My name is Terry and this is my blog. 
12/09/2007: "Thoughts on the Hatton/Mayweather Fight and LA Still Hates The National"
music: Straight to Hell by Joe Strummer and the Mescalaros (live version)mood: mentally preparing for another round of Bikram Yoga
WARNING: IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED, I WOULD PROBABLY SKIP THIS POST.
On Saturday night I made the Westside trek to Venice, where street parking is non-existent, for the HBO PPV Hatton/Mayweather fight that my old college friend Matthew was hosting. I don't follow boxing at all, but after doing a ittle research beforehand it seemed like this was one of the biggest fights in years, since Holyfield/Tyson (and that was like a decade ago). The background of the fighters made the bout even more interesting - working-class British hero Ricky Hatton comes to America to take on the blinged-out Dancing with the Stars guy Floyd Mayweather. The fight was even mentioned on Camp Freddy Radio as I was driving over.
It's been very long time since I've screamed at a High Def television with a bunch of dudes (and a few girls).
Most of us were rooting for Hatton to make it more interesting (Mayweather was the favorite). While Hatton started out throwing some pretty decent punches in the early rounds, my head was in my hands when he got knocked the fuck out, twice, in the 10th round. Most of us were in disbelief, along with the other 20,000 Brits who flew into Veagas to watch the fight (supposedly 4,000 were at the MGM Grand).
I always immediately empathize with the defeated in such contests, but it was nice to hear Hatton was taking it well in the interviews afterwards. And Mayweather didn't come across as too much of a dick in his interviews either, giving a lot of credit to Hatton.
Here's a clip of the knockouts. And speaking of knockers - at about 1:10 in the clip you can see one of the ring card girls getting pretty excited in the background. This was pointed out repeatedly during the replays amongst members of our party.
Here's a press conference clip where Hatton drops a few f-bombs and calls Mayweather a poof (British slang for a gay man). Classic.
Lastly, on a related note, here's a clip of another bunch of dudes screaming at a monitor. I don't think they are watching the Hatton/Mayweather fight. (worry not, this is a link to the Urban Dictionary definition, tho if you are easily offended, [consider this your final warning] I would NOT click on it. Tho, I may be doing you a favor as I assume that this "pop culture reference" will come up sooner than later in your locker room conversations and you wouldn't want to look like a fool for not having a clue). Plus it was posted over Stereogum, so it must be culturally relevant, right? Right?.
You may want to turn down your speakers for this one. Kinda NSFW in a way. Strangely, if you type "The Roots" into the searchbar on Youtube, this is the first video that comes up in terms of relevance.
p.s LA still hates The National