Mayweather-Hatton Tops Stellar Boxing Year

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Don Colgan - The tiring and unsubstantiated argument that boxing is on it’s deathbed, or has expired for that matter, is being conclusively laid to rest by the explosion of high profile bouts on the current docket for the remainder of 2007 and early 2008.

Not only is boxing far from dead; it is experiencing a resurgence heralded by a series of high profile championship bouts that is attracting widespread public interest. One after another, including Jermain Taylor-Kelly Pavlik, Manny Pacquiao-Marco Antonio Barrera, Joe Calzaghe-Mikkel Kessler, Miguel Cotto-Shane Mosley, and the final card of the year will be punctuated by the Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton December 8 super fight. These events will place boxing squarely on the front line, proving that the Sweet Science is undeniably a patient in full recovery!

Some of the finest matchmaking in over a decade has/is taking place in 2007. The record breaking Mayweather-De La Hoya May 5 bonanza, which was extraordinarily publicized and heralded by a nationwide tour, put boxing back in the spotlight. For the first time in years, boxing became front page news and talk show fodder in the key media centers throughout the nation. The upcoming series of talent studded bouts, particularly the unification showdown with Calzaghe taking on the formidable Kessler and the emerging superstar Cotto battling the still dangerous veteran in Mosley, are fodder for long debates over which fighter will prevail. [details]

[borikua]

Get the fuk out of here Poop....Cotto-Mosley is going to do better numbers than Pretty boy and Fatton..

[Kball15]

Get the fuk out of here Poop....Cotto-Mosley is going to do better numbers than Pretty boy and Fatton..

not a chance in hell. It'll be the better fight, and SHOULD do better numbers, but its not even gonna be close.

If they publisice HATTON-MAYWEATHER correctly, it could get close to a million buys IMO. My real guess is about 750,000. You gotta remember, Mayweather is a mainstream name now, even without the dancing with the stars.

Cotto-Mosley will do 350,000, maybe 400,000 if it gets some mainstream attention, and all those people will get there moneys worth

[crold1]

No way; Mayweather will have the Dancing with the Stars crowd tuning in. He and Hatton may do 700K. Mosley-Cotto will be at best 450.

[crold1]

Best fight is still Kessler-Calzaghe

[wmute]

"yet in terms of ring style and fighting technique there are a lot of similarities with Gatti."

and when I arrived here I regretted reading the rest of the article.

Is this person paid to write this bull****?

[DIOS DOMINICANO]

Get the fuk out of here Poop....Cotto-Mosley is going to do better numbers than Pretty boy and Fatton..

Wow. That is one of the least intelligent comments that I have seen in a long time.

[drvooh]

Get the fuk out of here Poop....Cotto-Mosley is going to do better numbers than Pretty boy and Fatton..

That's if ya like dirty fighters ( Cott )..I hope Shane KO's him

[DIOS DOMINICANO]

This is a very good prediction.

Mayweather is at the pinnacle of his career and his marvelous skills and utter domination have earned him recognition as boxing’s best. De La Hoya extended him and, for a time, hung with Floyd on the scorecards yet there was no real doubt as to the victor. Remember, this was fought at 154 pounds, the first time that Floyd had boxed at that weight. He took a bit of punishment in the early and middle rounds yet from the eighth round on Oscar was being worn down and systematically punished. If the Californian had cut the ring in half on Mayweather and administered a relentless attack to the midsection, he may have weakened Floyd and possibly prevailed. Yet that is speculation, nothing else. Oscar did not fight hard enough and didn’t possess the staying power to threaten Floyd.

Hatton is a physically smaller man, and that is going to make an enormous difference. He is moving up in class to challenge Mayweather, the reigning WBC Welterweight Titleholder. Is it a meaningful factor, considering Hatton will only be adding approximately 7 pounds? If history is a precedent, of course not! Carmine Basilio defeated Ray Robinson in 1957, moving up a full class to win a tight yet clear-cut verdict over the larger, far more skillful Sugarman. Dick Tiger, a former Middleweight champion, out fought Jose “Chequi” Torres in 1967, removing the latter’s Light Heavyweight Crown. Boxing history has many examples of the smaller man prevailing, although it remains the clear exception, not the rule.

Hatton has acquired a reputation as a brutal puncher with above average ring generalship combined with a stout chin. Yet Mayweather is so vastly superior a fighter, in every conceivable ring dynamic, it is very difficult to imagine Hatton finding him with any degree of consistency. Ricky is going to walk into a blizzard of lightening punches, slashing blows that will surely entice claret to leak from the Englishman’s eyes. Mayweather’s overall mobility, punch rate, ability to avoid punishment and vastly superior ring skills suggests Hatton will be taking considerable punishment, probably from the opening bell.

Remember the Mayweather-Gatti bout in 2005? No matter what Arturo tried, he was unable to land a single glove on Mayweather. Granted, he was battle worn and thoroughly out of his class the night he met Floyd, but over six gruesome, one sided sessions, he was virtually shut out, only connecting on a handful of occasions.

Hatton may be in his fistic prime, yet in terms of ring style and fighting technique there are a lot of similarities with Gatti. Ricky will press Mayweather and throw some dynamite yet he is going to be punished, cut, confused and embarrassed. Floyd is not a big puncher so the prospect of a Hatton knockout defeat seems unlikely yet, through the pure accumulation of punishment, the Briton will probably visit the canvas on one or two occasions.

[crold1]

Mayweather hasn't beaten anyone world class the way this article describes since maybe Corley and that was marginal. Hatton will be a tough fight.