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LONDON - Former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis said Ricky Hatton needs to "go in like a madman" if he is to beat Floyd Mayweather in next weekend's hugely-anticipated welterweight title clash in Las Vegas.
"The favourite is obviously Floyd because of the fact that he's got good
boxing style, he is very quick, he's got movement," the Briton told BBC radio on Sunday.
"Nobody really can catch up with him and nobody has really figured out the puzzle surrounding him, how to beat him.
"Hatton really has to rough him up, put him against the ropes and beat him up," he said. "Beat him up, then hurt him so he's not able to dance around the ring and get away from his shots.
"I expect Floyd to win by a point, Ricky Hatton to win by a knockout.
"He's got to really impose his will, go in like a madman in there and really go at him."
World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight title holder Mayweather, a six-times champion in five different weight classes, is hailed as the world's best boxer pound-for-pound.
The American is 38-0 while the hard-hitting Briton Hatton is 43-0 and Saturday's fight at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino is the biggest match-up of undefeated welterweights since Oscar de la Hoya and Felix Trinidad clashed in 1999.
Hatton is confident he can pull off what many would consider an upset victory.
"I am 200 per cent going to do it. I will put every penny I have in the bank on me winning this fight," the Manchester 'Hitman' told the BBC.
"I really do think he's going to have to kill me for me to leave him alone for a split second. That controlled aggression from the heart is just going to destroy him, I think."
Hatton said his training camp had gone perfectly, he was relaxed and just treating it like any other fight.
"Past records go for nothing. I don't look at all the titles he's won, the names he's beat. I just put the video in to see what his strengths and weaknesses are and have I got what it takes to do it. I believe that I have.
"I think he doesn't really like pressure and I've seen him in his fights with Oscar de la Hoya. De la Hoya took the fight to him and really Oscar is more of a technician rather than a pressure fighter, and Oscar nearly pipped him at the post.
"I've got to set a good pace, put rounds in the bank and conserve a bit of energy in the first six rounds and leave some gas in the tank for the final six."
Hatton said he had not been fazed by Mayweather's taunts in the pre-fight build-up.
"When I look at Floyd Mayweather I don't think of all the bad-mouthing he's given me, I don't think that I want to beat him any more than anyone else just because of what he's been saying.
"The only thing I see is that 'best fighter pound-for-pound in the world' title dangling around his neck and I'm going to rip it from around his neck on December 8."
- REUTERS
