By Mark Vester
Unbeaten Ricky Hatton says that if WBC junior middleweight champ Floyd Mayweather, Jr. wants to fight, he's ready to go - and told the UK Times Online that he's Mayweather's worst nightmare.
"It’s not beyond me, I’d be an underdog. But I think I’d be his worst nightmare. He likes to sit back on the ropes, shut up shop, he wants me like a hole in the head. A victory of that size is not beyond me. I’ll hold my hands up, Floyd Mayweather is without doubt the best fighter pound-for-pound in the world,” Hatton said. “But his fights don’t generate atmosphere like mine and his performances bore you to tears, as good as he is. Technically, you can’t get a better fighter than Floyd Mayweather, as a boxer fan you lean back and say, ‘How much talent as that man got?’ But when he’s fighting in Britain at 5am, I don’t stay up to watch."
Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's advisor, told The Times that Hatton better “be careful what he wishes for." He says that Hatton could have made the deal two fights ago, but wanted a few warmup bouts.
“Hatton talks the talk, but, as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for,” Ellerbe said. “If he is really is ready, he now has the opportunity to do that. The ball is in his court. Floyd told me that there has never been a fighter he has wanted to hurt as much as Ricky Hatton. He totally disrespected Floyd on the [television] networks"
“He could have faced Floyd two fights go, but they wanted to have warm-up fights. There is no time for warm-up fights, it’s now or never. He wants to step up and show that he is a big player, well here we are. Floyd wants to shut his mouth up and show him that he is just an overrated fighter.”
Hatton is a huge name in the UK, which Ellerbe admits, but also says that Hatton is not well known outside of the UK. He said that making a Mayweather-Hatton bout in 2007 is "no problem."
“Hatton is the biggest fighter in Europe, but he isn’t well known outside the UK. That’s why he was fighting in Las Vegas, to try and become a big name in America. He has been saying his ambition is to fight Floyd, now that can happen.