By Terence Dooley
After months, years even, of waiting for that special fight, Ricky Hatton is about to step into the reality of a true super fight, by that I mean on US soil, when he takes on Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas next Friday.
Over the past 18 months Hatton, along with his trainer Billy Graham, has been telling BoxingScene.com that this is the fight they have been waiting for as long as they can remember. Now, with the fight upon us, Hatton sat down with us to discuss the intricacies of the fight itself.
Beyond the pie and mash, pints of Guinness, “I’m a cheeky chappy” exterior of Hatton there exists a figure well versed in the sport of boxing. The jocular avatar is part personality and partly star-making serendipity; one senses that HBO, in the ’24/7’ show, are marketing Hatton as an accessible star, something that they cannot do with Floyd. However beneath this persona lurks the fighter who burst into prominence after artfully savaging Kostya Tszyu in 2005.
I have had the opportunity to go beyond the masks and, for this our latest conversation, Hatton went into specific detail about the fight, or fights depending on the ebb and flow, ahead.
Firstly, the preliminary buoyancy about the fight itself:
Ricky Hatton: “I’m jumping out of my skin (waiting for this fight). It is a fight I’ve always wanted. You’ve spoken to Billy, he’ll tell you it is a fight we’ve always fancied style wise. We’ve fancied this fight for years and when the fight came about we knew it was going to be a huge fight. We wanted it (the fight) years ago but in the meantime Floyd’s become (a) bigger (name). I’ve become (a) bigger (name) and the time is right.”
Going into this fight Team Hatton are under no illusions about the perceived reality of the situation:
RH: “We are the underdogs. The pressure is on me but we’ve always done better when our backs are against the wall. Just look at the Kostya Tszyu fight. In my toughest tests I always produce my best performances and find that little bit extra. I’ve never been more sure of winning a fight really.”
During my first ever interview with Billy Graham the veteran trainer told me that this fight was the modern equivalent of Leonard-Duran I, a redux of that fight if you will. Hatton shares this belief:
RH: “Well it is really yes. Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns are my heroes and, when you think that Floyd has won five titles at different weights, and I’ve won four titles across two divisions, it is similar to those fights but in our era.
“We’re two of the best pound-for-pound fighters meeting to see who can take the world number one spot. I always dreamed of this day. I always hoped it would happen. I always wanted to be World Champion but never dreamed it would happen like this and as well as this. I always knew I was capable of it but when it happens you still cannot believe it.
“You get one world title, then another comes along. Then you get a huge fight like this. What can you say? It also goes without saying that it is an honour to fight the best pound for pound fighter on the planet.”
The fight itself represents the meeting of what we love most in the sport of boxing, two differing styles that, hopefully, will gel into an interesting and intricate fight.
Hatton is certain that his style will be a lethal complement to the Mayweather puzzle:
RH: “Floyd won’t like what I’m going to do to him on the night. He likes to sit on the ropes soaking up the pressure or he tries to run away. I’m not a murderous puncher, but I’m a relatively hard puncher, and it’s about the cumulative effect of my punches – I’ll grind you down over a period of time, I’m not a one-punch knockout merchant. I’ll wear you down and sap your strength.
“De La Hoya nearly beat him (Mayweather) but lost his pace a bit after 6 rounds (after leading early). I won’t lose my pace after 6 rounds. I’ll fight 12 rounds (and fight for) 3-minutes of every round.”
Despite feeling that Floyd will box to a set routine Hatton is also aware that Floyd is a defensively shrewd fighter, yet Hatton feels, also, that this defence could be Floyd’s undoing:
RH: “Floyd has got the boxing ability and the speed. He also has a great defense but that great defense also means that he spends long periods not throwing anything. You don’t want long periods not doing anything when fighting me because, before you know it, the rounds are running away from you.”
Hatton has a point here. In Floyd’s closest fight so far, against Jose Luis Castillo, the first time around, Floyd wasted time defending instead of countering, in mitigation Floyd was hampered by a shoulder injury after dominating early. Hatton feels that Floyd is a fighter who becomes enamoured by his own defense, using it too often:
RH: “Hand on my heart the only way I see him winning is if he manages to bomb me out. I’ve got work rate, punch volume and stamina. I’ll be stuck on his chest from start to finish. A lot of people say that Castillo and De La Hoya pressured him but I wouldn’t call that sustained pressure.”
Despite applying pressure Oscar, in all honesty, never looked like he could beat Floyd, sure Oscar won some of the early rounds yet, deep down, could anyone doubt that Oscar would lose steam and, consequently, the fight? More worrying, for Hatton, was the way Floyd rocked Oscar with razor-sharp counter punches:
RH: “That is always the way with Floyd. Floyd is very sharp and accurate but if he punched really hard he’d have stopped De La Hoya because he caught him clean a good few times.
“Floyd was on the move in that fight and (in) the Baldomir one. He did the right thing because his hands are tender. He could not stand there with De La Hoya or Baldomir but my style will be in his face sapping his strength.”
Floyd’s defence is based on movement at range, at times he traverses the razor of moving and fleeing, but in-close, particularly on the ropes, he has a less offensive version of the Detroit shoulder-rolling style at his disposal. Again this is a fresh challenge for Hatton:
RH: “Well if he gets on them ropes he might not be able to get off them for a minute and a half. Floyd will try to make me miss in the first six rounds and it is a smart move because nothing makes you tired like hitting fresh air.
“Floyd then tries to come on down the home straight, but in this fight that is where I’ll really be kicking-on.
“I’m hoping to show the USA that there is a method to my madness. It is not just going in there with all guns blazing (and) being careless. You cannot do that against Floyd Mayweather. I’m hoping he sits there soaking it up and sitting back waiting for me to blow-out, but I won’t blow-out, as Kostya Tszyu realised.”
With Floyd’s added weight, from super-featherweight to light-middleweight, comes lessened punch output. Over time Floyd’s combinations have been replaced by accurate salvos of blows:
RH: “Yeah, as he has gone up in weight the combinations are less impressive. When he does stand there letting combinations go it is a sight to behold but I don’t think, as he’s gone up in weight, that he has the confidence to do that so he plays it safe.
“It is always a safety first approach with Floyd. I know he is very good at it (defending). He covers-up and makes you miss, but I’m so good at finding the gaps with my body and headshots. If someone sits on the ropes and does not think I can get punches into them that way then they are thinking about the wrong fight.”
Floyd also says, as he usually does, that this time we will, honestly guv’nor, see a more aggressive Mayweather:
RH: “Well I’ve heard a few things he’s said about (doing) that (being aggressive) but I ignore it as I’ve read stuff I’m supposed to have said that wasn’t true. But Floyd has made out that it will be like the Baldomir fight and that I’ll come at him in straight lines and he’ll pick me off.
“If Floyd looked at the Baldomir fight and thinks that (Baldomir) is similar to me then I’ll be rubbing my hands all the way to Vegas really.
“I got into Castillo quick, I got into Tszyu quick, so my speed is not bad. There is a method to my madness. I move my way inside in an educated way and I have my own type of speed. A lot of fighters look at me and think the obvious, (they think) that I’m a 100mph body puncher with dodgy eyes. They don’t see that I am smart at what I do and that I’ve worked on what I do for years.”
With a riled-up Floyd, who seemed genuinely upset when the UK fans baulked at his regal presence, looking to prove a point is this a fight in which we find out, as this writer has suspected for years, that, beneath the bling, Floyd is a bona fide fighter:
RH: “I don’t think so. There is not a prayer of him out-toughing me. He said to me, “I’ll stand toe-to-toe with you and show you how to fight”. Oscar just whispered into my ear that Floyd said the same thing to him before their fight.
“Floyd says it himself; he tries to get hit less and make as much money as he can. It is all safety-first and he does not like to get hit. He does not take chances. He does just enough to win. People say he has this great talent and (that he) may not be exciting but he does enough to win. Floyd is happy with that level.
“I’ve studied Floyd for years. I’ve seen his corner man, Roger Mayweather, say (in the fights), “You’ll get him down the straight”. I’ll love it if that is what his corner tells him in our fight. I’ll set-off with a hard first six-rounds (and then) I’ll see if he can keep up when I kick-off down the straight as well.”
Despite all this there is a tangible possibility that Floyd, feeling Hatton is another Gatti, might come out and set-out his stall in centre ring:
RH: “I think so (if he underestimates me). If he does want to stand and have a fight (at first) he might try and do that. To be honest with you I like my opponents to move around the ring. When they are doing that they are expending energy. I move on them, keep the pressure on them and hit them with body shots to keep the pressure on.
“If you watched Floyd against Oscar you will see that he started off moving then later on he stands there trying to ride the punches and my game is to thread single shots through the guard and into the body.
“I refuse to believe that I cannot find gaps in Floyd. Floyd is a beautiful defensive fighter but I refuse to believe that he cannot be hit by me.
“My style is pressure, wearing down an opponent, giving him no opportunity to rest and not taking my foot off the gas.”
As regulars know this site has worked with Hatton’s trainer Billy Graham a lot in recent times. Hatton himself makes no bones about the fact that his trainer is a big influence in his career thus far, and Graham will play a big role, has done in fact, in the Mayweather fight:
RH: “A lot of fighters work with lots of different trainers and I’ve never seen the point of it myself. Right from the start Billy and me hit it off.
“We used to talk about boxing and practically anything I was thinking about saying, before I could finish my sentence, Billy would be chipping in. What was in my head he would be answering, and vice versa. It’s hard to put into words.
“Tactically we think alike. During a fight, in the corner, I’ll be working the fight out for myself and Billy will be able to say the odd one thing that will touch home. I’ve never thought of working with another trainer. I’ve got the full package with Billy. I’ve got the technical side of it, the knowledge, and the gameplan.”
This tactical overview has been a factor in the story so far:
RH: “I think that’s what Billy has taught me to do, right from the start; how to drain my opponent of his strength.
“I (initially) looked too Billy tactics-wise and whether the way he coached would gel with my way of boxing. The way he fought, the way he trains, is right up my street. As far as my style goes, and my attitude goes, it’s a match made in heaven.
“I was a good body-puncher but he has made my body-punching even better. My footwork was good and he’s improved that as well. He’s been able to, not change my style, but add other things to it.
“We’ll be still looking (when we’re in the gym) at different combinations (of punches). How we can maybe change certain punches, (for example) their angles to make them more effective. With everything that we’ve achieved we’re still working on stuff and that’s (the sign of) a really good trainer fighter relationship.
“I’m a very clever fighter and I can work a lot of the things out myself, but I wouldn’t like to fight with anyone in my corner other than Billy. We’ve been together from day 1, and it works like a dream really. It would be very hard for me to have someone else in my corner as that person just wouldn’t know how I tick (in the way that Billy does).
“Billy knows me well not only as a fighter but as a person as we’ve been together that long now. It’s hard to explain. It’s just worked from the start really.”
It will now need to work at its optimum level if Hatton is to beat Mayweather. With the fighter confident we will soon present the outspoken, ramblingly focussed, thoughts of Billy Graham.