Hatton and Mayweather camps been talking about this fight for 18 months

**skel1983** · 08-02-2007 04:18 PM

http://www.sportinglife.com/boxing/n...al_113534.html

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Ricky Hatton's father has revealed that his son's 'superfight' with Floyd Mayweather has been on the cards for the last 18 months.

Ray Hatton, who manages his son's affairs, told radio station talkSPORT that discussions with Mayweather's camp had been taking place since early in 2006, with the fight finally coming to fruition this week when contracts were signed for the pair to meet on December 8.

Hatton snr said: "We've been talking to people from Mayweather's camp for 18 months. We've had dialogue going back as far as that. We've had conversations - 'let's be careful who the lads fight, try and keep them unbeaten, let's try and make it over 80 fights', which is a bit of a record for two unbeaten fighters to get in the ring.

"But it isn't that easy in boxing.

"As it was coming up to the Castillo fight (v Hatton) and the Oscar De la Hoya fight (v Mayweather) the conversations did take on a new turn because it was a matter of if Floyd could beat a living legend in Oscar and if Ricky could 'do' Castillo, then the fight got even closer."

Asked if Hatton would be piling on the pounds to fight Mayweather at welterweight, Hatton said: "When we fought Luis Collazo, we made a mistake. We tried to make him as big as the guy he was fighting. When you only have a stature of 5ft 7in there are limitations of what weight he can put on before it affects him.

"We slowed him down. His body was carrying more weight than what it was used to when it was put under exertion in a 12-round fight, so his performance dropped off.

"I caused a lot of confusion a few weeks ago when I said that Ricky Hatton wouldn't be fighting at welterweight. What I actually said was that he may be fighting for titles at welterweight. But he will not be coming in the ring as a welterweight. He'll be coming in the ring as a light-welterweight fighting a welterweight.

"We won't to be putting on weight he doesn't need. We've made that mistake once; we won't be making that mistake again."