Hatton-Pacquiao: What’s Ricky Going To Do When Things Fall Apart?
January 3rd, 2009
By William Mackay: As I play this fight through my mind wondering how it’s going to play out, I just can’t see Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) fighting any other way than he’s always done for most of his career, and against a fighter as good as Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs), that’s just not going to it done. May 2nd is quite a long time, but even if the fight were to take place in a year, I see Hatton as still fighting with the same, face forward, wrestle and hit, style that he’s done for his entire career.
If his new trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. has had any effect on changing Ricky’s style, I can’t see it. Aside from a few jabs against Paulie Malignaggi, a harmless opponent with little power, Hatton fought pretty much as he always does, mostly slugging it out. Against Pacquiao, who’s much faster in terms of hand and foot speed, Hatton is going to have some serious problems almost immediately in that fight.
I’m sure that his trainer, Mayweather Sr., will have a lot of back up strategies, mostly advising Hatton to try and stay on the outside, to work his jab and use lateral movement against Pacquiao. Sorry, but that won’t work. Pacquiao moves to quickly with feet and can get within punching distance in a fraction of a second to land his hard, spearing jab and straight left.
What then will Hatton do? My guess is he’ll do the typical thing, forgetting all the complicated advice from Mayweather Sr. and just bum rush Pacquiao repeatedly, hoping for the best but getting the worst of it. The bum rush strategy, something Hatton has made famous in fights against Kostya Tszyu, Jose Luis Castillo and not so famous in his fight against Mayweather Jr., is been an old standby for Hatton for many years and it’s mostly worked well for him during that time.
Only recently, in a loss to Mayweather Jr. and in a fight against Juan Lazcano, where Hatton was hurt twice in the fight while rushing in wildly, did his bum rush strategy not work. Unless I miss my guess, it will probably fail again when Hatton meets up with Pacquiao. Pacquiao will be ready for it. His trainer Freddie Roach will have prepared Pacquiao extensively on how to cope with Hatton’s face forward attacks, likely having him move just enough to pick Hatton off as he comes forward.
Hatton did a good job in his last fight, ducking under the jab of Malignaggi to land right hands. It won’t work against Pacquiao. He’ll fire off blazing fast combinations when Hatton tires to lob his slow right hands and get his shots in well before him.
In the end, I doubt Hatton will be able to make it even as far as Oscar De La Hoya without folding. Perhaps the only reason that Oscar made it that far was because he was able to use the ring to escape to the outside for brief spells. This saved him from taking even more punishment, but in the end it couldn’t save him from losing the battle, because eventually Pacquiao caught up to him enough times to take his heart and beat him into quitting.
Hatton won’t do this, and will instead rush foolishly straight into the maw of Pacquiao’s much superior offensive firepower and will be quickly riddled to pieces. By the time that he realizes that he made a mistake, Hatton will be too hurt to escape and will be overwhelmed and taken out by Pacquiao. If Hatton’s lucky, he might see the 6th round but no more than that.
Tags: 19 Responses to “Hatton-Pacquiao: What’s Ricky Going To Do When Things Fall Apart?”
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Oh I wonder why hatton sleeping in the ring. Why he did that? Thought he gonna won in the fight with Pacman. So much talk is useless. PACMAN said” just do it” fans club
I think that 2-3 years ago, Hatton would have been the favor for sure, because of his physical attributes and his relentlessness, his confidence was high, he had a lot of heart and he was still in his prime.
Today, the same can not be said. I think Hatton physically is past his prime. Not like Morales was in the 3rd fight with Pacquiao but just not in the form that he should be to take on a fighter like Manny.
He is unbeaten at the weight yes, but he is not unbeatable at the weight either.
I agree with the writer for the most part. Manny now is at the top of his game, he is at the perfect weight at this point in his career and he has maintained his speed and power. Not only is he a southpaw, he is an unconventional southpaw.
If Hatton can cut Manny and wrestle him, and just mug him the way Agapito Sanchez tried to do, then he may be able to get Pacquiao off his game plan.
However, so far only JMM is able to do that, even for a few rounds. I’m not sure though if Hatton can adjust to Manny’s style and come up with something to make Pacquiao think twice.
Pacman will either k.o. hitman or win by u.d. and will show everyone why hes the best p4p boxer in the world
Why, this article is a bet too hursh for The hitman…
I think it could be hattons best fight.I think manny aint gona be ready 4 what ricky will bring to the table on the night.And i will go down as 1 of the best victories in british boxing history.
Pacquiao will have a field day hitting Hatton. People will be reminded of David Diaz not too long ago.
To answer ur question Mr.Mackay. Ricky Hatton will be sitting in his top floor MGM suites, eating Beluga caviar and Crystal Champagne with Oscar de La Hoya, Shane Mosley, Marquez ,and Hopkins celebrating his VICTORY ON MAY 2nd against Pacman… HATTON WILL NEVER LOSE AT LIGHT WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION.
Oh dear ….
Seems some folk are being a tad delusional about both Pacman and Hatton’s abilities here – not the first time, it must be said !
Right. First up : De La Hoya v Pacman. Pacman was coming up in weight, carrying both his speed and feeling sunstantially stronger at the weight. Oscar was dangerously coming down to a weight he hadn’t fought at for a very long time and was very weight drained.
Consequence : Pacman gobble a very weakened and frail Oscar at the fighting weight. One sided and painfully so, with Pacman being helped by Oscar’s idiotic decisoon to fight at a weight where Oscar would have nothing in the tank at all ( and it showed ).
My opinion, Pacman did what he could and had to do against someone who didn’t stand much of a chance because of all of the above.
Ok, next up, Hatton v Mallinaggi.
Paulie is a non-puncher and Ricky knew this pretty much to be the case before they even got in the ring together. So, he had little to fear, barr a boxing lesson at the hands of the supposedly much faster Malinaggi. Both were fighting at their best natural weight, so no affective making weight issues for either fighter.
Consequence : Ricky showed all that he has very good underestimated boxing skills as well as raw aggression. He out-speeded Paulie to the punch and was breaking him up in a way that had never been done to Malinaggi.
My Opinion : I felt Hatton would have too much for Paulie and he showed that to be the case.
* Now, moving on the upcoming Hatton v Pacman.
Key Points : Hatton will be fighting at his natural, fighting best weight. Pacman will also be at this comfortable weight for him. Pacman should, therfore, maintain both his speed and strength.
My predication : Pacman will possibly be stopped for the first time in his career. if not, he loses a unanamous decision to Hatton after a one-sided beating.
My opinion : I am quite staggered at those of you who badly over-estimate Pacman’s chanes in this fight, quite honestly !! Hatton will be naturally stronger than Pacman at this weight and Hatton has shown a serious turn of speed of punch that will more than match Pacman’s percieved advantage. You all go on about Hatton’s predicaable style, but there is no fighter more predicatable than Pacman, ever !! I give Hatton’s ability to box and fight a massive advantage in this fight. Pacman will come forward and get hurt by the stronger Hatton time and time again. yes, Ricky may take a shot or three from Pac, but he will take anything that Pacman has to give fairly comfortably, I can asure one and all.
Hatton will box and out-speed the very predicatable, come forward Pacman. pacman will be picked of, and perhaps hurt to the body more than he has ever been. Hatton can maintain his own high work rate for a full 12 rds, whereas Pca has been shown to slow after the mid-way point somewhat over the last three years of his career. This would make him rife for a knockout shot from Hatton, with Pac having absorbed a lot of punishment up until the stoppage point.
The end.
PACMAN WILL STOP RICKY HATTON ON MAY 09, 2009. THAT’S ALL…
Pacquiao is the more talented skillful Fighter of the two, it would be very hard for the Brit to overcome Pacquiao’s flurry and speed. the Hitman will just realize that his already kissing his mama’s a** and will never know where his at by that time comes.
It will be in 6th rounds if his foolish or looses his mind by coming into and just bulldozers his way inside the Pacman I say it will be in the 2nd round, he will be pulverize into powder on MAY 2nd.
There is no way he can beat the pound 4 pound king of the Boxing World. PACQUIAO is the Best.
Not to sure who will win this fight.The one big difference is that DeLaHoya has made his name in boxing folklore. Hatton has still got the desire to become p4p champion.DeLaHoya can’t have it both ways, you can’t be a boxing promoter and a true top contender at the same time. I think Hatton will of learned alot from the Mayweather loss and won’t make the same mistakes again.If I had to make a prediction it would be a Hatton knockout in the later rounds.
i you tell you want hatton is going to do after the bell rings may 2nd, he is goin to do his lame ass bull dozing method, for about 2 rounds, after Pacman pacs his face with a bout 67 dozen straight lefts, he will then fold like a chair and tuck his tail under his legs and run towards the stool, $^&! his chaps and be like,”daddy what do i do?”suck on a fe more jabs st8 lefts with multiple combinations call it a night, and as for a cup-o-tea…
In adams eyes david haye and ricky hatton r so overated and will get k.o as soon as they fight sum1 in the top 10 of there division because they should not b there.
When things fall apart Hatton will do the same thing he did in the Mayweather fight.Stop drop and get the fk knocked out.Hatton isn’t even in the same league as Pacquiao.If Hatton tries to throw body shots at Pacquiao,he will be hit 5 times before he even thinks about it.And pual moss it surely was Hattons head that got him KO’d.A left hook right to it.This fight will be badly 1 sided and it will end by a rediculous unanimous decision or late round beating.Then Hatton will look for another payday before he retires and will prolly go up against DeLaHoya,and Hatton will be beaten for the last time.
Finally there’s some comments were people are sticking up for Ricky well done.
This writer nees to watch more Hatton fights. Until the kostya fight Hattons style was not the same as it has been the last couple of years. He was a bit more technical back then, but it changed against kostya to a even more agressive style to win the fight. Brutal agression and non stop pressure was the perfect tactic and unfortunately he has stuck with this since. I agree Pacman is the favorite, but this is a more winnable fight than mayweather was. People are over reacting about the DLH win, he was weight drained and shot for the fight and ripe for the picking, hatton will not be.
are you saying marquez is better than hatton coz he won the rematch with pacman in my opinion by doing nothing exceptional,waiting for pacman to lead then countering with the jab and right cross hardly a rocket science game plan!!!we’ll see if he can stop the hitmans bodyshots,ricky’s one of the most lethal bodypunchers i’ve ever seen.alot of people forget that,pacmans a good fighter but great i’m not so sure,i see hatton having his hands full for 6 rnds then i think he’ll stop pacman by the 10th or 11th braking his body down then breaking his heart.
Everyone that writes a story about hatton on boxing 24 only writes one sided views on hatton, your pathetic and will all be proven wrong.
And what if ahatton DOESNT do all the things you predict he will?
what if his superior size makes the difference that DLH didnt manage cuz he was not phsicaly prepared for the fight?
what if he does move his head? what if he can beat Pacman to the punch when he comes in with his attacks?
A far different outcome will be what happens.
Pacman is quality, world class no doubt, p4p king? yes in my opinion. But i dont think hes ever faced somebody as brutal as Hatton that also happens to be so much bigger than him.
This should be fight of the year what ever happens and i wouldnt put my wages on either of them but im suprised theres so many so called boxing fans writing Hatton off so easily. To do that you must either be blinkered or jsut plain bitter.