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If This was the End…Thanks For the Memories
TUE December 11, ANDRES ANTONIO CARRIEDO - After being accused of pity pat punching and running following his two most recent fights, Floyd Mayweather Jr. scored a vicious and brutal highlight reel KO in the 10th round of his fight against linear 140 lb. champion, Ricky Hatton. Mayweather is likely to fight again, but he may ultimately decide to call it a career. I say let him do as he pleases.
In a time capsule performance, Mayweather dominated Hatton in the same way he’s dominated most of the opponents he’s fought who are of similar size. The final result should not have surprised many, but in a round about way Mayweather had to win in scintillating fashion to prove his ever growing group of critics wrong. Though he should not have needed to, Mayweather proved his valor, tenacity and skill with his gritty knockout victory over the British fan favorite.
For the fourth time in his career, Mayweather beat a reigning linear weight division champion. Hatton was also the seventh Mayweather victim to have held a linear weight division title and 13th to have held a title belt at some point in time. Mayweather also improved to 18-0 with 9 KO’s in title fights. He held linear titles in three separate weight divisions and belts in two additional divisions. If he believes it’s time for him to retire, he has earned that right.
If this really is it for Mayweather, he closed it out with style. He fought a rough, aggressive, undefeated and experienced champion in the prime of his own career. Almost as if to spite his critics, Mayweather won by fighting a rough and aggressive fight himself.
The two fighters split the first two rounds as Mayweather pot-shotted from the outside and clinched. Meanwhile, Hatton applied intelligent and aggressive pressure. In the third round, Mayweather began to find the range with stinging lead hooks and right crosses. The fourth saw Mayweather open up and win the both the “ugly” and “pretty boy” fights that HBO announcer Larry Merchant described in round three.
Hatton clearly took round five by applying consistent and relentless pressure while Mayweather sought to take a break and allowed Hatton to wear himself out. After losing a point for hitting Mayweather in the back of the head early in round six, Hatton mocked his opponent by turning his back when the action resumed. From that point on, Mayweather picked up his game to win both rounds six and seven with clean effective punching. He dispensed with the jab and outfought the tough Brit in close quarters; landing hard hooks to the body, counter crosses and lead left hooks to the head as they came available.
The beginning of the end emerged early in round eight. The American began pressing forward, while he outslugged and punished the tough Brit with counter right crosses, punishing left hooks to the body and head as well as the occasional uppercut in close quarters. Mayweather opened some true distance by stinging Hatton with a hard right hand one minute into the round. Hatton responded by pressing the action, but in the final 40 seconds of the round Mayweather landed flurries of left hook-right cross assaults.
The ninth round saw Hatton eat a number of clean jabs that snapped his head back. The American showed his class and patience through the round and forced Hatton to miss then countered him with his own right crosses twice over the final 30 seconds of the round. In round ten, Mayweather gave everyone something to talk about. While backed into his own corner he countered the forward charging Hatton one minute into the 10th round with a perfectly timed check hook. The game Hatton rose at the count of eight. He looked beaten, but referee Joe Cortez appropriately allowed him to continue.
This fight needed a clear cut conclusion and Mayweather gave it to us with a brutal double left hook-right cross-left hook followup. Cortez waived off the 10 count as soon as Hatton hit the canvass at 1:35 of round 10. Still Hatton’s British faithful cheered their hero on…even AFTER he’d been KO’d. Their enthusiasm, resolve and loyalty must be applauded. The announcement of Mayweather’s KO victory was met with modest and polite applause from the crowd. This was akin to Jordan hitting the game winning shot to close out the 1998 NBA Finals. If this does prove to be the end of the line for Mayweather it was the perfect ending.
Mayweather’s trademark classy post-fight interview gained applause from the overwhelmingly pro-Hatton crowd. He gave Hatton his due respect and hinted at an extended vacation, if not eventual retirement. Hatton showed Mayweather respect in his post-fight interview and apologized to his loyal followers for losing this fight. The British fans responded in kind with continued adoration of their fallen hero.
Perhaps someday Mayweather will be appreciated by the American sports public in a similar fashion…probably not, but he definitely gave the public a great career and its fair share of fireworks. He fought and beat every legitimate contender between 130 and 140. He fought true weight class champions instead of milking the fractured title system to build gaudy championship numbers. At the very least he should be appreciated as the best fighter of his generation and one who shined the brightest when the stakes were the highest. If this really was the end, thanks for the memories.
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