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Rocky Balboa And Apollo
Creed?
By Nat Gottlieb Courtesy of HBO.com Photos: Rob DeLorenzo - Golden Boy Very few people who aren't British think Ricky Hatton can beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. The great Kostya Tszyu felt that way when he fought Hatton, and like Floyd was the overwhelming favorite. Hatton knocked Tszyu out. Recently, Tszyu wrote on the internet: "I never felt that Ricky could beat me, but it happened. Everyone can be beaten. This is life." Can Ricky Hatton shock the world?
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is universally
recognized as the most gifted fighter on the planet. On rare
occasion, he'll even tell you so. Ricky Hatton is far from
the perfect fighter that Mayweather is, but he may just have
the perfect style to defeat him. Let the Devil's Advocate
tell you why.
Ricky Hatton is something of a
schizophrenic fighter. He is a mugger, but can also pick
your pocket deftly. The version of Hatton that we have seen
in the U.S. is that of the mugger who hits and holds, and
sometimes doesn't even bother with the first step and skips
directly to the holding.
The pocket-picker Hatton is a different
species. He has vastly underrated foot and hand speed,
excellent lateral movement, and while Jose Luis Castillo
might argue with you, he can actually throw punches in
multiple combos with both hands and do it without clutching.
Miguel Cotto, much like Hatton, was
pigeon-holed as a strong-willed body puncher who just came
forward and won by breaking you down. Cotto was perceived as
having limited boxing skills. But when he beat Shane Mosley,
he did more than just apply pressure and work the body. He
also jabbed skillfully and moved well enough in the ring
that he was flat-out boxing -- and doing it darn well.
Hatton also has good boxing skills, but like Cotto, he just
never had to use them much in the past. Against Mayweather,
Hatton plans to open his tool box and work with everything
in there.
So what does Hatton have in that tool
box?
PRESSURE
There is a theoretical formula floating
out there for defeating Mayweather. Castillo created the
blueprint in his first fight with Mayweather when he
constantly pressured and bullied him into the ropes, where
he would hook the champ's body. Mayweather scratched out a
close victory on the scorecards, but more than a few people
thought he lost.
Hatton says he can do it better than
Castillo, and he may be right. The Brit fighter is superior
to Castillo in footwork, and is far faster on his feet.
Hatton can lunge across the ring at you with a tremendously
quick first step and be on you before you can get away.
Mayweather's modus operandi since the first Castillo fight
has been to come in and throw a quick combo, then back pedal
away. Because of Hatton's exceptional ability to lunge,
Mayweather may not get away from the Brit so easily.
Hatton's lateral movement is also fast and fluid, which
would enable him to cut the ring off better than Castillo.
"I won't be leaving him alone from start
to finish," Hatton said. "In fact, I think my heart will
explode before I leave him alone for one second."
To do so against a fighter as fast as
Mayweather will take great stamina. On Nov. 13, the British
Boxing Board of Control put Hatton on the scales. Known for
blowing up in weight between fights and then working the
last pounds off in the final week of training, Hatton tipped
the scales at 148 pounds, just one over the welterweight
limit.
"I've never been in better shape four
and a half weeks out from a fight," Hatton said after that
weigh in. "I have never been this strong and I have never
been this down on the weight (so early)."
Stamina should not be a problem.
PRECISION PUNCHING
Hatton has studied tape of Mayweather's
fights to the point of obsession. He even watched tape of
Floyd Sr. losing to Marlin Starling in 1981 and again in
1985. Hatton says he knows Floyd Jr. better than any fighter
he has faced. He makes this observation about Floyd Jr.,
Floyd Mayweather Sr., and his brother Roger, who was a world
champion and now trains Floyd:
"They (Mayweathers) all fight the same
way. You know, they drop their shoulder and change the angle
and they sway back from the punches. And I think the key is
that they want you to wheel punches in and tire yourself
out. There's no point in throwing 15 punches if two of them
are landing. And I think that's what people try to do."
Don't expect to see Hatton fall into
that trap. Yes, Hatton is a high volume puncher, but he does
so with precision and accuracy. He does not waste punches.
As British writer Sean McDaniel recently observed: "Hatton
rarely misses punches ever, and with his short arms, he's
able to quickly wind up and throw more shots even when he
does miss an occasional shot. Mayweather hasn't seen that
kind of fighter, never."
BODY WORK
Against Castillo, Mayweather looked
decidedly uncomfortable when the Mexican worked his body. As
good a body puncher as Castillo was in his prime, Hatton is
better. He throws just as many -- if not more -- body
punches than head shots. Hatton can hit the body with equal
power in both hands. Several of his fights resulted in
knockouts strictly with the left hook. In one fight, he
rapid-fired five straight left hooks and dropped his
opponent. Unlike Castillo, who needs to lean on you when he
hooks the body, Hatton can also nail you from a distance.
WILL TO WIN
Obviously you don't have a record of
38-0 as Mayweather does without having a great will to win.
But what happens if Hatton is successful in his pressure
tactic and forces Mayweather into a war. Will Mayweather
have the same will to win if he is caught in a war? Maybe.
But he has never been in one, and some of the things he has
said imply he might not be up to it.
After Castillo and the late Diego
Corrales fought their epic first fight, one of the greatest
brawls in history, Mayweather went on record saying: "If
that's what it takes to be in the Fight of the Year, then I
will never be in a Fight of the Year."
In a teleconference call for this fight,
Mayweather was asked why he boxes rather than engages
opponents. His answer was long, a bit rambling, but worth
repeating:
"I think I liked this sport better when
I was fighting for free, because when you're young and don't
have concerns you're not worried about nothing. I mean you
just never know what can happen in the sport of boxing. A
lot of times you worry about certain things, like if I die
in the ring, you worry about what's going to happen with
your kids, with your family. So when I didn't have nothing
to live for, when I didn't have no kids to live for (he has
four), I really wasn't worried about nothing. I'm just going
out there to fight, and if I die, so be it. And now that I'm
a lot older and a lot wiser, it's more like I've got
something to live for. And I've got some people, people in
my household who love me. So I mean that worries me a lot
because I feel like my job is just like a cop's -- one shot
can end your whole career. So that's why I'm real smart,
real conscious about certain moves that I make inside the
ring."
In contrast, Hatton says: "He'll have to
kill me and stop me breathing to stop me from beating him."
KNOCK ON HATTON - He is not as effective at welterweight.
Hatton has fought at welterweight just
once, against then champion Luis Collazo in May of last
year. Hatton looked sluggish and slow, threw less combos and
with less energy. Most observers concluded that Hatton had
lost his quickness and was stuck in second gear because of
the extra pounds.
Hatton's manager and father, Ray,
however, says that they made a mistake trying to bulk up his
son for Collazo, and would not do so again.
"The plan is for Ricky to weigh in at
10st 3lbs (143 pounds), because that's the weight he's best
at," Ray Hatton said. "Collazo was a big man and we wanted
to match him but we bulked up too much. Ricky came in too
heavy and he lost his speed and reactions."
Hatton says he normally weighs in at
140, and then on fight night steps into the ring at about
152 pounds. "Against Collazo," Hatton said, "I think I came
in (to the ring) about 158, 159." Hatton's was 147 at the
official weigh in the day before.
Ray Hatton basically says this will be a
fight between a junior welterweight and a welterweight.
Expect to see a quicker, more energetic Hatton against
Mayweather. Worth noting, Hatton held a 13-week training
camp, something he had never done before.
KNOCK ON HATTON - The only elite fighters he beat were old and past prime.
There certainly is a lot of truth to
that. Hatton's two biggest victories came against Tszyu in
2005 and Castillo this year. Tszyu was 35 at the time, and
after quitting on his stool after the 11th round, retired
from boxing. Castillo was 33, had 64 fights under his belt
and was moving up from lightweight. He also had been in many
wars, most notably the terrific first bout with Corrales, in
which both fighters left the ring seriously battered.
Mayweather has said repeatedly that
Hatton made his reputation beating "old men." Again, pretty
much true. But let's turn the spotlight on Mayweather now.
Floyd's biggest fights against top
boxers in their prime came at lightweight. His last fight at
that weight came in November of 2003, when he beat
26-year-old Phillip N'dou. Now look at the ages of the men
Mayweather has beaten since then, beginning with his last
fight against Oscar De La Hoya:
De La Hoya (34), Carlos Baldomir (35),
Zab Judah (29 but coming in off a loss to Baldomir), Sharmba
Mitchell (35), Arturo Gatti (33), Henry Bruseles (25, but a
B-level fighter) and DeMarcus Corley (30).
In fact, the last time Mayweather
stepped into the ring against an elite fighter in his prime
was in December of 2002 in a rematch with Castillo. Floyd
won a close fight on the cards by strictly out boxing
Castillo, 115-113 twice, and 116-113.
So while Hatton arguably has gilded his
reputation by beating a couple of old men, Mayweather hasn't
exactly been fighting young bucks. Obviously De La Hoya, who
dropped a split decision to Mayweather in May, is still an
elite fighter, but at 34 he's no where near the boxer he was
in his prime.
Hatton turned 29 two months ago and is
definitely in his prime.
STAKES
For Hatton, an upset victory over the
unbeaten, consensus pound-for-pound champ cements his
reputation as a super star. It also wins him a lottery
ticket to fight De La Hoya next May. De La Hoya has gone on
record saying if Hatton wins, he will fight him next. Larry
Merchant, the HBO commentator, recently told me that Hatton
doesn't have to necessarily win to get Oscar, just keep the
fight close, or lose in controversy. With the double digits
millions he will make on this fight, and an even bigger
purse to fight De La Hoya, Hatton can retire and keep his
Manchester pub buddies in Guinness for the rest of his life.
For Mayweather, the stakes are about
much more than money. Mayweather has proclaimed himself the
best fighter since Muhammad Ali, and says his legacy will
place him among the two or three all-time greats. A loss to
"Vicky Fatton" as Mayweather has been calling Hatton, would
be utterly devastating to his legacy, which he counts as
currency as much as the millions of dollars he has earned in
the ring. On an emotional level, the damage of a loss to
Hatton could be even greater. It has the potential to crush
Mayweather, who has built his identity around being
indestructible. Who knows what kind of fighter he would be
after a loss to Hatton.
All this is conjecture, of course. The
world outside of Great Britain says Hatton can't do it, no
way, no how.
Hatton says: "In my eyes, this fight is
already over. I think Floyd is going to get the shock of his
life."
Mayweather won't be the only one shocked
should Hatton win.
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