Why Hatton Has a Good Chance of An ‘Upset’ Over Pacquaio

By Boxing News - 02/02/2009 - Comments

hatton34By Simon Hirst: There has been a lot of debate over who will get the win in the bout between Manny Pacquaio and Ricky Hatton. It seems everybody cannot agree on who the favourite is, although officially it is Ricky Hatton. This is good for Boxing as everybody is talking about it, it’s good to have fights where the winner isn’t clear cut; boxing needs more of them. They both have their advantages and disadvantages which make it such an intriguing prospect and this fight should get very high PPV figures.

However, I will be unbiased in this. I, as a boxing fan, am torn between who will reign supreme and feel it could come down to the wire. If you were to push me for an answer now, I’d pick Manny Pacquaio on a split decision. I think it will be that close.

What I don’t agree with is that either fight will dominate. When you match them up, I don’t think this is a fight either one can dominate. Pacquaio has his speed, and will probably employ similar tactics to those used against De La Hoya of weaving in and out, landing his shots and being out before De La Hoya can throw one back. Of course this worked brilliant and Pacquaio found the confidence in himself that De La Hoya was there to be taken and didn’t stand off him in the last two rounds. However, many people have jumped on the Pacquaio bandwagon since that victory, claiming he’s the undisputed pound for pound king. I agree he probably is the best pound for pound, but I don’t pin it on that victory. De La Hoya is a big scalp on paper, but let us be realistic. De La Hoya was a shot fighter who admitted after he couldn’t pull the trigger. He was drained after so much weight loss and I believe there are many boxers who would have beaten him this night.

Flip the coin and we have Ricky Hatton. Hatton on the other hand is coming off a solid stoppage of Paulie Malignaggi and although he got hit a few times, it was clear for all to see he has gone back to basics more. There wasn’t as much rushing in, more taking his time and landing big shots. Malignaggi, I admit, was overrated and didn’t bring much back, certainly not as much as Pacquaio will bring to the table. I think people forget what Hatton brings though. Hatton has never lost at 140, he has good power, likes to bully his opponent and wears down the body of his opponents. Ask Castillo how good he can be. Castillo may have been a few years too late for this fight, but there is no denying that the shot he lost to would have beaten him in prime and most fighters in the division, if not all.

Also, Ricky Hatton is not stupid. He will be aware that he can’t match Pacquaio for speed. He’ll probably expect the odd big shot without being able to retaliate back due to the speed. Hatton will have a gamelan. If he doesn’t and just turns up, then he will lose. He needs a game plan and I expect him to have one that is good enough to potentially win. I imagine he will look to trap Pacquaio, corner him. That way he can get close and try and land some shots to body. Pacquaio though, was excellent in his movement against De La Hoya, as soon as his back touched that rope, he moved sideways and escaped. I believe Hatton will watch that tape a fair few times and devise a plan to try and counter this. He has Mayweather Snr in his corner to help him with this, but it’s up to Hatton to work to it.

I can’t imagine Pacquaio being able to hurt Hatton much with his power. I think Pacquaio would settle to jabbing his way in if it meant not being caught. Hatton can hit very hard and if Juan Manuel Marquez can hit a huge punch on Pacquaio and almost knock him down, a Hatton punch would knock him down. Hatton has an excellent chin, he absorbed a lot of punishment against Mayweather Jr and was eventually KO’d, but I don’t believe there is much shame in that. Hatton can take a big punch and he can give one.

At the end of it, I believe it is who can execute their game plan to better effect. Pacquaio will look to focus on his speed and movement and catch Hatton off guard to win rounds. Hatton will need to find a way of getting in close to Pacquaio to land some of his bigger weapons. I’m surprised that Pacquaio’s country hasn’t tried to have his license suspended again because this fight is much more dangerous than the De La Hoya fight. Like I said before, push me for an answer and I’d say a narrow Pacquaio win. But Hatton has much more of a chance than his critics suggest.



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