Mayweather vs. Hatton

By Ron Borges

LAS VEGAS – They both know they’re going to win, which is of course impossible but that’s what boxing is. It’s the sport of self-delusion.

Putting the millions each will pocket aside, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Ricky Hatton know they can’t both win Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena when they risk their undefeated records, their lives and possible personal embarrassment to settle the issue of which one of them is the best welterweight in the world. Still they believe.

“I think Floyd Mayweather is an absolutely fantastic fighter,’’ said Billy Graham, who has trained Hatton since he was a boy. “Defensively, he’s breathtaking. His hands are unbelieveably fast. He’s a great fighter. I’ve got no arguments to say that he’s not. I’d make myself look stupid to say he’s not the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. He’s extremely gifted. That’s why we want to fight. Because my fighter will beat him.

“If he’s not concerned about Ricky he’s a fool, and I don’t think he’s a fool. Ricky relishes fighting. He’s been training ever since he was a little boy to hone people down because most fighters run away from him. I don’t think Floyd’s ever faced a more skillful pressure fighter in his life. I know that because there’s not a more skillful pressure fighter on the planet than Ricky Hatton.

“But he’s not just a pressure fighter. He’s an awful lot more. He’s blessed with all of those attributes that Floyd’s blessed with like fantastic peripheral vision, great variety, fantastic balance and reflexes coupled with his amazing strength and ferocity. I think that’s going to be enough to beat Floyd.’’

Mayweather (38-0) has heard this all before. He heard Diego Corrales say he was going to knock him out and then knocked Corrales down five times before Corrales’ corner men threw in the towel. He heard Jose Luis Castillo say he was going to grind him down and Oscar De La Hoya say he was too big for him and he beat them both. He’s heard it all and it has always meant nothing. In the end, Mayweather stands alone, on a perch he doesn’t believe he will relinquish to a runt named Ricky Hatton.

“Thirty-eight said they were going to keep pressure,’’ Mayweather said. “Thirty eight said they had an interesting game plan. Thirty eight had great trainers. But you must realize trainers can’t get in there and fight for fighters. A fighter must go in there.

“I’m the best. It’s accepted. In boxing there ain’t no one like me, and Ricky Hatton’s about to find it out for real. Hatton’s a good fighter, but he’s not on my level.

“He’ll come out and fight his heart out but I’m going to stick to the game plan, maintain my composure, break him down, make the right moves, the smart moves, listen to my corner and go out and get the job done.”

Most of the boxing world is predicting the same thing. They look at Mayweather and see too much speed, too much defensive slickness, too much quickness, too much of just about everything. When they look at Hatton, they see too little.

Too little size, too little speed, too little of everything necessary to beat the undisputed pound-for-pound best fighter on earth. But most of the boxing world does not contain the most important guy in that world at the moment. Most of the boxing world doesn’t include Ricky Hatton.

“He’s in for the shock of his life,’’ said Hatton (43-0, 31 KO), the junior welterweight champion who is moving up seven pounds to challenge a fighter considered even by himself to be the best boxer on the planet at a weight Hatton struggled with when he barely defeated then WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo a year and a half ago in Boston.

“He has a lot of strengths,’’ Hatton continued. “He’s got fantastic hand speed. Is he a better boxer than me? Yes. Is he faster than me? Yes. But does he have heart like me? No. Is he aggressive as me? No.

“I’ve always had this inner belief. It would be easy to think, ‘Ooh, Floyd Mayweather, Vegas, ooh hell.’ But I’ve never, ever thought that. People say, ‘Ooh, you’re fighting Floyd Mayweather?’ I feel like saying, ‘Yeah, he’s f***ing fighting me.’ That’s my level of confidence.

“I’ve been groomed for this level. I think that with the Kostya Tszyu fight nobody gave me a prayer. Everybody expected me to walk into one of them right hands and that would have been it but my determination, my stamina, my chin, everything (was too much). I was oblivious to pain that night because of the man I was facing. I knew if I left him alone for a half second he would probably line me up and nail me with that big right hand.

“With Floyd it’s a totally different tale. To beat Ricky Hatton you need that fire power to stop me coming. I mean, if you don’t hurt me, I’ll keep coming all night. Although Floyd has different attributes and different manners than Kostya Tszyu - I mean Floyd has the speed and the defense and the boxing ability over Kostya – has Floyd got the power to hurt me?

“I have no doubt at times in the fight he might lead me a merry dance and put me off with his speed and his wonderful boxing ability but can he do it for 12 rounds and has he got the power to stop me coming? Kostya Tszyu couldn’t do it with that murderous right hand. There’s different problems but ultimately has he got the fire power to deal with my agitated pressure? That’s the key. Agitated pressure. Yes.’’

Agitated pressure? That’s what Ricky Hatton says he’ll put on Floyd Mayweather all night long and, frankly, it’s what he’ll have to do. He’ll have to find ways to get inside Mayweather’s nearly impenetrable defenses and make his body pay. If he can’t, he can’t win.

If he can he still may not win but Hatton is a strong body puncher and a fighter willing to trade off being hit for the opportunity of pureeing an opponent’s kidneys with stinging hooks. If he can do it often enough, Mayweather’s speed advantage will begin to disappear and his biggest advantage will have been blunted. Of course, that assumes Hatton can catch up to him in the first place.

Can Hatton get close enough often enough to do that kind of work? Perhaps but no one else has and Hatton understands the consequences if he joins in his predecessors’ frustrations.

“He has a lot in his armor,’’ Hatton said of Mayweather. “He’s got a wonderful defense and he likes to take the steam out of his opponents by making them miss. There’s nothing more tiring than when you’re missing your opponent.

“But he waits for his opponents and when it’s me he shouldn’t be waiting too long because someone who is constantly on you all the time like me, who doesn’t really tire and who gets stronger in the fight, he doesn’t want to wait around too much.

“He has fantastic hand speed but my style and attributes will diffuse what he does. I move in very, very quickly on me opponents and stick to them like glue for long periods. He’s struggled against people that have put the pressure on him like (Jose Luis)Castillo did in their first fight and against De La Hoya until he got tired. I wouldn’t even call that pressure. If that’s what pressure is and he tends to not like pressure then I think he’s got a whole lot of trouble coming his way.

“To beat Ricky Hatton you’ve got to give me something to make me scared of coming in. I don’t think Floyd’s got the power to keep me off and I think I’ve got the skill to counteract him. Floyd does have the speed and skill advantage but is that enough? He’s got that style, he shows you the shoulder, but what you do is change the angle, step to the side. That’s what I do best. I think I’ve got the style to give Floyd Mayweather absolutely nightmares.

“I know what I’m up against. I know what his strengths are and I know what his weaknesses are and I think I’ve got the tools for the job. High work rate, change of angle, move in on him quick — everything you need to beat Floyd Mayweather I believe I’ve got.”

Hatton’s opinion is not shared by the people who built Las Vegas. The oddsmakers. In their professional opinion, and in Las Vegas their opinion is really the only one that matters, the betting favorite is Mayweather, although he’s slid from 3-1 to 2-1 in recent days.

The fan favorite, however, is Hatton, a Brit who has brought thousands of supporters to Las Vegas to sing off-key at the weigh-in that, “There’s only ONE Ricky Hatton!’’ But Saturday will not be a popularity contest. It will be a contest of will and skill and the Mayweather camp believes their man has too much of both.

“Punching bags don’t hit back,’’ barked Roger Mayweather, who trains his nephew and has grown weary of seeing video of Hatton beating upon various padded body armor and dangling heavy bags. “He ain’t nothing but another fighter.

“He’s very tough. He’s coming to come. And we’re going to ask him for his ass. When he answers the door, somebody’s going to answer with a baseball bat and beat him across his head.

“He can put all the pressure on he wants. That’s the only thing he can do is pressure Floyd. Other than that he ain’t nothing but a high profile club fighter. As far as boxing….as far as pure skill about boxing…well bottom line is this - do he have more skill than Floyd?’’

No he doesn’t, but sometimes a fight can become less about skill and more about will. Hatton’s problem will be transforming the fight from the former into the latter. To do it, he must miss far less often than any of the previous 38 Mayweather loves to point out talked the same way until the talking stopped and the punching started.

If he can’t, Ricky Hatton’s night will end with him wearing sunglasses at midnight and not because there’s a lunar eclipse going on.