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He used perfect tactics against Tszyu, saying that he knew he needed to smother him or get put on his ass. Ricky mentioned how the style of Judah and Mitchell was to pull away from shots and how that was playing into Tszyu's hands - because Tszyu could unleash that right hand. Ricky needed to be smothering Tszyu because he knew that if he let Tszyu extend his elbow then it could be lights out. He says he didn't let Tszyu hit him with his best shot, otherwise he would of been on his ass.
He won't use those tactics against Mayweather. He will use more intelligent pressure I believe, and more educated shots. I don't really see him doing a lot of side-stepping to load up punches like he did against Pendleton for example, I don't see him moving in and out of range like he did against Magee and Tackie, I don't see him boxing Mayweather at all. But at the same time, it won't just be non-stop punching - there will be a lot thought. He'll look at the first Castillo fight and see that Castillo beat Mayweather, and realise that he's bigger, stronger, faster, fitter, far more talented and a bigger puncher than Castillo could ever be. He'll look at all the mistakes that Castillo made in the first Mayweather fight and realise that he wouldn't make any of those mistakes (like Castillo punching to arms and elbows, what a pressure fighter should never do). Hatton will try to roll with the punches. He won't take too many backward steps, but at the same time he'll mostly place punches to head and body and use a large variety of shots to keep Mayweather guessing. He'll want to unload big punches to the body when he feels Mayweather is not in a position to counter with power.
I've come to the conclusion that Mayweather will need a very high punch output to keep Hatton away from his body, because there is no way that a former super-featherweight can withstand Hatton's body shots. He'll maybe need a higher punch output than ever. Mayweather's anticipation will come into play more than ever before, it will be tested to it's max - because I'm sure Hatton will be trying to feint his way inside and use a large variety of feints, and he'll be giving Mayweather angles to deal with (with both his moves and punches). There will be thought to everything Hatton does, not to mention constant pressure, so Mayweather will need to have his thinking head on!
But I believe Mayweather can pull it off, as long as he uses a high punch output and tries to dictate from ring centre. Mayweather does need to dictate from ring centre, because if Hatton gets him to the ropes then Mayweather will just get beaten up with Hatton teeing off on him. But I believe Mayweather can do it, he has the talent to do it. He has the punching speed, punching accuracy, and timing to do it. And if he is able to spar 15 four-minute rounds with 30 second breaks, switching between three sparring partners every three rounds, then he should have the all-important stamina to pull it off too.
Mayweather TKO Hatton, cuts!
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