Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Ricky Hatton

Undefeated

Date	December 8, 2007
Title(s) on the line	WBC Welterweight Championship The Ring Magazine Welterweight Championship
Tale of the tape
Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. Ricky Hatton Nickname Pretty Boy Hitman Hometown Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Manchester, England Pre-fight record 38-0-0 (24 KO) 43-0-0 (31 KO) Recognition The Ring magazine Welterweight Champion WBC Welterweight Champion The Ring Magazine #1 Pound-4-Pound Fighter The Ring Magazine & IBO Light Welterweight

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Ricky Hatton, billed as Undefeated, was a boxing superfight that took place on December 8, 2007, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, between two-time IBO, IBF, WBU and WBA Light Welterweight champion and former WBA Welterweight Champion Ricky Hatton and current WBC Welterweight champion and rated by The Ring magazine as the #1 pound for pound boxer in the world Floyd Mayweather Jr. The fight was for Mayweather's WBC Welterweight championship title. Mayweather defeated Hatton by TKO in the tenth round.

General information

The referee for the fight was Joe Cortez, with Burt Clements, Dave Moretti and Paul Smith as the three judges. Hatton weighed in at 145 lbs and Mayweather at 147 lbs.

In attendance were stars such as Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Will Ferell, Gwen Stefani and Jude Law, also footballer David Beckham. At the weigh in the crowd were whipped into a frenzy as Joe Calzaghe (who was there supporting Hatton) squared up to American legend Bernard Hopkins (who was there supporting Mayweather). Also at the weigh in was upcoming British Lightweight Amir Khan and established British cruiserweight Enzo Maccarinelli.

Throughout the weigh-in Hatton's many fans could be heard loudly singing 'Hatton Wonderland' and could be heard clearly as they booed Mayweather.

Press Conference in NYC for the forthcoming fight

Hatton entered the ring first to Blue moon his usual entrance music, Mayweather however chose a change of music for his entrance, in the week prior to the fight sections of the media, largely the British media had hyped the fight as something of a Britain against America fight, comparing the fight to when Lloyd Honeyghan travelled to America to dethrone American Don Curry, then WBC,WBA,IBF World champion, this leading to Mayweathers decision to enter the ring to Bruce springsteens Born in the USA. Shortly before the start of the match, the Hatton fans also repeatedly booed the American national anthem, drawing large criticism post-fight.

The Fight

Hatton was able to compete with Mayweather in the early rounds. In the 1st round Hatton caught Mayweather with a left jab which knocked Mayweather off balance. His constant pressure appeared to make Mayweather uncomfortable at first, but soon gave way. In the third round, Mayweather landed a right that cut Hatton above the right eye. In round six, referee Joe Cortez took a point away from Hatton after he threw punches at the back of Maywethers' head when he was forced under the top rope. Hatton became angry at the referee's decision to deduct a point from him and turned his back on him in frustration, shaking his bottom at Mayweather. Hatton would later claim that he had become angry by the referee and that had caused him to lose his calm and contributed to his downfall. Hatton was able to hold his own, until round six, after Hatton got worn down from chasing Mayweather around the ring. Mayweather sensed the exhaustion of Hatton, and pursued Hatton's punches with stiff, damaging counterpunches. Mayweather was clearly in control before rocking Hatton in the 10th round. He knocked him down with a left hook, and Hatton was badly hurt. He didn't look as though he knew where he was when he got up, but referee Joe Cortez let the fight continue.

Mayweather wasted no time jumping on him again, landing a flurry of punches, including another left hook that sent Hatton staggering backward and down again. Cortez called off the fight at 1:35 without a count at the same time the white towel was thrown from Hatton's corner. Mayweather commented post-match that "Ricky Hatton is one tough fighter. He is still a champion in my eyes and I'd love to see him fight again. "Ricky Hatton is probably one of toughest competitors I've faced. I hit him with some big ones but he kept coming and I can see why they call him the 'Hitman'." The fight received large amounts of publicity, with both fighters promoting the fight heavily.

Aftermath

Mayweather went on to appear at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s No Way Out pay-per-view on February 17, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was involved in a storyline physical altercation with Big Show, which led to a match at WrestleMania XXIV.

Mayweather announced his retirement from boxing on June 6, 2008. But has recently returned to boxing after a 2 year break in which he had a brief spell in wrestling.

Hatton defeated Juan Lazcano at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester on May 24, 2008 in a "thank-you" bout for the tremendous fan support he has received throughout his entire professional career. The last time Hatton fought in Manchester was back in 2005 against Kostya Tszyu. Hatton went on to fight Paul Malignaggi for the IBF light welterweight championship in November 2008. The fight was very one sided and Ricky won comfortably by way of TKO in the 11th round. Hatton would eventually lose to Manny Pacquiao via second round KO and put his career on an indefinite hiatus.

Undercard

• Daniel Ponce de León defeats Eduardo Escobedo via unanimous decision for the WBO super bantamweight title.
• Jeff Lacy defeats Peter Manfredo Jr. via unanimous decision.
• Edner Cherry KOs Wes Ferguson in the sixth round.
• Matthew Hatton defeats Frankie Santos via unanimous decision.
• Jonathan Oquendo KOs Andres Ledesma in the first round.
• Jose Angel Rodriguez had a majority draw with Ishmail Arvin.
• Daniel Jacobs KOs Jose Jesus Hurtado in the first round.
• Danny Garcia KOs Jesus Villareal in the second round.