Ricky Hatton has admitted his head had “gone” before facing Floyd Mayweather.
Two undefeated boxing giants clashed in a blockbuster Las Vegas showdown on December 8, 2007. With the WBC welterweight title on the line, Hatton was outclassed by his American opponent and brutally stopped in the tenth round.
The Mancunian might have convinced his thousands of travelling fans that he had the upper hand leading up to the fight, putting on a comedic display as he called his opponent a “six-year-old”. But there were clear signs that he was rattled by Money Mayweather even before stepping into the ring.
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During the press conference, Hatton put on a pair of builder’s headphones to block out all of Mayweather’s trash-talking. And he lost composure during the weigh-in face-off, rousing the fans by yelling into the microphone, going nose-to-nose with Mayweather and even making a throat-slashing gesture.
And while many boxers play up to the occasion to build hype for fights, the 45-year-old has now admitted he was in fact rattled – though only temporarily.
Featuring on William Hill’s Up Front with Simon Jordan, a podcast hosted by the former Crystal Palace owner who speaks to sports stars and celebrities and challenges their opinions whilst scrutinising their careers, Hatton said: “Going into the Mayweather fight, I absolutely thought I was going to win, because at that time I’d never tasted defeat.
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“The show was called ‘The Undefeated’ – I was 43-0-0 and he was 39-0-0 at the time. I went over to America grateful for my biggest opportunity and payday yet, but I thought I could beat him.
“It’s easy for people to say that I was being drawn into Mayweather’s mind games during the press conferences, but I was walking off the stage laughing saying, ‘how good was that!’.
“I can see why people think I did get drawn in and it is very hard not to. I had 10,000 fans just at the weigh-in and 40,000 of my fans came and took over his hometown, so it’s hard not to get drawn in.
“In the heat of the moment my head had gone, but when I went behind the curtain, I wasn’t raging at him, I was actually a little bit buzzing – I was in control of myself.”
It marked the first career defeat for Hatton, who only went on to fight four more opponents afterwards. Mayweather, meanwhile, retired with a 50-0 record.
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