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."