Ricky Hatton vs. Manny Pacquiao: How The Hitman Can Win
February 19th, 2009
By Nate Anderson: It’s no mystery what former light welterweight and welterweight champion Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) will need to do in order to beat Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs) on May 2nd at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hatton, 30, fights best when he’s able to come inside and make a fierce body attack, throwing to the body and attacking the head with big uppercuts. When he’s able to stay there for prolonged periods of time without being separated by the referee, he’s very hard to beat.
But he’s had problems in the past two years when fighting in the U.S., where the referees have been much less tolerant of his punch and grab technique. One referee in particular, Joe Cortez, was having none of Hatton’s typical wrestling on the inside against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their fight in December 2007, pulling Hatton off of Mayweather repeatedly during the fight and warning him about his holding.
As it turned out, Hatton was essentially defanged by this practice and rendered almost useless. It was no wonder that he was eventually taken out by Mayweather in the 10th round. Without being able to fight on the inside, Hatton is really a much less effective fighter on the outside. Without the height or reach, he’s forced to lunge in with telegraphed punches to land his shots.
Mayweather was skillful enough to catch him while coming in, and so was Juan Lazcano. Most of his other opponents didn’t have the skills to take advantage of this, and didn’t have many chances anyway, because Hatton was on then constantly, lodged like an Alabama tick.
Most likely, Hatton will be able to get away with a significant amount of holding and wrestling against Pacquiao, because few referees are going to want to risk taking the fallout of being the one that factored in another Hatton loss.
If that turns out to be the case, then Hatton needs to stay right in close with Pacquiao, not letting him get any space so he can use his fast hands. At close range, Pacquiao is an average fighter and is unable to load up on his shots or get the speed needed to dominate Hatton. Pacquiao isn’t a particularly good body puncher nor is he skilled at the inside with uppercuts.
This is good news for Hatton, because if he can stay as close as possible to Pacquiao, he may be able to wear him out with wrestling and holding, and eventually tire him enough to take him out late like Hatton did with Kostya Tszyu.
Tags: 19 Responses to “Ricky Hatton vs. Manny Pacquiao: How The Hitman Can Win”
Leave a Reply
please use above banner to link back to us!
even me can beat manny,..go hatton take of the flat nose of pacquiao!! hahhaha
On May 2, the British will mourn because Pacquiao will Knock out Hatton.. Sorry guyz, its not how big hatton is but it’s Pacquiao rule!
On May 2, the British will mourn because Pacquiao will Knock out Hatton.. Sorry guyz, its not how big hatton is but it’s Pacquiao rule your!
atton fought completly the wrong fight against mayweather, but that was down to his trainer, since he’s hooked up with mayweather snr he’s looking back to his best. i don’t think people give hatton the credit he deserves. when he boxes as apposed to brawling he’s very effective. like against ben takki and kosta and mallinagi. i think once pac man feels the power he will run. frustrating hatton but hatton will catch up with him by 9 or 10.
pacquiao wins via tko
Much has been made of Manny’s win over ODH , was he really that great or was Oscar really that bad ? Why would he be able to dominate ODH so easily but not Marquez , maybe that answers the question.One thing is sure Manny wont have to look for Ricky he will be right in his face and it will not take long to find out if he can deal with real light welterweight strength.If he can Ricky maybe in trouble , if he cant Manny could get beat up badly.
On the issue of styles it does seem amazing how Hatton gets criticised by US writers who no doubt wrote great things about such silky clean fighters as Tyson, Marciano, Duran
Hatton Nation to mourn come May 2. Sorry guys
This writer is pretty sore on Hatton’s loss to Mayweather. When Hatton does not have the physical advantage (ie. whenever he fights at 147), he is unable to be successful with his high pressure style. In my opinion, even if Pac is on equal footing physically with Hatton, I would give Hatton the advantage because Mayweather Sr. will have the right game plan.
does anyone have a clue what jigs is trying to say? i dont think he knows himself! must be code or somthing.ps can pitbull-HITMAN get a personality and stop trying to fornicate with ukansodoff. Hatton 6th round ko.
Ricky Hatton will be a better fighter defensively thanks to Floyd Mayweather Sr. He’ll beat Pacquiao in 4 rounds. If Pacquiao makes it out of the first 4 rounds, it will be by sheer luck. Ricky Hatton will put him away in 8 if that becomes the case. Hatton WILL WIN THIS FIGHT GUARANTEED.
even do his antics of holding and wristling pac hatton has no chance of winning,roach has game plan come may 2,pac will make hatton miserable after the fight, and regret on why he pacquiao
ukansodoff is the only person that talks ‘commonsense’ on this joke of a website. The rest are jokes that dont know what there talking about.
Enough said……
melman more like melon have you ever watched one of rickys fights you say hes a dirty ugly fighter, is that why tens of thousands of fans follow him to america and hes regarded by many in the boxing world as one of the most if not the most exciting fighters one the planet.
Hattons wins the way he wins, simple. Nobody calls Floyd for winning running away in fights… so why have a go at hatton for the way he fights. At least he brings a fight!
oh yh Paulie aint no Pac man but the Slick Boxer lost to the “BRAWLER” at his own game show hatton can work of his jab effectivly considering Pauli was ranked Pretty well Back then ?!
BS its not illegall to work up close and personal if the ref tells hatton to work out of the clinch he will then he works back on the inside and will break again and like u see against the magic man he can establish a jab before getting in the inside !
Im sure if Hatton does anything illegal he will be punished.
But just cuz he doesnt fight pretty or how his opponants want him to fight doesnt mean hes dirty or cheating.
Its boxing for christ sake not beach volleyball, its a brutal gladiator bloodsport. Not everybody uses silkyskills.
WOW! the writer says “at close range, pacquiao is an average fighter” lolz ^^ that is the most idiotic statement i’ve heard to describe the POUND for POUND BEST FIGHTER ON THE PLANET. one thing though, hitting and holding is ILLEGAL, hell, holding your opponent down is ILLEGAL. if hatton doesn’t have anything beside that holding and wrestling style, his gonna be in big trouble come May 2.
hatton fights dirty. likes to hold a lot. ugly fighter. If he fights clean, no chance against pacman. But if referee can’t control his antics, he might win. Pacman has difficulty neutralizing dirty fighters.