The last megafight of 2007, featuring Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton, did not disappoint. Mayweather came through with an exciting 10th round knockout victory. Mayweather is not known for his devastating power and clearly the knockout was the result of his ability to land clean punch after clean punch on Hatton. When Hatton would try to move in, Mayweather would land the jab from the outside. Surprisingly, when Hatton did manage to get inside, it was Mayweather who landed the better blows. Although Hatton was able to apply pressure early, he was unable to sustain an effective attack against his technically and athletically superior opponent. Hatton has shown in his fights with Collazo and now Mayweather that he needs to stay at the 140 pound level. It’s difficult to see him having success against the bigger welterweights such as Cotto or Williams.
After the fight, Mayweather stated that he wants to take a long break from boxing and focus his attention on other enterprises. Although he had ‘retired’ after the De La Hoya fight, the lure of another big payday against a low-risk opponent was more than enough to get Mayweather back in the ring. The welterweight division is loaded with talent right now, so it seems that Mayweather is getting out before someone takes the torch from him.
If Mayweather does come back for one more fight, he must face Miguel Cotto. Cotto has a definite advantage in size and power and may have enough skill to pose a major problem for Mayweather. Cotto still needs to face another elite level talent before he can challenge Mayweather, both to improve as a fighter and as a box-office draw. With increasing pressure from MMA’s rising popularity, boxing needs to maintain the big fight momentum from the past few months into next year. With the heavyweight division in decline, boxing needs superstars from the lower weight classes to step up and make the megafights happen. Hopkins-Calzaghe appears to be the next fight to be made, and hopefully the welterweight stars can face off.
