Courtesy of Simon Lewis in
Ricky Hatton may have won the pre-fight battle of minds with his ready wit and cheeky chappy persona but he insisted the laughing has now stopped as he prepares to go toe-to-toe with Floyd Mayweather Jr at the MGM Garden Arena in the early hours of Sunday morning.
After months of hype surrounding this WBC welterweight title clash, which will pit two undefeated owners of coveted Ring Magazine belts – Hatton's at light-welterweight and Mayweather's welterweight version, which is on the line here - the talking finally came to an end on the Vegas strip after a tense face-off at the end of the final pre-fight press conference.
Going nose-to-nose for the obligatory final photo-call Hatton (43-0, 31
Having been rocked back a step, Hatton came back with a forceful lean with his chest into Mayweather before the rival camps stepped in along with promoter Oscar de La Hoya to restore order.
And as the two were pulled away from the confrontation, with Mayweather cursing at the British fighter, Hatton's mouth broke into a narrow smile as he winked and then drew his finger across his throat, the silent gesture speaking volumes for the contempt he has for the brash American outside the ring.
"I would have stood there till the bell rang," Hatton said shortly afterwards. "But when he starts leaning on me I leaned back on him and he spat his dummy out.
"The time for me to laugh and joke is done now but the fight is two days away now and I have done my laughing and joking.
"It's not rocket science, don't lean on me or I'll lean on you back."
"When I leaned back on him, he said 'Don't touch me, don't touch me' so I just gave him a smile and a bit of a 'you're dead' gesture and that was it really. Then I smiled at him again, like I always do.
"If he's annoyed at that then wait until the bell rings."
Mayweather played down his own reaction to the incident by describing it as "just a normal day for me" but Hatton, 29, believes he has managed to rattle a rival 20 months his senior who thrives on self-belief and having the upper hand in pre-fight psychological warfare.
Throughout the build-up to this fight, Mayweather and his camp, led by his trainer and uncle Roger Mayweather, have been demeaning Hatton's record, his boxing ability and his preference for drinking beer and playing darts between fights which causes his weight to balloon when he is out of training. And every time Hatton has come back with a smile on his face and a joke.
During the final pre-fight press conference at the MGM Grand, Hatton followed a lengthy, rambling and disjointed monologue from Roger Mayweather which even had the trainer's nephew staring blankly into mid-distance in apparent embarrassment. Rising to speak at the podium, the Englishman opened his remarks by looking at his watch and saying "I'd just like to thank Roger for making the winter shorter," which only seemed to bemuse the Mayweather camp further.
No matter what the disrespect Hatton is shown by his rival's entourage, he is not easily thrown off kilter.
"He's looking down and smiling at me," he said of the face-off, "and 12 weeks ago when we were in
"My demeanour hasn't changed, I've been my usual, witty, sarcastic self but I'm not coming to mess about.
"He pushed into me to try and gain an edge but it wasn't going to happen.
"It's water off a duck's back to me but I think for someone who plays on his confidence so much and with his mind games I think that will have hurt him more than me. I'll go away and forget about that where he might be seething.
"You can lie to everybody but you can't lie to yourself and when he has a quiet moment to himself he might think 'well, I'm in for a fight here'. And he should think that but it's very hard when he's got a team round him who… you've got Roger saying 'I'm the greatest trainer in the world' and you've got his father (Floyd Snr) saying 'I'm the greatest trainer the world's ever seen' and then you've got Floyd Jr saying 'I'm the greatest fighter the world's ever seen'.
"So everyone around him is telling him how wonderful he is but when you get in there and it doesn't go to plan and you're back's against the wall it's a shock to your system, especially when somebody plays so much on their confidence.
"I won't lose a moment's sleep over that but I don't think Floyd can say the same because that's his game isn't it? Intimidation, mind games and all that.
"I'll just go away, have my cup of coffee and get on with it."
Bio: Simon Lewis is a British sportswriter based in New York. He writes for a variety of newspapers, magazines and wire services in the UK, Ireland and US.
View his profile at: Linkedin.com
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