BY : Rota Em

The fight between Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao will be nothing short of spectacular. Both fighters have been radiating confidence throughout their much anticipated press tour across Hatton’s home turf. Although the Hitman has been known to run on empty in the late stages of some recent bouts, much of that conditioning problem has to do with him ballooning some 35, 40 pounds in between fights. After wrapping up the promotional tour with Pacquiao, who is on his first ever trip to the UK, Ricky reiterated how much he wants the mythical pound-for-pound title and asserts that he is already in top physically track. “I’m in fantastic condition already that just shows how much I’m up for this fight… Manny leaves himself open, there is no reason why I shouldn’t be confident,” says Hatton.
For Manny, his first trip to England was as pleasant as can be. Overwhelmed by thousands of Filipino supporters Manny, AKA Mr. Nice Guy considering all the charity he’s dipped his hands into lately, sticks to the more personal side of the verbal exchange. “Freddie Roach is my best friend,” stated Pacquiao. And in addressing how he plans to handle Ricky’s power, Manny says, “Hatton hits very hard… He is bigger than I am but this is not about big. It’s about punching hard and being effective.” And he cannot be more on the money.

In going over the press tour statements and after seeing these two stand toe-to-toe, a couple things came to mind.
First, I couldn’t help but notice how explicit Ricky Hatton was on his game plan and intentions for Pacquiao’s aggressive style. All the while Manny makes a joke regarding the phenomenal turnout from his countrymen saying, “Although it’s Hatton’s place, I think Manchester is now ‘Mannychester’!” Pacquiao has always had a calm demeanor but at times it is hard to decipher underestimation from confidence.
”I know Ricky Hatton’s weakness but I do not want to discuss that,” Pacman declares to a video reporter after his press conference at the Trafford Center.
Secondly, the Hitman’s size isn’t as overwhelming as I initially thought. On paper they are the same size but it means so much more to see it in person. This is not good for England’s proud son.
The last couple years have been generous to Manny Pacquiao. After campaigning at such a low weight class in his teens, it’s truly unbelievable to see the once dirt poor Filipino grow into his own light and size. Now he’s challenging a man who has never been beaten at 10 stone (140 lbs). The outcome, however, may very well be easier to speculate when you factor in a couple noteworthy details but like everything else, will only be 20/20 in hindsight.

To date, Manny Pacquiao has dropped, stopped, and retired (on the stool) Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Oscar de la Hoya. Looking back ten years, you cannot deny the fact that the figures lining Pacman’s resume are upper echelon prizefighters.
When Pacquiao fought David Diaz, speed favored him immediately. And halfway through the fourth round a significant punch landed flush, the Manila Ice as we’ll call it for now, and it staggered Diaz. Now David was losing every round to this point and he lost every round afterwards too but this punch alone proved to be the most effective addition to the Filipino’s arsenal. And for a southpaw, a good right hook is the finest instrument to own.
Flashback to his second fight with Morales, before Erik was dropped he was hurt by a whooping right hook. Don’t believe me? Watch it for yourself <a href=”http://video.aol.com/video-detail/erik-morales-vs-manny-pacquiao-ii/1199378940”>HERE</a>. The more time Morales spent in the ring with Pacquiao, the more effective his right hand became. In the third and final meeting between them, Manny’s newfound love crept back in the game even earlier. Before being canvassed and forced to quit, he was rocked badly by, you guessed it, a right hook.

So what does this have to do with Ricky Hatton?
Well, for one I don’t consider the Hitman to be as technically sound as Marquez is, nor is he as smooth as Morales was, and he sure didn’t last the whole dance with Mayweather like Oscar did.
I’m a firm believer of the idea that Manny’s choice to pursue a fight with Ricky is safer than a third meeting with Marquez.
When you factor in the reach advantage on top of speed, it’ll be a very troublesome night for our beloved Hitman. He might just get a taste of the revamped ‘Manila Ice’ first hand. Don’t worry; the gimmicky symbol will catch back on in no time. I’m surprised this hasn’t turned up in more boxing venues of discussion. Just watch his recent fights, the right hook is as prominent as the Cotto is in MSG.

Before you scour the internet for facts to contest my reasoning, take this into consideration.
In Hatton’s win over Malignaggi, he threw exactly 516 punches and landed 124 (24%). Paulie landed 27%.
Malignaggi is a slick, speed boxer but he’s not Pacman fast. And he’s not Mayweather slick. Besides, the ‘5-KO-in-27-fights’ Magic Man had a difficult time getting past 10-loss veteran Lovemore N’dou prior to his shot at Hatton.
The 2007 meeting between the more skilled PBF and Hitman saw the punch stats heavily favoring Mayweather at 129 landed (39%) to 63 (17%) for Ricky. Enough said. Despite the horrible reffing, Hatton just wasn’t effective.
After getting tattooed to the body in a fight with Juan Urango, Hatton averaged 20 fewer punches per round over the course of the last half of the fight, which computes to half the output from the first half. The first couple rounds were easy nods in favor of Hatton but midway through the fight Urango, a natural righty fighting southpaw, began to land to Hatton’s body. He had Ricky on the retreat but did not follow up with ANYTHING from that point on. You can bet this is not what Manny, who normally throws more than his opponents, will be doing. But the damage was done and despite the large points victory, Hatton showed how a right hand can change things fast. Just like his fight with Juan Lazcano, Hatton was criticized greatly for his performance rating.

When Pacquiao fought De la Hoya, the audacious southie landed 224 out of 585 (38%) punches thrown. Oscar came out at 21%.
The toughest fights of his life were against Marquez though. When they fought to a draw, he was robbed of a win due to an incorrect points tally. And in the second match, per HBO stats, if the scorecards were based on who connects more on a round-by-round basis, Pacquiao would still get the 6-5-1- nod (115-114). And that’s not including the 3rd round knockdown, which would make it 115-113. A third fight has the potential to overshadow the original Thrilla in Manila because I think another go at it will decide a victor in convincing fashion. And why not in the Philippines? I’m sure his fanbase would appreciate the ‘walk’ to the fight as opposed to a two thousand dollar airfare expense.

With all that said, styles make fights but Hatton only has one to offer really. And I highly doubt he’ll turn to counter punching after being beat to the trigger. I’ve gone over some surface keys for Hatton in a previous article but they are all dependent on whether he can reach, control, and keep up with the quicker, more aggressive Filipino. After all, the Pacman has his own set of keys and strategies to victory too. But it looks like we’ll have to wait until the fight is closer before Roach and company start to divulge their game plan I guess. This is just a sad, sad reminder that the super showdown is still two months away. I’m sure Money May and Sugar Shane are watching, anticipating, and probably will be in attendance come May 2nd.

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Pacquiao’s supporters (above) cheer him on against De La Hoya.

BY: Robert Epstein www.diamondboxing.com

With victories over Marquez, Diaz and De La Hoya and the title of current pound for pound champion all accomplished in the twenty ninth stanza of his life. Pacquiao now looks ahead to his thirties and the final stages of his boxing career. Not to leave doubt in any ones mind that Pacquiao deserves to be listed as one of The Greatest Boxers of all Time he will now take on Ricky Hatton.  Forget about any rumors of bouts with Kendall Holt or Zab Judah these make no sense or no money and will do Pacquiao no justice. A pound for pound champ wants to fight the best and the best name out there right now is Ricky Hatton. A Hatton – Pacquiao bout if held in the U.K. will break all of the boxing attendance records. However, as negations enter the final stages it appears that the bout will take place in Las Vegas in order to achieve the best economic results.  

While Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton will due their battling inside the ring some time in May 2009, the fans of these two boxing warriors have already begun to square off outside the ring. The message boards the rebuttals, the polls have already started to heat up. The pre fight hype is on and the fan comradery alone will be a battle in it’s self.

Pacquiao with his aggressive boxing style, his offensive approach, always on the attack mentality makes him fan friendly and his recent destruction of De La Hoya has added believers to The Pacman Nation. If you add in Pacquiao’s kind hearted good deeds along with his generosity it becomes very difficult not to be a fan. Pacman has his country of 91 million strong behind him and with the additional support around the globe growing by leaps and bounds Pacman Nation is at its peak stronger than ever. Pacman Nation is ready to take on the Hatton Cult.  

Hatton (above) greets thousands of his fans at the MGM in Vegas before the Malginaggi bout.  

Hatton by far is the leading box office draw, without a doubt if this bout was held at Wembly Stadium 100,000 strong will come and maybe the stadium attendance record of 126,047 could be challenged. When Hatton fights no matter if its home in England or in his second home Vegas the cult comes out. In his last two Vegas bouts against Mayweather and Malignaggi the Hatton following hit the Vegas desert in droves, by the tens of thousands. The pre-fight weigh-in-in is an event in it’s self with over 6,000 Hattonnites strong. Oh yes Hatton has his own Elvis and lets not forget his brass band.

The interest in this bout has already reached a fever pitch, the bout has not been officially announced and the entire boxing world is buzzing with Pacquiao – Hatton thoughts. Pacquiao who has been installed as the 2 to 5 betting favorite to win the bout will also be the global fan favorite. However with his traveling army Hatton for sure will still have the larger on-site fan support.

De La Hoya (above) slumped in the corner at the end of the eighth round

As Pacman journeys to another era in his career one has to reflect back on the amazing past year Pacquiao had, fresh in the minds of all is Pacquiao’s destruction of the Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya. Yes it was destruction from the opening bell to the lasting image of De La Hoya slumped on his stool in the corner at the end of the eighth round. That image will play in my mind for a long time as it wasn’t the end of De La Hoya’s career that I am thinking about but the beginning of Manny’s. I know Pacquiao has been boxing for over thirteen years, I know he has 48 victories and only 3 losses, I know he beat the likes of Barrera, Marquez and Morales all who may have been better boxers than De La Hoya. However, it’s the De La Hoya conquering that catapulted Manny as one of The Greatest Boxers of all Time.

Now Hatton must go face to face with the career ending giant Paquiao, if Pacquiao can achieve the same results and crush Hatton in De La Hoya like fashion Hatton’s cult will also be retired.

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