyd relies on physical gifts while Ricky relies on anticipation"..

Thats underestimating Floyd a little bit IMO.

[jbirdy]

sound about right. mayweather does't do so well when the fight is really taken to him. castillo one showed that. and so did the first half of the judah fight. but a lot of fella's on this site will be suggesting that ricky perhaps doesnt have the gas to powerhouse him for 12 rounds after seeing the fight on saturday. but i reckon if the mayweather fight ever happens hatton will be as much of a possesed man as he was on the night of the tszyu fight.

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

No doubt. Ricky should be chomping at the bit if a fight with Mayweather materialised.

[Chipper]

I think Miguel Cotto has the best chance of beating Floyd at 147...I liked Hatton's chances at 140 better

Whilst Cotto is no plodder, i do think he is a little too slow to really compete with Mayweather.

I'd expect Mayweather to box him all night and keep away from them heavy hands of Cotto.

[p4pking]

"But I'm bigger, stronger and fitter than him and cute enough not to go at him in a straight line.".... Right, that's why you were successful at welter and he couldn't handle it

"Floyd relies on physical gifts more while Ricky uses more anticipation" - Proposterous. Ricky is the one who relies on physical strength, Floyd is a much much smarter fighter than he is in every way... And the thing people don't understand, Floyd is STRONGER then Hatton at anything but 140. And Floyd
s not going back down below welter..

"He will not be able to operate on my tempo and I don't expect him to last 10 rounds."- Right, because Floyd isn't the world beater Urango is, only somebody like him could last more then 10 rounds against Hatton...

"He'd of already tasted defeat against Oscar so he'd be coming into the fight hungry to get back on track."... well, hey, at least they make it no secret what they are hoping for ..... I wonder if after Floyd beats Oscar they'll even bother anymore.

[killersheep]

sound about right. mayweather does't do so well when the fight is really taken to him. castillo one showed that. and so did the first half of the judah fight. but a lot of fella's on this site will be suggesting that ricky perhaps doesnt have the gas to powerhouse him for 12 rounds after seeing the fight on saturday. but i reckon if the mayweather fight ever happens hatton will be as much of a possesed man as he was on the night of the tszyu fight.

If you want to see the fights that people had the most success against floyd

Mayweather vs Jesus Chavez at super feather (7/12/97)

Mayweather vs Jose Luis Castillo at lightweight (4/20/02)

Mayweather vs Zab Judah at welterweight (4/08/06)

The thing is about Mayweather vs. Castillo II, Mayweather showed that he had learned and absolutely schooled Castillo.

[albsur2006]

The whole problem with Ricky's gameplan is that he's overestimating his own abilities. Ricky is successful because he gets off first and then finds a way smother his opponents when they try to get their offense off. The problem with Ricky's plan is that he's assuming that he can get his offense off. Floyd at 147 is still faster than Ricky Hatton at 140. Floyd's hands are just way too fast. If Judah had a problem finding Floyd when Judah's hands are arguably faster than Floyd's, finding an opening to hit Floyd will be a NIGHTMARE for Hatton. Ricky will be swinging at nothing for the first half of the fight while Floyd works that body with jabs and inside work. Hatton is able to tie up because he lunges in and ties up opponents arms as they finish punching. Floyd is usually gone by the time he finishes punching, he never admires his work and is never there to "listen to the response." Lunging in like that against Floyd will leave four openings for Floyd to attack and he'll be MURDERED trying to tie Floyd up. Hatton unquestionably can't beat Floyd in the middle of the ring, Hatton can't beat Floyd against the ropes. What will surprise Hatton the most is that at 147, Floyd WILL be the stronger man. Floyd will be the bigger puncher. Hatton doesn't have Baldy's awesome chin. People have always underestimated how good of a puncher Floyd is. At 135, people thought he was gonna have a little more trouble knocking people out, but he proved people wrong. At 140, people were sure that his punching power would be gone, but his speed and accuracy equaled power and he was able to put people away. At 147, put in amazing body work against Judah, threw Mitchell away with a body shot, and was landing HUGE shots on Baldy in the middle of the fight that proved Baldy's chin is amazing. Against Hatton, Floyd will plant his feet and land big shots instead of just using arm and elbow punches because Hatton doesn't have KO power himself. Hatton is not even that hard puncher at 140 much less 147. Plus, Hatton's claimed that he's more conditioned, but Hatton is not conditioned well if a couple body shots hurt you and ballooning in between fights is killing his body. There's no way losing 40 pounds between fights can benefit you. My prediction, Floyd TKO 10.

[CaNcer]

^completely agree, i remember billy graham sayin on sky after the gatti mayweather fite ricky wud land the the left hook to the body and then throw the left hook up top..how is tht gona work? i dont think ive ever seen floyd hit with a left hook to the head at all

poor strategies..mayweather's way too smart for their plans

[Wacko3205]

They have forgotten one thing regarding Mayweather...to hit...you have to be hit...numerous times right on the button.

They barely beat Collazo...still say they didn't.

Forget Mayweather & work on 140lbs again.

[El Kabong]

I think Miguel Cotto has the best chance of beating Floyd at 147...I liked Hatton's chances at 140 better

Whilst Cotto is no plodder, i do think he is a little too slow to really compete with Mayweather.

I'd expect Mayweather to box him all night and keep away from them heavy hands of Cotto.

PBF might box him all night but Baldomir put PBF on the ropes some and he's SLOW....plus Cotto throws punches for effect whereas Baldomir threw for points and didn't throw enough.

[zhubin]

Another big problem for Hatton is the fact that he balloons so much between fights. His recent fight showed that his stamina was a question mark since he had to drop big time weight to get back down to 140...it showed in the latter rounds...where he had to resort to a lot of grabbing. Ricky needs to commit to being in decent shape in between fights. Floyd on the other hand stays in tremendous shape year round. So when Ricky says he will outwork him in 10 rounds...that is a bit of stretch.

[albsur2006]

I think Miguel Cotto has the best chance of beating Floyd at 147...I liked Hatton's chances at 140 better

Whilst Cotto is no plodder, i do think he is a little too slow to really compete with Mayweather.

I'd expect Mayweather to box him all night and keep away from them heavy hands of Cotto.

PBF might box him all night but Baldomir put PBF on the ropes some and he's SLOW....plus Cotto throws punches for effect whereas Baldomir threw for points and didn't throw enough.

Yeah, that's because Baldy walked into the ring as a middleweight. Mayweather WILL not retreat in this fight, Mayweather will stand in the pocket and deliver. Hatton's not a true 147 pounder and he's a volume puncher.

[babyboNe]

i only have one thing to say....hatton cannot beat pbf.