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Hatton not scared of Mayweather

21/09/2007

Ricky Hatton believes he has shown five-weight world champion Floyd Mayweather that he is not scared of him despite being on the receiving end of a continued barrage of trash talk and other antics from the American ahead of their fight on December 8th.

The Hitman faces Mayweather in a welterweight title bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and although the fight is still three months away, the two fighters have started promoting the fight across America and today they came to Hatton's home city Manchester.

Mayweather, who is recognised as the world's pound-for-pound best boxer, wore a Manchester United jersey to antagonise Manchester City fan Hatton, but could not ruffle the unbeaten Briton.

"It takes a lot to ruffle my feathers and get under my skin," said Hatton. "He tried to intimidate me this week but now he'll be going back to states to tell people that I'm not scared of him.

"I've stood next to him and seen his frame. I think he puts on an act which sees him surrounded by lots of minders and throw money around. I think he needs reassurance.

"Because of the way he acts he has about ten or 20 people following him, while I have 20,000," added Hatton.

Mayweather, meanwhile, continued to dismiss Hatton's boxing skills and warned his rival that he will have to get into much better shape than he currently is to even get in the ring with him.

"I respect him as a man, but not his boxing skills," said Mayweather. "After the fight, if Hatton performs well enough, then I'll tell him that I respect him."

He added: "Ricky can't be dragging that beer. There are only three months to go before the fight and his waist has not shrunk yet. I always keep myself in good condition."