On December the 8th 2007 British Boxer Ricky Hatton arrived at MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas in an attempt to win the WBC World Welterweight title from American Floyd Mayweather. Hatton, a natural light-welterweight and multiple world champion was the heavy underdog going into the bout, no boxing pundit or Journalist could, hand on heart, say they favoured the Mancunian to emerge with the victory. Despite his hugely vocal support in the arena that had travelled over from England, despite his undefeated record, despite a lifetime of hard training regimes and hours spent in the gym, despite there being ‘only one Ricky Hatton’ and regardless of the steel fortitude he brings to every bout, Hatton was going to lose this fight and there was nothing he could do to change the outcome.
‘‘Can it be that it was all so simple…’’
Hatton had experienced great success through out his career due to his bull-like determination and aggression, pressuring and bullying his opponent with hard body shots until they inevitably broke or gave in. His boxing was rudimentary from a technical perspective and a vast contrast to that of his opponent, Floyd Mayweather, who had received the nickname ‘pretty boy’ due to his brilliance in defence which meant he left every fight he entered completely unscathed.
As a defensive boxer Mayweather is comparable through out history with the best of the genre. His ability to avoid damage at close range was similar to that of the great Pernell Whitaker, both men had mastered the principle of hitting with out getting hit, a formula that had lead both men to Olympic medals as amateurs. There was however stylistic differences between the two, where as Whitaker used to dodge punches with magnificent head movement Floyd instead nullified his opponents attack with a technical counter attack and clinch game.
While both boxers made the most of their superb reflexes Whitaker didn’t have the mean streak in offence that Floyd Mayweather exhibited. While he will never be considered a power puncher or a knock out artist, there is a stiffness in Mayweather’s punches which becomes apparent over the course of a fight. As his opponents begin to show to ever increasing desperation in their attacks Floyd just sticks to his gameplan, hiding in plain sight, unable to be hurt despite standing inside arms reach of his aggressor, returning brilliantly timed right hands to his opponents jaw.
Then, when the moment presents itself, after his opponent has become fatigued and frustrated in his vain endeavour of hurting the ‘Pretty Boy’, Mayweather can strike with blistering speed. Turning defence into attack, then quick as a flash, reverting back into the defensive routine that he’s been employing through out the entire fight.
This power can be seen in the comparisons with records of other great defensive fighters, Willie Pep fought a staggering two hundred and forty one times only losing in eleven of these, while his 65 KO’s sounds impressive it only accounts for just over 28% of his wins. Likewise out of Pernell Whitaker’s 40 career wins only 43% have come by way of a stoppage. Comparing the records of these defensive greats to that of Floyd Mayweather’s show the potency in his offence, his perfect record of 41 wins show a KO percentage over 60 %. Mayweather has the type of power that while not blatant in its practice, turns unanimous decisions into TKO’s.
While the notion that Hatton was always going to lose this fight can of course be debated, and I don’t want to descend the argument into the realm of fate and freewill. Where as the science of who will win a fight is lost somewhere between physical make up and the mental determination of the two men fighting. The theory of who ‘deserves’ to win a fight is a lot more clear cut, as defined by legendary boxing trainer Cus D’Amato ‘‘When two men step into the ring, one and only one deserves to win. When you step into the ring, you gotta know you deserve to win. You gotta know destiny owes you victory… cause you trained harder than your opponent. You sparred harder. You ran farther".
While its impossible to tell who trained the hardest during the course of their training camp its obviously apparent who has dedicated themselves the most to the sport of boxing throughout their life. While Hatton greets inactivity from training as an excuse to eat and drink unhealthily, Mayweather maintains his commitment to the core ingredients that made him a champion, he never drinks, never cheats on his diet, never skips a training session. Every indiscretion Hatton made through out his career just put him a step further away from competing with Floyd.
Another factor in the contest was the styles of the two fighters, Hatton’s brawling versus Mayweather’s defence, while not the complete stylistic mismatch of Hatton versus Manny Pacquiao, where the Brawler versus puncher match up resulted in a devastating second round KO against Hatton. Its needless to say the Mayweather holds the advantage here, as coupled with his speed he will present an elusive target for Hatton and will be able to avoid his strengths enough over the course of a fight to win a clear decision. What would happen instead was the result of aggression versus skill, the pin point accuracy of Mayweather mixed with his ability to defensively smother the would be assault of Hatton.
Hatton, to his credit, starts the fight brightly as he begins charging Mayweather down. He successfully catches Mayweather at an indecision, unsure of which way to go whilst against the ropes causes him to stumble backwards, which elicits a large roar from the English support. Mayweather is completely muted in terms on offensive output in the first round, while this can be interpreted as a result of Hatton’s attack, it is instead the first signs of the technical brilliance of Floyd. He deliberately gives the first round away on the judges scorecard, he does this to present his opponent with a blank canvas on which he lets them present their gameplan. Once his opponent has given away their hand, he then adds a few tweaks to his own gameplan and sets about systematically picking them apart over the course of the fight. The ability to adjust mid-fight can be seen in other great fighters such as Joe Calzaghe, Sugar Ray Leonard and Anderson Silva.
Both men being effective on the inside inevitably leads to a high amount of clinching from Mayweather. This effectively negates Hatton’s ability to go to the body with his punches in an attempt to wear Floyd down, whom is all the while all the while catching Hatton with Jabs and straights as he plunders forward.
During the middle rounds the contest has descended into Mayweather’s ideal fight, the constant pressure from Hatton makes him predictable, every exchange that sees Floyd’s Punches land and Hatton’s miss widens the margin on the judges scorecard and frustrates Ricky. Frustration is the fuel that Mayweather’s style feeds on, the more wild and erratic Hatton becomes the more obvious his attacks are to Mayweather, the easier they are to counter.
By the 8th round the bout hardly resembles the closely contested battle between two undefeated fighters that pay per view broadcasters worldwide had advertised it. Mayweather has begun rocking Hatton’s cranium with devastating punches. Every now and again Mayweather mixes in a quick left hook to Hatton’s jaw as he comes forward, the majority of these go unmentioned by the ringside commentators as they aren’t as flashy as the straight rights Mayweather is landing. Every clean power shot that connects sends a halo of sweat off Hatton’s head, the concussive effect of this punishment is quickly accumulating.
Hatton survives the round and is surprisingly better in the 9th losing a lot less lopsided round. However at this point it is evident Mayweather is biding his time, looking for the coup de grâce. In the 10th it is Hatton’s valiant ability to still press the action that works against him as Mayweather is able to treat the onrushing fighter in a calm matador-like fashion. Floyd lands a short inside left hook that sends Hatton headfirst into the ring turnbuckle and then tumbling to the floor. Hatton is able to bravely return to his feet only to then be quickly dispatched by the lightening fast combinations of Mayweather that cause him once again to collapse to the canvas just as his corner throw in the towel. Mayweather leaps on to the top of ring post in celebration as the floored Hatton is buried beneath the ringside doctors.
Before the fight took place, the ring announcer Michael Buffer had stated rather bluntly that in regards to the match up being between two undefeated fighters, that ‘Someone’s O has got to go’. Was the result of whom ever in question?
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