Commentary: There’s only one Mayweather

LAS VEGAS – Their man was lying sprawled on his back on the canvas below, and still Ricky Hatton’s fans in the cheap seats at the MGM Grand hotel-casino were waving beers high and singing his praises to the tune of “Winter Wonderland.”

“There’s only one Ricky Hatton, one Ricky Hatton,” they crooned collectively, though slightly off-key.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. heard them, partly because Mayweather hears everything that goes on in the ring.

Hatton heard them too, though at the moment he wasn’t hearing much of anything. A savage left hook from a boxer who supposedly couldn’t punch began his downfall and a flurry of punches put him down and out for the second and last time on this night.

He had already heard enough.

“I’m about sick of that song myself now,” he said after recovering what was left of his senses.

Credit Hatton for his honesty, though this wasn’t a fight built on honest expectations. About the only ones who thought the undersized brawler from Manchester had much of a chance against the best fighter in the world were the thousands of fellow Brits who traveled across the pond to drink, sing, and cheer their man on.

They did their job well, even bringing a small brass band along to help with the only tune they seemed to know. It was all in the spirit of good drunken sportsmanship until they dishonored both themselves and their country by drowning out the national anthem sung by Tyrese Gibson with loud boos and ear-splitting whistles.

The few Mayweather fans among the 16,000 or so who packed the hotel arena tried with little success to overcome that by singing the national anthem as loudly as they could. And there was no shortage of one-fingered salutes to the Brits, including some from the ringside press section.

But it was left to Mayweather to extract the best revenge, and he did his best for God, country and about $11 million. Hatton had some early success with his frenetic, brawling style, but there hasn’t been anything Mayweather hasn’t seen in a ring and he wasn’t going to let the challenger to his throne be the only one doing some dirty work.

They went after each other with fists to the face, elbows to the neck, and heads to the head. They held and clinched and wrestled despite the best efforts of referee Joe Cortez, who did everything humanly possible to turn it into some sort of a boxing match – including stopping the fight twice to lecture both fighters.

But it was always going to be that kind of a fight largely because it was Hatton’s only possible way to win. The style had carried him to victory in all 43 of his other fights, and he wasn’t going to change even against a fighter who possesses the best defensive skills of anyone of his generation.

“Tough as nails,” Mayweather said of his foe. “I had him hurt a couple of times and he was still coming forward.”

By the middle of the fight, Mayweather was scoring effectively with right leads and left hooks as Hatton continued to come forward relentlessly. Hatton was falling behind, and it didn’t help his already slim chances when Cortez took a point from him in the sixth round after he pushed Mayweather’s head between the ropes.

Hatton knew the point deduction made it even more unlikely he could win by decision. So he played into Mayweather’s hands by starting to take more chances on the distant hope he might catch the 147-pound champion with a big shot to turn around the fight.

“I think I put my foot on the gas a bit too much when the point got taken off,” Hatton said.

Soon, Mayweather was administering a beating. The end finally came in the 10th round when Mayweather twice sent Hatton to the canvas. As Cortez moved in to stop the fight, Hatton’s corner was throwing in the towel.

Mayweather answered his few remaining critics who complained he only fought defensively and was afraid to take chances to finish a fighter. This night, he delivered the kind of performance expected from the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.