Sunday, December 9, 2007

Mayweather Pounds Hatton to 10th Round TKO

There's not much to say about this one, but enjoy the video here and ESPN's story after the break.



LAS VEGAS -- The overwhelmingly British crowd was deafening as it cheered, chanted and sang for Ricky Hatton throughout the fight, but it couldn't fight for him.

He could have used the help.

Floyd Mayweather, faster, more skilled and far more accurate with his punches, dominated Hatton and knocked him out in the 10th round to retain the welterweight championship at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night.
Most of the fans in the wild sold-out crowd of 16,459 had come all the way from England to support their hero. They sang throughout the fight, even singing for Hatton as he lay dazed on the canvas after being knocked down for the second time.
Mayweather put an exclamation point on his pound-for-pound No. 1 status with a clinical destruction of the reigning junior welterweight champion, who moved up for the opportunity to face the "Pretty Boy" in one of the most anticipated fights in years.

"I took my time. I fought inside and outside," Mayweather said. "A true champion can adapt to anything. I already knew coming in it was going to be a rough night and that it was going to be tougher than most of my fights. I didn't prepare halfway. I had a great training camp."

Mayweather, who is 30, hinted that it might have been his last training camp and talked about retiring, the same way he did after winning the title from Carlos Baldomir in November 2006.

When asked about facing titleholder Miguel Cotto next, Mayweather said, "He's a hell of a champion, and there are great guys at 154 [pounds], but I have done everything I can do in the sport of boxing and I am not going to fight anybody. I accomplished a goal tonight because one of my dreams was to fight in the U.K., but I couldn't. So I had the best of the U.K. come to me."

Hatton (43-1, 31 KOs) was never really in the fight even though he tried to rough Mayweather (39-0, 25 KOs) up by bulling him into the ropes, wrestling with him and making it a physical fight.

Hatton took the loss with good humor.

"What a fluke that was," he said. "He is very good at making you miss. He was better inside than I thought. He caught me. It was working, but I didn't quite stick to the game plan. I was a little gung ho. He wasn't the biggest welterweight I've seen, but I felt the difference. I knew what the tactics were. I wasn't quite good enough to apply it tonight."

Mayweather was clearly in control before rocking Hatton in the 10th round. He knocked him down with a left hook, and Hatton was badly hurt. He didn't look as though he knew where he was when he got up, but referee Joe Cortez let the fight continue.

Mayweather wasted no time jumping on him again, landing a flurry of punches, including another left hook that sent Hatton staggering backward and down again. Cortez called off the fight at 1:35 without a count at the same time the white towel was thrown from Hatton's corner.

"He was definitely the toughest competitor I ever faced," Mayweather said. "I was throwing body shots, and he kept coming. I see now why they call him the 'Hitman.' But then I threw the check hook. They teach us that in northern Michigan in the amateurs, and he walked right into the shot. He never saw it coming."

Said Hatton, "He's very clever. He picked up a couple of shots, and that was that. I was forcing it, and I was doing well. I should have been a touch more careful. He knocked me out, but he wasn't the hardest puncher I've ever fought. He's very accurate. Knock me down, I keep getting up. Ricky Hatton is still going to fight."

The entire week of the fight, the Brits had poured into Las Vegas hoping Hatton could replicate other massive British upsets against American fighters, such as Randy Turpin's shocker against Sugar Ray Robinson to win the middleweight title in 1951 and Lloyd Honeyghan's shocking knockout of Donald Curry to win the undisputed welterweight title in 1987.

It wasn't to be.

It took a few rounds for Mayweather, who was fighting in his adopted hometown, to look comfortable against relentless Hatton, but when he finally did, he started to let his hands go and was able to catch Hatton with combinations.

He cut Hatton, 29, over the right eye in the third round, and in the fourth, Mayweather started to land clean, crisp shots. He stunned Hatton with a three-punch combination.

In the sixth, Hatton lost a point when he shoved Mayweather into the ropes and hit him behind the head.

Mayweather shook the blow off, then continued to pick Hatton apart. He staggered Hatton in the eighth with a straight right hand that snapped his head back as the Americans in the crowd burst into a chant of "USA! USA! USA!"

Mayweather continued the assault and was battering Hatton with combinations and body shots, which was supposed to be Hatton's forte.

By the ninth round, Mayweather's stiff left jab was snapping Hatton's head back and it looked as though it was only a matter of time until the end.

Mayweather said he wanted the knockout. His power has been questioned, and he has battled hand injuries.

"I wanted to show the fans I can punch with power," he said. "I feel like in one of my last fights, I gave the fans a dud. So I wanted to come back and give the fans a great fight."

HBO will replay the bout Dec. 15 (10:15 p.m. ET/PT).

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Saturday, December 8, 2007

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.

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