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This is my truth, personally, not fact. Just opinion. Educated opinion.
Hatton has a chance. THERE! I let the cat out of the bag. The three reasons he has a chance, to me, are pretty simple.
One: He's a natural swarmer. He COULD do what De La Hoya was TRYING to do, but isn't going to have to force the issue. It's what he does. He has underrated footspeed, great balance and it helps him get in there and increase his workrate as the fight progresses, when in his direction, especially. He has a good body attack, which is important when you're going against a speed fighter. It helps to generally slow the fighter down and take away some snap from his shots. His style has shown effective against Mayweather with Castillo and De La Hoya having SOME success against Floyd with it. However, he has the added advantage of not being on the way up (Castillo, at the time), or on the way down (De La Hoya, at the time).
Two: Normally, he has decent stamina. He actually picks up the pace around the 4 or 5 round of his more impressive outings. He increases his workrate, and tends no to dip, in terms of his coordination and footwork. If you notice in one of, if not his best performance, against Kostya Tszyu, he actually picked up the pace, mid-fight and proceeded to stopa VERY worthy champion in the championship rounds. Using a relentless workrate, that obviously shows conditioning. He doesn't fade like De La Hoya seemed to, and has better footwork than Castillo did/does/ever had or will have.
Three: He's a very good fighter, who's in his prime. Floyd has fought a couple of fighters in or close enough to there primes. Castillo was close enough, to be honest. He never got THAT much better. You can say he was in the beginning of his prime. Corrales, was an undefeated fighter who was expected by some to knock Mayweather out. I'd call that prime, considering, once again, the fighter didn't get SO MUCH better. He had flashes of a better understanding of his own style in certain fights, but nothing significant to delay his prime. Another fighter would be Zab Judah. Sadly, that may have been Judah's prime, considering he was still a HUGELY skilled fighter with tremendous power and speed. He just doesn't have the style to beat Mayweather, if he can't keep it going throughout the whole fight. Yet, other than those fighters, maybe a couple of other times I'd forgetting to mention (or don't fight it needed to mention) Mayweather hasn't fought TOO many fighters in their primes. Not his fault, really. He doesn't determine when they start boxing, and how quickly they age. He's only human.
Another thing working for any fighter is by now, if they're smart, they should know that their around roughly, two styles that can beat Mayweather.
The first is the type of fighter who can jab well enough to keep mayweather off his slow, methodical rhythm. Just keep a straight jab in his face all night and when you've backed him up enough, swarm him against the ropes and steal the round, or actually win it. De La Hoya had success when he started off with jabbing and worked his way into the aggresion. Zab had effect with that, especially when he stuck and moved.
The second is a Castillo-style. Take one or two pucnhes to THROW five or six and hopefully take the rounds that way. Punish to the body, and THEN the head, in that order. In hopes that in those combinations, 1-3 shots land or atleast LOOK like they do. Due to Mayweather's shoulder-rolling style, it often makes it appear that he's taking shots that he is actually not. Hatton is probably more willing and able to deliver with THIS type of style, with hopes that he uses the jab, a BIT.
Here's the problem. PROOF. Evidence shows Mayweather can lose. I've seen no PROOF that it will happen December 8th.
Evidence points to Hatton LOSING, actually. For one, he faded in his only other fight at 147. He didn't have as much time to train, he didn't have as big of a test to prepare for and he might not have expected that exact opponent. Fact is, he faded. Only thing I know, BASICALLY, FOR SURE. He also was rocked by a relatively light-fisted Collazo. Collazo isn't that fast either, so it's doubtful that he didn't just see the punch. He was just rocked, really. His stamina didn't look too well at the weight, either. He seems MUCH more comfortable at 140.
To top that off, he's going against the pound for pound fighter in the world, who's done pretty well for himself in 147 or 154 (for a fight). Hatton DID actually have trouble with the relatively normal speed of Collazo at 147, imagine what he'd do against a guy who's made a career out of being someone who can QUICKLY potshot his way to victory. Believe it or not, Mayweather can fight inside if he has to, aswell. He has the advantage in NATURAL size, longer reach, faster, about the same in one-punch power, has better stamina at the weight, and overall has the better skills. True, styles make fights, but you need to have the skill AND the ability to perform to the TOP of that style. Hatton has the skill, but he does not have it in his tank to finish the Castillo job, or the De La Hoya/Zab Judah style fight, either. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. That's all.
Hatton has a chance. THERE! I let the cat out of the bag. The three reasons he has a chance, to me, are pretty simple.
One: He's a natural swarmer. He COULD do what De La Hoya was TRYING to do, but isn't going to have to force the issue. It's what he does. He has underrated footspeed, great balance and it helps him get in there and increase his workrate as the fight progresses, when in his direction, especially. He has a good body attack, which is important when you're going against a speed fighter. It helps to generally slow the fighter down and take away some snap from his shots. His style has shown effective against Mayweather with Castillo and De La Hoya having SOME success against Floyd with it. However, he has the added advantage of not being on the way up (Castillo, at the time), or on the way down (De La Hoya, at the time).
Two: Normally, he has decent stamina. He actually picks up the pace around the 4 or 5 round of his more impressive outings. He increases his workrate, and tends no to dip, in terms of his coordination and footwork. If you notice in one of, if not his best performance, against Kostya Tszyu, he actually picked up the pace, mid-fight and proceeded to stopa VERY worthy champion in the championship rounds. Using a relentless workrate, that obviously shows conditioning. He doesn't fade like De La Hoya seemed to, and has better footwork than Castillo did/does/ever had or will have.
Three: He's a very good fighter, who's in his prime. Floyd has fought a couple of fighters in or close enough to there primes. Castillo was close enough, to be honest. He never got THAT much better. You can say he was in the beginning of his prime. Corrales, was an undefeated fighter who was expected by some to knock Mayweather out. I'd call that prime, considering, once again, the fighter didn't get SO MUCH better. He had flashes of a better understanding of his own style in certain fights, but nothing significant to delay his prime. Another fighter would be Zab Judah. Sadly, that may have been Judah's prime, considering he was still a HUGELY skilled fighter with tremendous power and speed. He just doesn't have the style to beat Mayweather, if he can't keep it going throughout the whole fight. Yet, other than those fighters, maybe a couple of other times I'd forgetting to mention (or don't fight it needed to mention) Mayweather hasn't fought TOO many fighters in their primes. Not his fault, really. He doesn't determine when they start boxing, and how quickly they age. He's only human.
Another thing working for any fighter is by now, if they're smart, they should know that their around roughly, two styles that can beat Mayweather.
The first is the type of fighter who can jab well enough to keep mayweather off his slow, methodical rhythm. Just keep a straight jab in his face all night and when you've backed him up enough, swarm him against the ropes and steal the round, or actually win it. De La Hoya had success when he started off with jabbing and worked his way into the aggresion. Zab had effect with that, especially when he stuck and moved.
The second is a Castillo-style. Take one or two pucnhes to THROW five or six and hopefully take the rounds that way. Punish to the body, and THEN the head, in that order. In hopes that in those combinations, 1-3 shots land or atleast LOOK like they do. Due to Mayweather's shoulder-rolling style, it often makes it appear that he's taking shots that he is actually not. Hatton is probably more willing and able to deliver with THIS type of style, with hopes that he uses the jab, a BIT.
Here's the problem. PROOF. Evidence shows Mayweather can lose. I've seen no PROOF that it will happen December 8th.
Evidence points to Hatton LOSING, actually. For one, he faded in his only other fight at 147. He didn't have as much time to train, he didn't have as big of a test to prepare for and he might not have expected that exact opponent. Fact is, he faded. Only thing I know, BASICALLY, FOR SURE. He also was rocked by a relatively light-fisted Collazo. Collazo isn't that fast either, so it's doubtful that he didn't just see the punch. He was just rocked, really. His stamina didn't look too well at the weight, either. He seems MUCH more comfortable at 140.
To top that off, he's going against the pound for pound fighter in the world, who's done pretty well for himself in 147 or 154 (for a fight). Hatton DID actually have trouble with the relatively normal speed of Collazo at 147, imagine what he'd do against a guy who's made a career out of being someone who can QUICKLY potshot his way to victory. Believe it or not, Mayweather can fight inside if he has to, aswell. He has the advantage in NATURAL size, longer reach, faster, about the same in one-punch power, has better stamina at the weight, and overall has the better skills. True, styles make fights, but you need to have the skill AND the ability to perform to the TOP of that style. Hatton has the skill, but he does not have it in his tank to finish the Castillo job, or the De La Hoya/Zab Judah style fight, either. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. That's all.
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