Champ leaves no doubt

The last time this many British sports fans were hit with such a harsh reality, they woke up and realized England's national soccer team had become a laughingstock.

They kept singing, bless their souls. Kept chanting that darn "Walking in a Hatton Wonderland" song even after it became awfully evident their countryman was getting his tail whipped around the MGM Grand Garden.

Thousands of Ricky Hatton worshippers spent a week here dreaming of an upset. They were barely even teased with the idea on fight night.

"Well," Hatton joked to the crowd afterward, "that was a fluke, wasn't it?"

Not by a long, powerful jab.

The ones he got hit with all Saturday night.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. was a WBC welterweight champion of incomparable skill and terrific toughness. His technical knockout of Hatton 1:35 into the 10th round again left him the best fighter on this planet today.

When it was over, Mayweather was leading 89-81 on two scorecards and 88-82 on another. It really wasn't that close, especially following the first few rounds. Mayweather was his usually consistent self -- piling up points like all those British fans did numbers of beers consumed.

"I took my time," Mayweather said. "A true champion can adapt to anything. I already knew coming into the fight that he was going to try and work me up. But I really had a hard training camp. He was the toughest competitor I have ever faced. I can see why they call him 'The Hitman.' "

This is the way Hatton predicted earlier in the week how things would turn out: "It's going to be the same Floyd Mayweather -- drink your espresso and Red Bull. It's going to be the same Ricky Hatton -- value for money."

If you needed a caffeine burst to remain awake during this fight, you have no pulse.

Maybe it was the fact you barely needed two hands to count the number of cheers Mayweather received while being shown on large television screens during the undercard or when he entered the arena to "Born in the USA." Maybe a twinge of nationalist pride set in when those same thousands of Hatton fans loudly booed during the American national anthem.

Whatever. Something rose up inside Mayweather, and the dancing and prancing we saw against Oscar De La Hoya in May was replaced with an aggressive, spirited attack.

Bottom line: Hatton said often that all he wanted was for Mayweather to stand and fight and not run away. He got what he wished for more than most predicted. He couldn't handle it.

It helped that Hatton walked into straight jabs like most do their front door. Everything the resumes told us beforehand proved true. Bigger, quicker, more skilled, longer reach, better technique. Mayweather had it all over the likeable lad from Manchester, England.

"I felt all right," Hatton said. "I felt really big. I felt really strong. But I left myself open. He's better on the inside than I thought he was, using all the elbows and shoulder and forearms that he does. He's a lot more clever than I thought he was."

It doesn't matter what Mayweather says now. Retire. Don't retire. What he says today or tomorrow or next week means nothing, just as it did after he beat De La Hoya in May.

His pledge to be accepted among the sport's all-time greats, to deserve mention in the same sentence as Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson, should now move him forward to a fight against unbeaten Miguel Cotto. It's the obvious next fight. The clear choice to continue building his resume for that all-time list.

"Mayweather will never, ever fight Cotto," promoter Bob Arum said Saturday morning alongside his fighter. "Believe me, we will never see the fight. Mayweather will never fight anyone who is a real threat to him. That's the bottom line."

It's not true. Obviously. He fought and beat De La Hoya. He fought and whipped an unbeaten Hatton. Why would he not fight Cotto?

"A very exciting fight would be against Mayweather because of the style of the fight," Cotto said. "My pressure, him moving. I think that is what fans want to see."

Hmm. Heard that one before. Often.

It most recently came from an undefeated British fighter and his confident trainer and so many of the thousands of fans who followed them across the Atlantic here. Aggressiveness will beat Mayweather. Making him stand and fight will be the elixir. Stop him from running, and you stand a chance.

The song is getting old because the result has become so darn predictable.

Mayweather walked in a Hatton Wonderland, all right. Walked all over the kid's face.

Ed Graney's column is published Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.