By Mark Vester
Ricky Hatton (43-1, 31KOs), fresh off the first loss of his pro career, claims that Floyd Mayweather Jr. fouled him to death when the two fought last weekend at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Hatton, in an interview with Daily Express , says the cut above his eye was caused from a Mayweather elbow, and referee Joe Cortez did nothing to stop the foul-filled bout. The fouls, according to Hatton, took him away from his strategy and eventually led to Mayweather knocking him out in the tenth-round.
"But if I am honest, I feel a mug. My pride is hurt more than anything else because I made the cardinal sin of letting my emotions get the better of me so I didn't fight how I said I would. I made the mistake of losing my composure. My head went a bit. I'm not taking anything away from Floyd. He's a great champion. And I'm not exactly Mother Theresa in the ring myself. If I can get a sly one in there, crack in an elbow, I'll do it. That's boxing. But he fouled the living daylights out of me in there, using his forearms and stopping me working inside," Hatton said.
"I got cut, too � and that was from an elbow and that's when I lost my composure. Up to the halfway mark, I didn't think there was much in it. But I'm disappointed that I didn't do the little, subtle things I said I was going to do to win it."
Hatton does not place the blame with Floyd, he feels Cortez should take the weight of how the bout went. Cortez took a point away from Hatton in the contest, which the fighter claims was wrong becase no previous warnings were issued. He lost his head, and regrets bickering with the ref over the infraction.
"I believe that if you foul, you should have a point taken off. But you have to have a warning first and I don't remember being warned. I don't want to sound like a broken record going on. But, let's be honest, the ref was poor. It's his fault, not Floyd's.
"And I don't think I helped myself by being typical Ricky Hatton and giving the ref a load of four-letter stuff when he came to the corner to talk to me. That didn't help. After I had the point deducted, I just went a bit gung-ho, thinking that's all I could now do," said Hatton. "I really thought I could do this. I didn't say all the stuff I did just to make everyone feel better. I genuinely believed it and thought I could win. But I lost my rag and Floyd was so very clever."
http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=11638 
Hatton: "he fouled the living daylights out of me in there" 
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