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Boxing

Mayweather riled by Hatton taunts

26/06/2007

Floyd Mayweather has said that he is ready to come out of retirement to silence Ricky Hatton after the Manchester fighter called him out after defeating Jose Luis Castillo at the weekend.

Mayweather's last fight was supposedly in May when he scored a points victory over the legendary Oscar de la Hoya, but Hatton's claims of superiority, coupled with the prospect of another lucrative payday, seem poised to tempt the middleweight king back into the sport.

"I was retired, but I'll sign to fight Hatton right now," said the American.

"Ricky Hatton cannot fight. He cannot box. He throws one punch at a time and then holds. There is no skill to what he does in the ring.

"I've tried to let the things he said about me slide by but now he's 'dissing' me on national TV and I want to shut him up."

Hatton's fourth-round knockout of Castillo finally captured the attention of the boxing press stateside after workmanlike wins over Juan Urango and Luis Collazo had failed to register much of an impact.

Although undefeated, Mayweather required the judges' scorecards to gain victory in two bouts against Castillo in 2002.

But if he was impressed by Hatton's rapid dispatch of the Mexican, then the 30-year-old was determined to hide the fact.

"Ricky Hatton is the most over-rated fighter of the last 25 years. He beat an old Kostya Tszyu and he beat an old Castillo who was shot," he said.

"I beat Castillo twice and the first time I did it with one hand because the other was so messed up. That was five years ago when Castillo was in his prime."

Mayweather's advisor Leonard Ellerbe has even suggested that a deal for the pair to meet could be tied up in the next few weeks.

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