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Mayweather flattens Hatton to keep welterweight boxing crown
9 hours ago

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) ― Floyd Mayweather stopped England's Ricky Hatton in the 10th round to win a brawling showdown of unbeaten fighters here Saturday, keeping the World Boxing Council welterweight crown.

Mayweather knocked Hatton down with a damaging left to the chin as the British fighter was swinging a punch of his own. Hatton rose but the American star followed with a hammering left hook and a dazed Hatton fell moments later.

"I threw a hook and he walked right into it. He never saw it coming," Mayweather said. "I wanted to show the fans I could punch with power."

Mayweather improved to 39-0 with his 25th victory inside the distance when referee Joe Cortez halted a bout filled with clinching and bumping at 1:35 of the 10th round.

"I already knew coming into the ring it was going to be tough, that he was going to try to rough me up," Mayweather said. "I took my time. I fought on the inside and the outside. A true champion can adapt to anything."

Hatton suffered his first defeat after 43 triumphs but earned respect for a gutty effort.

"He was definitely the toughest competitor I've ever faced," Mayweather said. "I threw a lot of body shots, and he still kept coming. I can see why they call him the 'Hitman'."

Cortez deducted a point from Hatton for hitting Mayweather behind the head in round six. All three judges would have scored the round even otherwise.

"I was doing fine until I lost that point," Hatton said. "I thought then I had better put the foot down and I left myself open."

Hatton knew he was trailing on points and pressed harder than he wanted in later rounds, leaving himself open to Mayweather in the 10th.

"I thought I was doing well in the fight until then," Hatton said. "When I went down I felt more like a mug for leaving myself open like that.

"I had success. I was really there. I gave him the chance and he took it."

The end came moments after the final blow with Hatton flat on his back by the ropes as Mayweather jumped for joy to celebrate victory.

"I'll be back. Don't worry," Hatton said. "I'm sorry everybody."

Hatton's punches in the sixth left Mayweather doubled over the middle rope, his head and chest outside the ring.

After the deduction, an already-bloodied Hatton responded by turning his rear to Cortez and Mayweather and bending over. When the fighting resumed, Hatton battled back, forcing an up-close and against the ropes fight.

"I didn't quite stick to my game plan," Hatton said. "He's not the biggest welterweight I've ever fought, but he was strong. I don't think he was the hardest puncher here, but he was a lot cleverer than I thought."

Mayweather slammed a devastating right punch that snapped back Hatton's head one minute into the eighth round and landed a flurry late in the ninth.

While the gutty Englishman battled back both times, he was clearly tiring and the end was near.

"I felt really strong," Hatton said. "I left myself open and he's better inside than I thought he was, using all of his elbows, shoulders and forearms."

Hatton had staggered Mayweather with a hard left in a furious first round and pressed the attack in the second, cornering the champion time and again.

Mayweather answered with a straight right to the head and the fighters clinched time and again, prompting Cortez to twice halt the round to caution them about grappling and improper punches.

Mayweather opened a cut above Hatton's right eye in the third round with a powerful right and followed with two punishing rights in a fourth-round flurry, inflicting a toll on Hatton's head and body.

Hatton's popularity as an aggressive fighter and fun-loving pub personality helped draw thousands of vocal British supporters to the US gambling mecca for the biggest fight of his career.

They cheered locker-room video of Hatton, booed Mayweather lustily and began several rounds of singing "Hatton Wonderland" with 1 1/2 undercard fights to go before their man entered the ring - a replay of Friday's rowdy weigh-in mood.

"UK fans, you guys are unreal," Mayweather said.

Hatton supporters sang along with "God Save the Queen" before the bout, but booed throughout the singing of the US anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner".

"I'm disappointed by that," Hatton said.
Mayweather, who has rechristened himself as "Money," plans to take the leap in to the world of Hip-Hop as a rapper, and he's got the biggest knock-out artist in his corner, 50 Cent. In addition to ghostwriting, Mayweather says 50 Cent is a friend who has been supportive of his stellar boxing career. He's confident enough to spit raps for all to judge and ballsy enough to ballroom dance in front of millions of scrutinizing eyes � go figure.



There's a good reason for the one formerly known as "Pretty Boy" to assert his dominance in such a brash manner. The Hip-Hop pugilist is generally regarded as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world with 38 wins, 24 of which ended in knock out. Before he can get to record his rap album, he's got to contend with another extremely confident, unbeaten champ named Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton of Britain (43 wins, 31knockouts). He faces Hatton tonight (Dec. 8) on pay-per-view, but Mayweather says his opponent has as much chance of winning as Ice Man has in Hell. That's convinced.





In Las Vegas, at 24 Hour Fitness Gym, Floyd "Money" Mayweather rolled out his blueprint to AllHipHop.com and unveiled his plans to work with 50 Cent, offered a listen to his new song "Yep" and explained how he is going to fight his way into entertainment like he's done with boxing.



-Intro by Chuck "Jigsaw" Creekmur





AllHipHop.com: So, Floyd you officially dropped the moniker "Pretty Boy" and replaced it with "Money."



Floyd Mayweather: Pretty Boy Floyd isn't my name any more―they keep calling me that. But my name is Floyd "Money" Mayweather. It's Money Mayweather, until the day I die. When you say the Mayweather name, it's about money. When you're talking Mayweather, you're talking money.



AllHipHop.com: Recently you were a participant in the ABC Network series "Dancing With The Stars" and got eliminated in the fourth round, what was that experience like?



Floyd Mayweather: Well, it had me upset at first but I got over it. It was a great experience. I wish I could do it again, but I'm told they only let you do it once. My advisor Leonard Ellerbe worked on that deal for over a year. It was an amazing show. I was basically letting people from the urban communities know that it's okay to step outside the box and try something different. Everything isn't always based upon Hip-Hop and R&B. I'm not too hardcore to go on "Dancing With The Stars." I'm not afraid to go on network television every week and expose myself to a different audience consisting of 20 or 30 million viewers and not have to be on pay-per-view to do it.





AllHipHop.com: You recently had a meeting with Barack Obama, how did that go?



Floyd Mayweather: I can't talk about it because it was confidential. No disrespect. I can't discuss what we spoke about. The HBO crew was with me filming "24/7" and they had to turn the cameras off. But, I can say this. It was great to see a man who comes from the same background as me doing such big things. I am encouraging voters from the ages of 18-34 to get out there and vote.



AllHipHop.com: Speaking of big things, you recently showed off your house on TV - pretty impressive.



Floyd Mayweather: When I first moved to Vegas I lived on Flamingo and Cobalt Lane at the Meridian. It was a luxury apartment. I was sitting on about half a million. When Tupac was murdered it occurred on the corner where I lived. The crib I have now is 12,000 square feet and everything is paid for. The majority of the cars are paid for. A couple of them we lease just to keep our credit right, but we don't have to. The last Maybach (62) I bought I spent 411 thousand, cash. The McClaren I spent half million cash on. Whatever I want I go out there and buy. I'm not a rapper who's on an album talking about it. You got a lot of rappers that just talk about it. But me, I really live it. Not to knock what rappers talk about. But, I really own my own my 12,000 square-foot mansion. I really own these cars. All of this stuff is paid for. I really got eight figures liquid cash. I'm not far from $100 million―at all.





AllHipHop.com: So how's everything working out with your record label, Philthy Rich
Flights full of people intent on backing the man they know as Manchester's Hitman, pictured right, continued to arrive in Las Vegas until only a few hours before his fight with American Floyd "Pretty Boy" Mayweather.

Most stood little chance of seeing the Sin City showdown as ticket touts ramped up the price of the cheapest seats at the MGM Grand arena to $1,200 each (￡600).

One "scalper," operating in front of police and security guards at the casino hotel itself, offered the best seat he had, 10 rows back from ringside, for a mind-blowing $7,000 (￡3,500).

Even fans clamouring for tickets to view the fight live on giant pay-per-view screen at a dozen Vegas locations were told they too were sold out. The scalper who had tried to make a major killing said: "I've got some tickets to watch it on TV � for $200 (￡100) each."

Hundreds of Brits cheered and snarled along with Ricky at Friday night's weigh-in for the world welterweight title fight, as his nose-to-nose confrontation with Mayweather � described as "the most malevolent I've ever seen" by one US sports commentator � was beamed to video monitors throughout the Grand.

While hotel staff and American tourists watched open-mouthed, the small army of fans chanted: "There's only one Ricky Hatton" as their hero made an obscene gesture at his arch rival. Then, when the camera panned to Mayweather, a booming chorus of "Who the **** are you?" rang out as startled-looking security guards appealed in vain for calm. One said: "Vegas