Mayweather wins against Hatton

LAS VEGAS – Seeds for three major 2008 boxing slugfests were planted by American star Floyd Mayweather’s 10th-round stoppage of England’s Ricky Hatton in a showdown of unbeaten welterweights.

“If you thought 2007 was great, wait until you see 2008,” fighter-promoter Oscar de la Hoya said. “You can’t rule anything out.All doors are open.”De la Hoya wants a May stadium fight and spoke longingly of Hatton and the thousands of British supporters who cheered him here Saturday.Hatton also fought well enough to entice de la Hoya’s Hispanic fans to such a fight.”If you have two of the most popular fighters in the world fight each other, it could be a great event.So I wouldn’t rule it out,” Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schaefer said.Unbeaten Welshman Joe Calzaghe and US veteran Bernard Hopkins have already called each other out for a likely April meeting.”Talks are ongoing and progressing pretty nicely,” Schaefer said.”Both fighters want it.Both fighters agreed to a 50-50 split.I hope (Calzaghe promoter) Frank Warren can live with that as well.”But the most sizzling possibility – a meeting of unbeaten rival welterweight champions Mayweather and Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico – appears also be the least likely to happen.”Cotto is a hell of a champion, but I’ve done all I can do in this sport, so I’m not thinking about fighting anybody else,” Mayweather said.A unification showdown between World Boxing Association champion Cotto, 31-0 with 25 knockouts, and Mayweather, 39-0 with 25 early stoppages, would be a clash of champions and pay better than Mayweather’s unlikely retirement talk.Cotto won a unanimous decision over Shane Mosley last month and while Mosley is a partner of de la Hoya and Hopkins at Golden Boy and wants his own chance at Mayweather, his loss made it clear that Cotto deserves one first.Nampa-AFP”You can’t rule anything out.All doors are open.”De la Hoya wants a May stadium fight and spoke longingly of Hatton and the thousands of British supporters who cheered him here Saturday.Hatton also fought well enough to entice de la Hoya’s Hispanic fans to such a fight.”If you have two of the most popular fighters in the world fight each other, it could be a great event.So I wouldn’t rule it out,” Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schaefer said.Unbeaten Welshman Joe Calzaghe and US veteran Bernard Hopkins have already called each other out for a likely April meeting.”Talks are ongoing and progressing pretty nicely,” Schaefer said.”Both fighters want it.Both fighters agreed to a 50-50 split.I hope (Calzaghe promoter) Frank Warren can live with that as well.”But the most sizzling possibility – a meeting of unbeaten rival welterweight champions Mayweather and Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico – appears also be the least likely to happen.”Cotto is a hell of a champion, but I’ve done all I can do in this sport, so I’m not thinking about fighting anybody else,” Mayweather said.A unification showdown between World Boxing Association champion Cotto, 31-0 with 25 knockouts, and Mayweather, 39-0 with 25 early stoppages, would be a clash of champions and pay better than Mayweather’s unlikely retirement talk.Cotto won a unanimous decision over Shane Mosley last month and while Mosley is a partner of de la Hoya and Hopkins at Golden Boy and wants his own chance at Mayweather, his loss made it clear that Cotto deserves one first.Nampa-AFP