Coming in late in my entries, I still had to share my few words with you. It's been awhile since I watched a live boxing match. Thanks to satellite TV and also my good friend who could afford to accommodate me for the night ( FYI the match started at 7.15 a.m. and not at 5.00a.m. as they had advertised on this side of the world).
My friends and I had been busy checking out the accolades of the two boxers and some had even admitted Floyd Mayweather would be getting his first defeat.They were going for a 12-round fight with a points decision going Ricky Hatton's way.
I begged to differ given the ferociousness of both fighters. Though they had never met, I had this gut feeling it would be a knock-out probably by the 8th-10th round. Well, let's just say it look about that same time to entertain us.
Touted "Undefeated" by the promoters Golden Boy Promotions headed by Oscar de la Hoya-he who was sorted by Floyd M in May this year & Mayweather Promotions, this fight needed exactly that hype to get us waking up at some ungodly hours.
Going into the fight, Floyd had 38 wins ( 25 KOs; 0 losses & 0 draws) with Ricky Hatton 43 wins ( 32 KOs; 0 losses and 0 draws). One boxer had to give in. True to form, in the first 2 rounds Hatton showed why he's called the Hitman with quick hits that made Mayweather wobble in the 1st round. He kept pushing him to the ropes,but I guess Mayweather had read Mohamed Ali's biography from some place.
He kept using the ropes until the 5th round tiring the Hitman and stopping him on his punches as he tried to finish the fight. Come the 7th and the English fans who had been rude to boo the national anthem were almost silent as Mayweather landed some decisive jabs. If it were to end then, the points were weighing heavily against the Englishman.
On round 8, Mayweather almost finished the fight with 3 punches repeatedly on Hatton but he luckily spiralled out of this one. But on the 10th round out of the blue, Mayweather showed his flair by throwing his dreaded left hook and landed it right. Hatton went sprawling to the corner & hit the guard which might have had its added effect.
After the countdown, Hatton tried to come back but Mayweather knew he had the fight and finished the job, with a combination of punches. The referee jumped to Hatton's rescue and I bet I saw a towel thrown in from Ricky Hatton's corner right about that same time. You'd have cut through the middle of the silence from the English fans.
I found it honourable that Floyd rushed to Hatton's corner to console him and was even gracious and praising his opponent in the post-match comments. However Hatton was just missing his words and said that he was beaten right, but not from the best of them.
But as Floyd said, he has won the fight having won through 5 different weight categories and needs nothing else to prove his worth.
• Super Featherweight title;1998-2001
• WBC Lightweight title;2001- 2003
• WBC Super Lightweight title; Won in 2005,
• Won IBF and vacant IBO Welterweight titles 2006
• Retained IBO and won IBA and WBC Welterweight titles 2006
• Won WBC Super Welterweight title, which waslater vacated-2007
• Retained WBC Welterweight title-2007
To crown it he said that, he won't let boxing retire him but rather he will retire from boxing.
Interesting Facts:
> A single ticket for the fight was worth at least US$2500 ( approx Kshs. 160000)
> The boxer is currently referred to as the world's best pound-for-pound boxer having gone through the different weight categories.
> Floyd Mayweather's earnings for the fight were approx. US$ 15 million ( much less than the US$ 32 million earned during his fight with Oscar de la Hoya).
> His father, Floyd Mayweather, Sr., was a former welterweight contender (when not in jail) One of his uncles, Jeff Mayweather, is a former IBO super featherweight champion,while another still was a former two-division world champion Roger Mayweather, is Mayweather, Jr.'s current trainer.
Useless Fact
With Ricky Hatton being beaten, Liverpool and Arsenal 2 of the ONLY English Premiership sides not to be beaten lost with 1-3 to Reading and 1-2 to Middlesborough respectively.
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