Predictions: Mayweather vs. Hatton

The Franchise says...

However you may feel about him - and he's a polarizing figure, so plenty of fans feel one way or the other - it's clear Floyd Mayweather Jr. has arrived as the figure in the boxing world. He's about to become the first boxer to do 4 million pay-per-view buys in one year, despite the fact that (or maybe because) as Kevin Iole pointed out in a recent column, many of those buyers want to see him get knocked out.

He doesn't have as famous a foil this time around as he did earlier this year in Oscar De La Hoya, but he does have in Ricky Hatton a foe with a better chance to pull off the upset. Or not, depending on who you believe and how you rate The Hitman's chances.

Here's what we know for sure: if you try to beat Pretty Boy at his own game, you will lose. He has too much natural talent, technique and defensive skill to even think about outboxing him.

It's a good thing, then, that Hatton won't be attempting to do that. What he'll try to do is to apply constant pressure, hold and rough Floyd up on the inside (perhaps testing the boundaries of what the ref permits) and hope that the fight becomes a brawl.

He's not the first man to come up with that plan. Others have tried to pull it off in the past. All have failed.

The well-worn cliche in boxing holds that styles make fights, and that's especially true for this one. Taking nothing away from Hatton and his accomplishments, the only reason anyone even has the slightest doubt about PBF emerging as the victor is the small chance that Hatton is able to impose his will and turn it into the kind of fight Mayweather doesn't want to fight.

Even though I'll be rooting for that to be the case, I just can't see that happening. I expect Hatton to be game, and that he'll present more of a challenge than Arturo Gatti and hold up better against Floyd's offense than De La Hoya. But it's difficult for me to imagine him winning a decision, meaning his only real chance is to wear Mayweather down and knock him out late.

If that happens, I'll be even more surprised than the first time I saw Roy Jones Jr. out cold. My call isn't very creative, but I'm confident it's the right one: Mayweather UD 12.

In the other fights of the night, I like Jeff Lacy to return to form with a KO win. I'll also go with Daniel Ponce de Leon with a KO win simply because I don't know much about his opponent.

Uatu indicates...

Uatu just read the Iole article and wonders, what does the international aspect of this fight do to the overall PPV sales? Sure, they are tracking at 60% of the ODH fight, but if all of the tickets and interest is coming from England, does that decrease the PPV sales here that will actually be purchased in the States based on a % of the amount purchased in May? Maybe the interest here isn't as high as they think? Do those PPV amounts include international buys? Maybe there will actually be more PPV sales internationally and more total than projected? Not sure. Wouldn't be surprised if there were sub-1 million domestic buys, but who can ever tell what the numbers really mean considering the source. Anyway:

Don't leave your feet if you aren't going to shoot the ball.
Don't make the last or first out on the basepaths.
Don't block a defender if you can see the numbers on his back.
Don't bet against the Pretty Boy. UD 12

Tough call on Lacy seeing that he hasn't been seen healthy in a long time. Lacy KO

De Leon by KO