Mayweather Manhandles Hatton, Stops Hitman in 10th Round to Retain Welterweight Title By Doug Fischer (Dec 9, 2007) Photo © German Villasenor Send this page to friend Give us your feedback LAS VEGAS, Dec. 8th – The loyal British fans who made the flight across the Atlantic Ocean and the U.S. to cheer on Ricky Hatton clapped and sang, beat on drums and blew into brass horns for their hero, they even booed and whistled throughout the singing of the national anthem, but once the bell rang for his challenge of Floyd Mayweather’s welterweight title, the 29-year-old native of Manchester was on his own. As loud and raucous as the British fans who packed the MGM Grand’s Garden Arena were, they couldn’t fight for Hatton, and after nine and half rounds with Mayweather the 140-pound champ learned that he couldn’t fight or box or punch with the man recognized as the best fighter in the world, pound for pound. Mayweather knocked out Hatton one minute and 35 seconds into the 10th round to improve his unblemished record to 39-0 (25). Hatton, who was hurt in the eighth round and knocked down twice in the 10th, suffered the first loss of his 10-year career, dropping to 43-1 (31). Despite the lively atmosphere created by Hatton’s fans, who sang “There’s Only One Ricky Hatton” as early as the DeLeon-Escobedo undercard bout and continued through the Lacy-Manfredo lead-in to the main event, the early rounds of the welterweight championship were generally uneventful. There was more mauling, holding and shoving on the inside – in-between the constant breaks of an over-officious Joe Cortez – than clean punches landed by either fighter. Hatton landed lead left hooks from the outside before falling into clinches early in the rounds and following a lot of grappling and breaks from the referee Mayweather would then create some space and nail his antagonist with accurate lead right hands. Although the number of clean blows seemed to be even in the first three rounds, it was Mayweather who appeared to be in control, keeping his focus and composure under fire as he always does. Gradually, round by round, Hatton and his attack began to deteriorate. In the third round, Hatton suffered a cut under his right eyebrow. In the sixth, he was deducted a point for hitting Mayweather behind the head after the champ stumbled halfway through the ropes. In the seventh, he ate a lightening-fast uppercut followed by jolting straight right just before the bell. And then Mayweather broke the fight wide open by opening up offensively at the start of the eighth round. Mayweather hurt Hatton with an assortment of clean power punches to the body and head causing the popular Manchester native to stumble about the ring. Hatton sucked it up and resumed his pressing attack midway through the round, perhaps emboldened by his fans that made up the majority of the 16,500 capacity crowd. However, though Hatton forced Mayweather to the ropes, he proved to be ineffective on in the inside as was in previous rounds. And just as quickly as Hatton got a rise out of his fans for showing grit, Mayweather took them out of the equation by spinning off the ropes and punishing their cornered hero with clean power shots in the final 20 seconds of the round. Four minutes later, Mayweather hurt Hatton again, this time with a perfectly timed left hook-uppercut hybrid punch that put the challenger down hard near his corner. Hatton beat the count but was clearly on wobbly legs. He absorbed follow-up hooks, body shots and right hands until Cortez had seen enough, stepping in to halt the fight just as Hatton fell to the canvas once more. After nine rounds the official judges had Mayweather ahead by scores of 88-82 and 89-81 (twice), or seven rounds to two and eight rounds to one. “I took my time,” Mayweather said of his first knockout in two years. “I fought on the inside and the outside. A true champion can adapt to anything. “I knew he would try to rough me up, so I didn’t halfway train for this fight. I prepared 100 percent for this fight. He was definitely the toughest competitor I have ever faced.” Hatton was equally gracious after the fight. “I felt really strong but I left myself open and he’s better on the inside that I thought he was,” said Hatton. “I thought I was doing well in the fight until he hit me with the shot that cut me. I didn’t feel the body shots until the cut. “He’s not the biggest welterweight I’ve fought but he’s strong. I don’t think he’s the hardest puncher tonight, but he was clever.” And it appears that Mayweather is clever enough to know when to call it quits. When asked about a potential fight with popular undefeated welterweight titlist Miguel Cotto next year, Mayweather replied: “Cotto’s a hell of a champion and the welterweight division is the best weight class in boxing. There are a lot of great fighters in the welterweight division and the junior middleweight division but I’ve done all I wanted to accomplish in boxing so I’m not thinking about fighting any of them.” Mayweather “retired” after his split-decision victory over Oscar De La Hoya this past May and obviously came back to the sport he’s dedicated his life to. Maybe this one will stick, maybe it won’t. If Mayweather does stay retired, he’ll be inducted into the hall of fame the first time his name graces the ballot, and with the money he’s made this year alone, he and his family should be able to live very comfortably for the rest of their lives. However, Mayweather is only 30 years old, and one has to figure he’s going to quickly miss the incredible rush that he must have felt tonight. In a super middleweight special attraction, former IBF title holder Jeff Lacy out-pointed fringe contender Peter Manfredo Jr. in a closely contested 10-round bout. Lacy, who dropped Manfredo in the fourth round, won by scores of 95-94, 96-93, and 97-92 to improve to 23-1 (17). Manfredo, who dropped to 28-4 (13), boxed well from the outside, utilizing a sharp jab, feints and constant lateral movement to neutralize much of Lacy’s advancing attack, but he also engaged in a lot of in-fighting in which he held his own in spots, but also absorbed more punches than he should have. In the early rounds of the bout, Manfredo was able to control the tempo of the action with a stick-and-move strategy and by tying up Lacy anytime the naturally bigger and stronger fighter was able to bull his way inside. Lacy, who hadn’t fought in a year due to a rotator cuff injury he sustained in his last fight, did not exhibit a jab or punch in combination in the first three rounds of the bout, however, he was able to catch a backing-up Manfredo with a straight right that dropped the Providence, Rhode Island native into the ropes at the start of the fourth round. Manfredo got up on solid legs, looking more embarrassed than hurt, while taking a short count from referee Robert Byrd. Lacy immediately pressed his attack with a series of clubbing rights, but Manfredo kept his composure, blocked Lacy’s follow up shots with high guard and fired back during second half of the round. In round five, Manfredo got back to sticking his jab and utilizing footwork that seemed to confuse or cause Lacy to second-guess his attack. Lacy, who began to take on a tired and frustrated look, was reduced to lunging in with single power shots. In the sixth round the fighters did more grappling than punching, but in the seventh, Lacy tried to catch Manfredo early again as he raced out of corner and rushed the smaller man into a neutral corner. However, M was able to fight effectively on the inside, ducking under Lacy’s winging shots and then countering with cleaner hooks and uppercuts. Both traded evenly in the final minute of the round. The grappling and infighting of the previous rounds appeared to have an adverse effect on Manfredo in the eighth round as he abandoned his footwork and was got caught more on the inside than he had early in the bout. Lacy’s greater size and physical strength was clearly beginning to take its toll on Manfredo, who was tossed to the canvas just before the bell. Although both fighters looked sluggish, Lacy pressed the attack in round nine, forcing Manfredo to trade with him in middle of the round. A clash of heads resulted in a cut in the outer corner of Lacy’s right eye. In the 10th round the wary fighters met head to head and let their hands go as they pushed and shoved each other around the ring. In the end, Lacy’s aggression, strength and power prevailed over Manfredo’s better technique and strategy. In a 122-pound title fight, Daniel Ponce DeLeon retained his WBO belt for the sixth time with a unanimous decision over featherweight prospect Eduardo Escobedo in a brisk and hard-fought affair. DeLeon, who improved to 34-1 (30), won by scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 115-113. “It’s was very difficult fight,” said DeLeon, a native of Cuathemoc, Mexico who lives and trains in Southern California. “Escobedo has very good boxing skills, he connected with some very good shots. I tried desperately to knock him out but he was too good of a boxer.” Although Escobedo, who dropped to 20-3 (14), has fought his last 10 fights in the 126-pound division, DeLeon looked like the bigger fighter and soon proved to be the stronger man has he imposed his crude and punishing style on the 23-year-old Mexico City native who began his career under the guidance of noted trainer Nacho Beristain. Before Escobedo was able to get into a rhythm behind what is usually a sharp piston-like jab, DeLeon quickly closed the distance, let loose viscous lefts to the body followed by chopping rights to the head (and back of the head), forcing the young challenger into retreat mode for much of the opening three rounds of the bout. Escobedo landed some choice right hands in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, but didn’t come back with any follow-up punches and wasn’t able to halt the ever-advancing DeLeon who opened up with both hands whenever he got into range. DeLeon’s punches were not very accurate or technically sound but they were heavy and they landed on Escobedo’s shoulders, biceps, forearms, hips, and lower back, gradually wearing down the better-technical boxer. In the seventh and eighth rounds, Escobedo began to stand his ground more and land combinations that backed DeLeon up for a few seconds at a time, but the title holder would step back in to range with wide-swinging body shots. In the ninth and 10th rounds, both fighters landed hard one-two combinations to the head, but DeLeon was constantly advancing behind a busier attack (that included wild body shots that landed to Escobedo’s lower back, which drew warnings from referee Kenny Bayless but no point deductions – however, to be fair to DeLeon, Escobedo would drop down and grab one of his legs during some of the clinches). Although DeLeon was able to back Escobedo up in these rounds, his swollen face showed evidence that he was in a tough fight. In the 11th and 12th rounds, DeLeon rushed Escobedo full force in hopes of overwhelming the challenger, but the young man withstood the early round assault and answered back with hard, jolting one-two combinations that momentarily stunned and slowed down the title holder. However, DeLeon was once again advancing against a retreating Escobedo in the final 45 seconds of the round. In the opening bout of the HBO Pay-Per-View broadcast, lightweight fringe contender Edner Cherry stopped Mayweather-managed prospect Wes Ferguson in the sixth round of a scheduled 10-round bout. It was Cherry’s second victory over Ferguson, who dropped a 10-round decision to the hard-punching Bahamas native in June. Cherry, who improved to 23-5-2 (11), had trouble with Ferguson’s clutch and grab tactics early in the bout, but once the less-experienced fighter began to open up offensively, the door was open for the Florida-based puncher to land his loaded shots. In the sixth round Cherry connected with a left hook that put Ferguson down hard. Showing guts the 22-year-old boxer got up and tried to get respect by dropping hard left hooks of his own, however, his punches were a little bit wider than Cherry’s and the 25-year-old vet landed a quicker, more compact left hook inside Ferguson’s that laded on the button and put the youngster down flat on his face. Ferguson, who dropped to 17-3-1 (5), tried to get up, but twice collapsed and was counted out by referee Vic Drakulich at 2 minutes and 59 seconds of the sixth round. Discuss this Topic - Go to the forums For Questions or Comments E-Mail Doug Fischer at dougie@maxboxing.com