Why Floyd Mayweather had the terms of the fight with Hatton that they fight at 147? When they were both naturally smaller men? It could not have been because Hatton had struggled mightly (many say lost) at 147 in his only fight before? Just wondering...
Honestly, I don't. Its not like Mayweather had the advantage, because on fight night Hatton weighed more than PBF. PBF had the reach & height advantage, but there wasn't a big size difference. Hatton has fought bigger men than PBF before. But I think whether it be at 147 or 140, the result is still the same.
Boxing is not an exact science, p4pbest. One fighter will be finished before the age of 35 (Meldrick Taylor) whereas one will just be getting started (Bernard Hopkins) Ricky Hatton displayed in his fight with Collazo that he had no business being at 147. He was most effective at 140, and seeminly had stamina issues aswell as less punch resistance when moving up to Welterweight. I agree that Mayweather still wins at 140, but it isn't absurd to think Mayweather knew he was more comfortable at 147 than Ricky was, and therefore took full advantage of this.
True. But I was just pointing that out for all the ppl that like to say PBF likes to pick on smaller dudes. Even though it hasn't been said yet, its gonna be said soon. But another example is Tarver, he was in his prime in his mid 30's.
Anybody saying Mayweather picked on smaller dudes probably don't know Mayweather started his career at super featherweight. Strictly speaking, Floyd had no business campagning at 147 and being as successful as he was. But by the same token, he should gave gave the fans the meaningful fights instead of the Gatti, Baldomir, and Hatton fights. That's another story though.
(Purely a sidenote...) De La Hoya claims in his book 'American Son' that he was shocked that Mayweather was able to KO Hatton. He "... had no idea how Mayweather could do that..." because, according to Oscar; Floyd's punches were extremely light and weak when they faced each other. Mayweather, BTW, buckled De La Hoya badly on one particlar right hand counter along the ropes, when they did fight..
The fight was discussed shortly after Hatton had dethroned Tszyu and Mayweather fought Gatti, both @ 140. Hatton's team turned down the fight, wanting more American exposure. Mayweather also saw his request for a Cotto fight @ 140 turned down, and the Judah fight @ 147 fall apart due to the aborted Klitschko-Rahman purse bid being won by Top Rank, so he ended up fighting Mitchell later that year. Hatton's team signed an HBO contract with 3 fights, with the last one to be the Mayweather fight. Apparently it changed because Mayweather-Hatton turned out to be the 4th fight that Hatton had on HBO (Collazo, Urango, Castillo, Mayweather). By the time Mayweather-Hatton got signed, they had been in negotiations for 18 months (according to Ricky's father). They wanted to make the fight bigger, and it worked, with Hatton apparently getting $30 mil and Mayweather making a fortune as well. In regards to the weight, my guess is that PBF already had 4 fights above 140 and didn't feel like dropping back down, even though he probably could have. On the view of Team Hatton, well if he loses, he's still the man @ 140. I never heard any discussions about a catchweight, but I think Ricky's team should have tried to go for one, as Mayweather's on the smallish side of welter. Maybe 144/145, a la Whitaker-Chavez.
