Victory dance
LAS VEGAS – Floyd Mayweather Jr. didn’t need to dance to beat Ricky Hatton. His fists proved a lot more potent than his feet.
Mayweather remained unbeaten Saturday night and retained his claim to being the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world by stopping Hatton in the 10th round of a WBC brawl that featured none of the fancy footwork the American has shown in the ring and on “Dancing With the Stars.”
Hatton wouldn’t let Mayweather move, but it didn’t matter as Mayweather used precision punches to wear down the challenger for his 147-round crown. Hatton kept trying to get inside and score points, but Mayweather had an answer for everything he did.
The end came after Mayweather landed a crushing left hook that dropped Hatton on his back in Mayweather’s corner. Hatton got up at the count of eight, but Mayweather almost immediately got him on the ropes and landed another flurry of punches to the head.
Hatton went down almost on a delayed reaction, while at the same time referee Joe Cortez moved in to stop the fight and Hatton’s corner threw in the towel at 1:35 of the round.
It was the first loss for Hatton, a brawler from Manchester, England, who did his best to do what no fighter had done and break down Mayweather’s defenses.
It was clear from the early rounds, though, that Hatton would have trouble doing that. Mayweather, fighting for the first time since beating Oscar De La Hoya in May, was able to pile up points and seemed to be cruising for an easy decision win when he shot out the left hook that was the beginning of the end for Hatton.
“I knew it was going to be tough,” Mayweather said. “That’s why I didn’t do anything halfway. He was definitely the toughest competitor I’ve ever faced.”
Mayweather (39-0) was ahead 89-81 on two ringside scorecards and 88-82 when he scored the thundering punches that both stopped Hatton and answered critics who said he was a boring fighter who fought defensively and rarely took any chances when it counted.
It was Mayweather’s hometown, but Hatton’s crowd at the MGM Grand hotel arena. A brass band played in the upper deck, among thousands of British fans who packed the arena and needed little urging to stand up with beers in hand to sing “There’s only one Ricky Hatton” to the tune of “Winter Wonderland.”
Unfortunately for Hatton, their vocal support wasn’t much help in the ring. There, Mayweather held all the advantages, and he gave Hatton a beating from the eighth round on when he caught him with a huge right hand and followed it with a series of head punches.
“I wanted to punch with power,” Mayweather said. “A couple of fights ago I gave my fans a dud, so I wanted to come back and give my fans a great fight.”
Hatton was on his back in the neutral corner for about 15 seconds after being knocked out, but got up and even took a microphone to thank his fans for coming.