While I was watching the recent Mayweather-Hatton 24/7 episode 2 special on HBO the other day, I couldn’t help notice the similarities between Floyd Mayeather Jr’s training regiman and that of the fictional character Apollo Creed from the Rocky movies. Both fighters tended to overly pamper themselves, not focusing on what had gotten them to the top in the first place. In Mayweather’s case, he seemed almost looking for ways to get out of boxing, for example, when he was visiting a massage therapist, who had given him a recommendation that he should get out of boxing soon due to his various injuries.
The look on his face was priceless as he informed the audience what the woman had said about him needing to retire because of his problems. He looked like a little boy, wanting to escape an uncomfortable event, and looking for an excuse to get out.
For Mayweather, I would assume that his fear is the uncomfortable prospect of having to face difficult fights in the future, ones such as Miguel Cotto, Paul Williams and Antonio Margarito. Clearly if Mayweather is going to go down in the record book as one of the greatest fighters in the history of boxing, he’s going to have protect his legacy by beating all three of these fighters. I’m guessing he won’t fight any of them, and will instead retire before being forced to take those fights. More than that, I honestly feel that Hatton will be the end of the line for Mayweather because I don’t think he’s good enough to beat Ricky.
During the last episode of Mayweather-Hatton 24/7. Hatton was training like an animal, attacking the heavy pads in which his trainer was wearing like some kind of beast. In constrast, Mayweather was getting massages and doing light running in a gym. The only real boxing that I saw of Mayweather was him hitting the pads while looking at the camera. He was totally unfocused as if his mind wasn’t into training. He seems to be overlooking Hatton, thinking perhaps the fight is already won.
Mayweather is going to be in for a huge shock as soon as the bell rings in round one when Hatton is all over him, raining heavy hooks to his head and midsection. Mayweather, I expect, will foolishly think that Hatton will slow down in the mid rounds – like De La Hoya did – and that will enable Mayweather to work him over with pot shits in the second half of the fight. I don’t see that happening, though, because Hatton is very angry and motivated for this fight, fueled by his hatred for Mayweather because of the disrespect that he’s shown him during the promotional tours for the bout,