Mayweather And Hatton Prepare To Do Battle

In what has to be the biggest (talent wise) fight since Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis squared off back in 1999, undefeated champs Mayweather and Hatton will go at tonight to determine which Welterweight is the true legend.  The Arizona Republic brings us a detailed analysis of the Superfight:

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has the bling and belts and everything else that blinks like Las Vegas neon. He even has Wayne Newton, Mr. Las Vegas, in his entourage.

But Mayweather's town will sound like an English pub tonight. There haven't been so many Union Jacks in one U.S. city since before the American Revolution.

The Ricky Hatton army has invaded with songs, chants and drink.
It will leave with all of that and several thousand hangovers. But it came for more. It is in Las Vegas to see its leader, Hatton, capture the welterweight title. Hangovers are a better bet.

Mayweather (38-0, 24 KOs) is favored to keep the bling and belts against Hatton (43-0, 31 KOs) at the MGM Grand tonight. There are several reasons to pick Mayweather, all as simple and as clear as a scale and a tape measure.

At 5 feet 8, Mayweather is two inches taller than the 5-6 Hatton. At the official weigh-in Friday, Mayweather was at the welterweight limit, 147 pounds, or two more than the 145-pound Hatton. That difference figures to multiply by tonight's opening bell. Mayweather has fought at heavier weights. He beat Oscar De La Hoya last May as a junior-middleweight (154). He is considered a natural welterweight. Hatton is trying to put big pounds onto his body and into his bank account.

"Beat the midget, beat the midget," Mayweather chants as he does his road work on Vegas streets in the final version of HBO's 24/7 portrayal of both fighters.

Mayweather looks down on Hatton in every possible way. He has worn a toy-store like crown to mock the Brits and their reverence for their royal family.

In part, perhaps, that's why there are lot more cheers than bets for Hatton. He's the likeable David, a people's champ, against the pound-for-pound Goliath. The consensus is as loud as the chanting Brits, many of whom traveled from Hatton's hometown, blue-collar Manchester.

There's hope that Hatton will upset and finally silence the trash-talking Mayweather. But there's not much belief that he can.

"This ain't Rocky VII," Mayweather's uncle and trainer Roger has said repeatedly in interviews. "The guy who is supposed to win is gonna win."

But Mayweather also has seen tapes of Hatton, whom he considers to be too slow and too small. Hatton is non-stop, throwing punches at a whirlwind rate. But nobody is more adept at ducking blows than Mayweather.

"Floyd has never seen pressure like he'll see from me," said Hatton, who laughs at Mayweather's comments that he is one-dimensional and several dimensions below world class.

But Mayweather's speed is an element that Hatton has not encountered. The guessing game has Hatton getting cut by Mayweather's jabs in a headlong pursuit to slow the fastest fighter of today's generation in a bout that ends with Mayweather winning a late-round TKO or a decision.

But if it's Hatton, Mayweather's toy crown will look like the real thing. It'll look British.