A Ricky Hatton taunt finally goaded Floyd Mayweather into their December 8 megafight.
Manchester's Hitman will do battle with boxing's P4P king at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
It's a bout that always looked likely to happen, maybe just not quite so soon.
But the wait was finally ended in the aftermath of Hatton's fourth-round knockout of Jose Luis Castillo back in June.
The Hitman took the HBO microphone in the Thomas & Mack Center ring and told the crowd: "You saw more excitement in those four rounds than you've seen in Floyd's whole career."
According to Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's trusted advisor, that was the moment when the 'Pretty Boy' finally cracked and decided it was time to meet Hatton in the ring.
Ellerbe told HBO's Mayweather/Hatton 24/7 series: "When Hatton said that on HBO, Floyd looked at me and said: 'Make the f***ing fight happen."
Spanked
Mayweather himself now says: "Ricky Hatton should just be appreciative that I'm giving him the opportunity. He gonna get his ass spanked.
"All he's fought is a lot of journeyman. My 0 ain't gonna go but his is."
Now we're into the final countdown to the fight itself, and Mayweather has again been talking about his troubled relationship with father Floyd Sr.
Again on 24/7 he revealed: "I really want to thank my father, so so much. As a kid he used to beat me, he used to beat me for no reason. All I wanted was that one-on-one time. That's the reason why I probably take it out on my opponents to this day."
The Pretty Boy is known for his love of blling, and often wears more than $1million in jewellery.
But Hatton trainer Billy Graham says that would have cost him dear where he was brought up - on the tough streets of Salford.
He said: "If he walked round where I'm from with that fur coat and all that bling and jewellery he'd have been stripped naked."
Hatton himself meanwhile, down to earth as ever, says simply of Mayweather: "Everybody knows he's a great fighter, why does he have to keep telling everybody?"
so guys who do you think will win???
my money is on hitman hatton to become the undisputed king and pound fopr pound best puncher
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