Luckily this horrifying "idea" appears to have fallen by the wayside in favor of Mayweather facing Paulie Malignaggi on March 13 if a Pacquiao fight isn't worked out, but former Hatton brothers trainer Billy Graham spoke with Terence Dooley about a potential fight between Mayweather and Matthew Hatton, and called it "an embarrassment to boxing."
"I would be quite disappointed in Floyd (if he took this fight), I really would," he continued, "but everyone is entitled to an easy payday. Then again, and let’s face it, Floyd can go out and have an easy payday against someone like Marquez, that is how good he is, so why have this one? Matthew wouldn’t be able to land a punch and boxing would be embarrassed, but good luck to him."
Apparently discussing the fact that this is a mismatch of utterly ridiculous proportions isn't enough to fully convince some people, so I'll put it this way: If these two fight and Matthew Hatton lands more than a flicking jab, I will promise you that I call it Upset of the Year for 2010. The skill level is so drastically, off-the-charts, grossly, unbelievably far apart that you simply cannot overstate it.
Matthew Hatton is a tough, gutsy guy, and like his brother Ricky, an overachiever in boxing. Pure talent is the strength of neither of the Hatton boys; they have made careers for themselves on hard work (yes, even with Ricky's between-fights binging) and toughness.
Matthew wouldn't have any chance against Malignaggi, let alone Floyd. There's been a lot of talk of Matthew's improvement the last couple of years, but it's come against fringe contenders and gatekeepers. Another one of them, Lovemore N'dou, made Matthew look like the same old mediocre pro fighter in November, and N'dou came in a bit rusty having dealt with an injury in training that kept him from sparring for a couple of weeks before the fight.
Speaking with Dooley at the link above, Graham also comments on the future of Ricky Hatton, and whether or not he'd train him again.