I’ve said all I have time to say before Saturday night’s blockbuster fight between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Ricky Hatton. The fight is nigh. At long last.
So I’m wrapping it all up here in a package of links, plus links to the writing of others that, I think, will give everyone all the major things they need to know going into the big event. Have at it:
I wrote a two-part breakdown of keys to the fight, with the first focused on unique aspects of Mayweather-Hatton and the second focused on how Mayweather and Hatton fare in the list of attributes common to all boxers. HBO did its own technical analysis, which I also recommend.
ESPN did another two-parter, with one part focusing on Mayweather’s most important fights and the other focusing on Hatton’s. Very helpful, very helpful.
I wrote my final preview and prediction here. My colleague Vivek wrote his own curtain-raiser. If you’re a betting man (or woman), here’s the perspective on that.
I assembled a preview of the undercard fights. My colleague Sean shined a spotlight on what’s at stake for Jeff Lacy, who’s in the next most important fight of the card. So did ESPN, here. Steve Kim at Maxboxing.com shined a spotlight on what was at stake for Peter Manfredo, Lacy’s opponent. And he did the same for another undercard fight, Daniel Ponce De Leon versus Eduardo Escobedo.
Plenty of boxing figures have been weighing in with their predictions. Like Jose Luis Castillo, who fought both Mayweather and Hatton. Like Hatton’s countryman Lennox Lewis. Like all-time great and Hatton victim Kostya Tszyu. Like two of the top trainers in the business, Emmanuel Steward and Ronnie Shields. And whole lot of boxing people at once. And on the same site, writers for TheSweetScience.com (where I am an unofficial member of the crew) reveal their predictions at some point today or tomorrow.
Oh, and remember — as I said in my Part I of my keys to the fight — what an important factor how the referee administers the rules of the fight will be. Joe Cortez is the zebra for this one, and here’s a look at him.
Lastly, ESPN has a running blog that’s covering the atmospherics in Vegas. It’s pretty engaging. I expect ESPN’ll have more features later today, like the weigh-in scheduled for 5:15 and maybe some more analysis.
Enjoy the show. I’ll do some live-blogging tomorrow night if you care to stop back by.
Mayweather/Hatton: The Ultimate Guide
Posted by Tim Starks on Dec 7, 2007 14:31
