Hatton must end Floyd’s loose talking (From Bournemouth Echo)

Hatton must end Floyd’s loose talking

7:49am Saturday 8th December 2007

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APPARENTLY, when he was one, Floyd Mayweather's father used him as a human shield.

Floyd's uncle had turned up at the family home with a shotgun, so, rather than take a bullet himself, Floyd Snr held aloft his boy in a last-gasp bid to save himself. The man with the gun and the brain cells shot Floyd Snr in the leg instead.

It's that level of the bizarre that Hyde's Ricky Hatton will have to overcome in the early hours of tomorrow morning if he is to carry off his dream of becoming the first man to beat Mayweather Jnr in the ring.

Not to mention the small matter of the Pretty Boy being the greatest fighter the world has seen outside of the heavyweight division.

Away from the trash talk, scattering of $100 bills, paid ego-massagers and the world's most dysfunctional family, Mayweather is a man who should be feared.

It's easy to forget among the flurry of arrogance and sea of money that Mayweather is still the best in the business - and Ricky Hatton has never stepped inside a ring with anyone of that calibre before.

In the same year that Mayweather was winning the WBC super featherweight world title against Genaro Hernandez in Vegas, Hatton was trading blows with the likes of David Thompson, Paul Salmon and Karl Taylor. And in such glamorous locations as Bristol and Telford.

Then, four years later, the American was showing the world that he could cause the same kind of destruction at lightweight, beating the legendary Jose Luis Castillo to bag the WBC title.

Titles at light welterweight and welterweight followed in quick succession, before Oscar De La Hoya was given the treatment at 154lbs in May of this year.

But what of former carpet salesman Hatton?

The curry and Guinness excess has dropped off in the Vegas heat and the man from Hyde certainly looks far better prepared than the last time he bulked up to 147lbs against Luis Callazo.

But even if Hatton does overcome his greatest challenge in the early hours of tomorrow morning, all the talk about becoming the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet is nonsense.

Mayweather has won six world titles at five different weights - an astonishing achievement unlikely to be bettered any time soon.

And Hatton still has some way to go if he wants to catch the likes of Manny Pacquiao or Joe Calzaghe in the pound-for-pound debate.

Not that Hatton cares much for the talk.

In August, he appeared on the daytime telly hell that is ITV's Loose Women.

When questioned about his ballooning weight between bouts, Hatton, with trademark Mancunian wit, replied: "I have a lot on my plate at the moment."

If the WBC welterweight title could be won on humour alone, Hatton would stroll it.

But this is boxing and the predictable pre-fight war of words between the pair intensified this week, with Hatton claiming Mayweather is already lining up excuses for defeat.

The American's hands have always been suspect, but Mayweather, apparently, even has appearing on Dancing With The Stars in his locker should Hatton put him on the canvas.

Hatton told the press: "I've never seen Floyd dig deep, grab the bull by the horns and pull a fight out of the bag.

"I'm sure he's in the best shape of his life, but he does not realise how good I am and that's going to be a shock."

Mayweather hit back with: "Ricky Hatton never had this many fans here before - it's all part of the Mayweather experience. I'm putting him in a position to buy a lot of Guinness."

Thankfully, the time for talking will stop at around 3am tomorrow. Then we should know just how it feels to watch one of these incredible fighters lose.

Not long after his ITV daytime experience, Hatton clearly saw the error of his ways and revealed all to chat show legend Michael Parkinson.

"If there was such as thing as re-incarnation, Floyd would come back as himself," Hatton told Parky.

Do the business tomorrow morning, Ricky, and even the arrogant Mayweather might confess to fancying a second spell on earth as a Mancunian carpet salesman.

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