Why Pretty Boy Floyd Will Destroy Ricky Hatton

Published on ArmchairGM:

Tomorrow is the huge fight between Ricky Hatton (43-0, 32 KO) and Floyd Mayweather Jr. (38-0, 24 KO), neither of them have ever lost a professional bout. Barring a draw, that will change in Las Vegas. I’m quite surprised that nobody on ArmchairGM has talked about this huge fight that once again is an attempt to save boxing. Back to the topic at hand. Floyd Mayweather to me, is one of the greatest fighters in the modern era, his defensive skills and punishing blows have been the key to a hall of fame career. As much as I like Ricky Hatton, the British boy (I’m in trouble right?) has fought mainly in the UK, and rarely fights top quality material, that is just one of the factors in why I believe this fight will not even be close.

Would anyone like to take a guess at how many times Mayweather has been knocked down? Too late, the answer is 1, against Carlos Hernandez, but only because he hit Hernandez with a left hook, injured his hand, had the glove touch the canvas, and the ref ruled it a knockdown. Hatton definitely has the punch, he has knocked out Kostya Tszyu and Jose Luis Castillo, but at times, he fights sloppily, and was hurt with body shots in his win over Luis Collazo. Defense is not a strong suit for Hatton, and that could be trouble for him.

I’ve given the preview, now for the reasons why Hatton will lose:

1. Mayweather’s defense is too good. Arturo Gatti, the late Diego Corrales, all of those boxers can punch, but Mayweather is just too quick to the punch, and if you notice, he tends to lift his left arm and block the side of his body. Never (other than Zab Judah’s cheap low blows) have I seen Mayweather wobbling or hurt.
2. Sloppiness of Hatton. Ricky sometimes gets very out of control against his opponents, wild punches, 90% don’t even land, that may work against a guy like Tszyu, but not with Mayweather.
3. Body shots. Hatton showed a HUGE weakness in his bout with Luis Collazo, in which Collazo rocked him with body shots late in the fight, and Ricky was on the ropes. Mayweather destroyed Arturo Gatti with just about everything, but the body shots were key. Mayweather also ended one fight against Sharmba Mitchell with a body shot KO in Portland.

Frankly, I don’t see Hatton at all winning this fight, at best, he’ll lose by unanimous decision. The pick:

Mayweather beats Ricky Hatton on 8th round KO.