Mayweather Vs Hatton Story

[Mikefields]

The table is set , the time for rumors and speculations is over. Another super fight hype has been born in what many boxing experts believe to be the end of "Pretty Boy" Floyd's reign at the top of the pound for pound chart. It's Mayweather vs Hatton , Lightning vs Thunder , the Slickster vs the Clubber!

It's been a few months now since the Hatton-Castillo fight. Since then , there has been a lot of talk between both camps about the money , the weight , Floyd's comeback.. First , it was impossible to take Mayweather's retirement seriously , at 30 , his record stands at an impressive 38 victories , 0 losses and 24 wins by knockout. He's already beatten today's bests , but there is still strong opposition in the 147 lbs devision ; Shane Mosley 44-4 , Miguel Cotto 30-0 , Paul Williams 33-0 and perhaps even Demetrius Hopkins 27-0 to a lesser extent.

It's now official ; Mayweather will fight Ricky hatton 43-0 on december 8th , the weight will be 147 lbs , the venue will be the MGM grand in Vegas , 40% of the fans will be from England and out of the remaining 60% , 40% will be Hatton lovers/Mayweather haters. How important is this? Having 80% of the crowd on Ricky's side will be extremely dangerous for Floyd , it's not only bad for morale , it can also have an effect on judging. Remember may 5th at the Delahoya-Mayweather bout where 99.9% of boxing experts had Floyd ahead 116-112 , Tom Kaczmarek , most likely influenced by the Delahoya crowd had Oscar winning 115-113.

Other than the crowd , Floyd will have a hard time against Hatton's infamous "hook and hold" style , cutting the ring off constantly will force Floyd to use short hooks and uppercuts. There will be little or no running around the ring , they will fight on the inside , hitting in the clutch , Mayweather will have to fight off the ropes most of the time.. Long story short , it's setting up to be a nightmare fight for "Pretty Boy Floyd".

All that aside , the fight will take place at Floyd's most comfortable weight , and Ricky's least comfortable weight , and thought the odds are stacked up against Mayweather , he's been in pretty bad situations before , he's more talented , more skilled , he has more experience , he's faster , more accurate , lighter on his toes , he's been in the ring with the best and he's beatten them all and most importantly , he's been able to adapt to any of his opponent's styles.

Of course , no one is invincible , legends like Ali , Leonard , Robinson have losses on their records , the chances of a 30 year old pound for pound king staying undefeated until retirement are pretty low and should Mayweather win this bout , he will probably either retire or take the winner of the Mosley-Cotto fight and then things could get even more complicated...

Keys to victory Mayweather
- Create distance
- Score with jabs
- Short hooks

Keys to victory Hatton
- Hook and hold
- Cut off the ring
- Crowd

What this fight means for the winner:
If 28 year old Ricky Hatton wins this fight , it means bigger paydays in america , bigger names will want to fight him , it will silence most crittics , he will continue his ascension in the ranks , capturing and defending titles but he will likely drop back to light welterweight as he is much stronger in that division. In a nut shell , an excellent career awaits Hatton if he wins on december 8th .. As for one day becoming pound for pound champ , it's doubtful at best.

If 30 year old Floyd Mayweather Jr. wins this fight , he will get back on top of the pound for pound ranks (some see Hopkins as king after his win over Winky Wright) but it will not silence the crittics as they will never be satisfied until someone beats him. Floyd will most likely "retire" again after this fight leaving his career as one of the best fighters to ever lace boxing gloves.

Mayweather better than Ali?
NO! First , boxing fans will never have a fighter replace Ali as the #1 fighter of all times.
If we look at it statistically though , Mayweather has had an incredible career , but for him to surpass Ali as the all time best , he would have to beat Hatton 43-0 , the winner of the Mosley 44-4 Cotto 43-0 fight and then he would have to defeat Paul Williams 33-0. Winning those three fights would put Floyd on top of the all time's best list , but to most people , Ali will never be surpassed.

[RP33]

sounds like Hattons dad wrote that

[Kel]

Good read mate. Is that your own work?

[Mikefields]

yes sir , i always write articles before a huge fight

[Sugar_Shaw]

Good work , t'was a good read

[Kel]

yes sir , i always write articles before a huge fight

Have your first CC in that case buddy

[Mar]

Very good article...floyd has never had the crowd with him so i don't see it making any difference at all...the guys that came over for the castillio fight were more silly and gave me a big laugh if anything. Floyd lives in vegas and even there he is always in front of a hostile crowd, i don't think the fight will be close enough to where the judges will have too much influence ...all the mental stratagies and crowds and all those type of intagables won't affect pbf it's been there done that for him. What's gonna matter is what hatton can physically bring and perform in the ring..and when it comes to that this fight is simple.

[Mikefields]

Yeah but you've see what happened on may 5th , i know for a fact that the crowd influenced Kaczmarek's judging , and you also saw the hatton castillo fight , man the fans were loud! , imagine what ll happen on december 8th , on top of the hatton fans , 90% of vegas hates pbf

[LeftHookToTheBody]

I'm not sure if the crowd effected Kaczmarek's scoring or not. Some judges punish a fighter on their scorecards if they run around and don't iniate the action, and reward the aggressor even if he isn't landing clean punches. That seems to me what happened on that scorecard. Personally, I like that kind of judging. Ballet dancing around the ring and pot shotting here and there does not deserve favor on a scorecard.

[yoitsdan]

WIth the buzz and the fans in Britain, I sincerely doubt that only 40% of the crowd will be English, it'll be more like 80%, out of the 13,500 or so at the Thomas & Mack, at least 10,000 where from England. Great article by the way, really enjoyed it

[themonk]

i hope hatton wins, but its hard not to love mayweather.

either way its an epic fight

[Mikefields]

between hatton by KO or mayweather by decision , i'd go with pbf

[ACEA]

The crowd wont affect Mayweather one bit, he went to Broadwalk Hall and almost every fan was cheering for Gatti and we know what happened there. To be honest no matter what Hatton does he will not beat Mayweather if Floyd boxes. A good boxer always beats a brawler. Hatton is too one dimentional to beat Floyd and many people say Hatton is relentless but he will fade down the strech no doubt about it. He puts on too much weight in between fights and that affects him towards the end of the fight. Floyd is always in tip top condition hell he could probibly fight twice in one night and win em both. I dont think Mayweather will ever be accepted as the best fighter ever no matter who he beats, people hate him and judge him on a personal level (similar to Naseem Hamed) rather than professionally and thats why anyone who fights him is given all the hype that this guy is the one that will beat Floyd or that guy is gonna beat him and if he beat all of em they will say 'oh this was a weak era compare to Robinson and Lennord and Hearns'.

[Mikefields]

youre right acea very good post!

[Violent Demise]

Very good article...floyd has never had the crowd with him so i don't see it making any difference at all...the guys that came over for the castillio fight were more silly and gave me a big laugh if anything. Floyd lives in vegas and even there he is always in front of a hostile crowd, i don't think the fight will be close enough to where the judges will have too much influence ...all the mental stratagies and crowds and all those type of intagables won't affect pbf it's been there done that for him. What's gonna matter is what hatton can physically bring and perform in the ring..and when it comes to that this fight is simple.

Excellent point. Mayweather don't need the crowd behind him. He's winning this fight like he's won his other fights. On his own