Amid anecdotal word exchanges, totally out of all proportion to be perceived as non-presumptuos and non-conspiracional, one must dispel myths and tackle objective assumptions to leap into fair, dispassionate and widely acceptable conclusions... As such, one easily recognises the pertinence of this thread and corresponds in a no-nonsense way rather than with any unforeseen expertise. Period. I can safely surmise my view on the first two stanzas completely based on the two following points: - The parameters of the job laying ahead of the two fighters and on some meaningful aspects in similar confrontations. - The filtering or better, the unveiling of the mind sets in what is directly related with possible ring behaviour in those first six minutes. Immediately, tackling the second point, the striking example of the incongruity of the notion that the fight will unfold in an opposite way from the one I am envisaging from the onset is based on the two players' expectations - on Sky Sports interviews, Mayweather expects Hatton to - come and come, miss, get tired and break - so he basically and mainly relies on his counterpart to punch himself out; Hatton expects to apply enormous pressure and break down his opponent with this attitude and refers to the Hoya and Castillo fights as the examples to follow on. Then, there is the clannish security and the restlessness of spirit that plagues their minds. Last but not the least, Mayweather has shown most recently, and I dare to say, throughout most of his career, to be defensive minded - Mayweather supporters, please, will you understand that the aggressive attitude that he used in the first four, five rounds and from the seventh to the end stretch with DeMarcus Corley, throughout the bouts with Henry Bruseles, Sharmba Mitchell and second part of the Zab Judah fight doesn't make him an offensive fighter? His natural stance is to fight behind his left shoulder and scoring with accurate left jabs and effective right hand counters in repetition ( those can be seen also as arm punches since he doesn't put his full weight into the shots - his defensive mind set balances him back to the usual counter-punch stance). Whereas, and pardon me Hatton supporters now, Ricky cannot possibly fight backwards and therefore can reasonably be taken as one dimensional and bullish? In that fraction of the second, Ricky Hatton aggressive mind set traslated to the fight move makes him jump on top of Mayweather and Mayweather defensive mind set translated to his behaviour faced with Hatton's onslaught doesn't make him want to anticipate but to go right into that defensive shell of his (?)... Going back to the first point and finally tryin to to draw the fight scenario, Hatton has his mind eye on Honeygham-Curry and Duran-Leonard patterns so it is fair to say that he's in there fancying his own chances to impose his physicallity on Mayweather ( make him quit) and no alternative game plan. So, as soon as the bell goes, Hatton is already assaulting Mayweather, feeding off the frenzied atmosphere in the Garden ( like it's the MAN Arena in hometown), hitting him exactly as he's hitting Billy Graham's punchbag in training - two blows with the left ( one on top of Floyd's high right guard and another to the lower part) and finishing with a right hook to the body and shoving Mayweather from the center to the periphery of the ring... Mayweather, while strong in terms of technique, can't drive Hatton off the way and sustain the immense pressure to be pushed into that position. What happens in close quarters and along the ropes? A lot of hits in Mayweather's body and short counter uppercuts on Hatton's face, plenty of grappling and roughness from either side and more than average intervention from Joe Cortez. If Oscar drove Floyd back near the ropes 50 seconds into the first round, I don't feel any odd tremor of uncertainty to say that sooner or later they'll be there and stay there until one of them breaks or the final bell sounds...
Is that all you can say?... Unlike most, I don't feel a Damn thing about this one, therefore you are the ones who need to take the drugs to keep you calm and real.
Expect the fight to look like DLH/Vargas. One round goes to Floyd and the other goes to Ricky. The only time Hatton will land cleanly will be when Floyd is on the ropes like DLH/Vargas. Floyd will absorb some heavy shots but my gut tells me his accumilation of well placed shots leaves him to be the fresher of the two in the late rounds. Whether or not someone will be put away is to be seen but believe me.. Floyd is going to make Ricky waste more energy and Mayweather will be the sharper of the two towards the end.