Can The Brits Save Hatton From Losing to Pacquiao?
April 30th, 2009
By Matt Stein: This Saturday night, 30-year-old Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) finds himself in perhaps the biggest fight of his career in facing Filipino star Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs) at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas. This is a fight that due to Hatton’s age, and his own personal three fight time line that he set for himself, is one that he can ill afford to lose.
However, in the last three years, Hatton has fought five of six fights in the United States, and has had to deal with having many less rabid boxing fans rooting for him. I don’t if this is just a coincidence or not, but Hatton has looked much less impressive in these fights than he did while fighting in front of his British fans in Manchester.
The word is that many of Hatton’s fans have purchased tickets by the handfuls for his bout with Pacquiao this Saturday, but whether it will be enough to drown out the many Filipino fans of Pacquiao is the big unknown. Pacquiao has a lot of fans in the U.S, that go beyond nationality, fans that like to see great fighters regardless of where they come from.
Now, I’m sure that many more Brits will be buying tickets for this fight and traveling from England in comparison to Filipino fans, obviously because the British economy is better than the Philippines. However, Hatton seems to fight his best when he’s in front of a huge audience of pure fans of his without any competing voices that are cheering against him.
The best scenario is that the huge amount of Brits that do show up can somehow scream loudly enough to drown out any other fans in the arena and give Hatton the same kind of feeling and support that he previously used to get while fighting in Manchester.
I’ve watched many fights of Filipino stars in the Philippines and noted that their fans are equally loud, although not quite to the level of the Brit fans with all their repetitious soccer-type songs that they typically chant over and over throughout the fights.
So possibly, if Hatton’s fell Brits can scream loudly enough, there’s a chance that Hatton may be able to fight beyond his ability, enough possibly to edge Pacquiao by a narrow decision. I doubt seriously that Hatton could fight well enough to knock Pacquiao out, mind you, but I think Hatton can win enough rounds to get a decision victory if his Brit fans make a heck of a lot of noise like they usually do.
The question is whether enough of them have made the trip to Las Vegas in big enough numbers to drown out the fans of Pacquiao. I doubt that there will be enough of them making the trip due to the poor economy, which means that Hatton will live or die based on his existing talent and will have to win without the adrenalin rush that he gets from his fans. I don’t see that happening.
Tags: 10 Responses to “Can The Brits Save Hatton From Losing to Pacquiao?”
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Well I think in term’s of power punching ability and accuracy plus the speed PACMAN will win the fight at the very first round bec. the hitman has a stupid style and dirty tactics that wont work on PACMAN
RICKY RICKY RICKY RICKY!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t believe it’s a biggest fight for him in therms of difficulty. It’s easier to beat Pacquiao then Mayweather imo, which doesn’t mean he will. I think that he will though.
Mayweather was the biggest by far, and this one won’t surpass it in the means of significance and difficulty. Maybe they’ll sell a bit more tickets for that one and a bit more ppv – I don’t know, I hope so (although probably won’t reach the level of ufc 100:))))
COME ON RICKY
Rex make your mind up, 3 rounds it was, then 6 and now 9. Someone becoming unsure?
idont want talk a lot,let my fist talk in may 2nd , pacquiao said, thats the man not like mayweather or other fighter thier boring to death to watch, pacquiao courage is unquestionble
British fans travel wherever thier idols do. Ask any event organiser in Las Vegas. Hatton is the biggest draw to the strip. You will never see a weigh in ever again like the Hatton/Mayweather one. Only British fans can watch a sporting event in another country and completely drown out the locals. England/Portugal Euro 2004 comes to mind when England had 15,000 more fans in the hosts nations own national stadium for a major quarter final and 100,000 more in Lisbon itself.
Brits have travelled well this year but about from Calzaghe late 2008 there hasn’t been a fight involving any of the well supported boxers. Froch is a barely unknown in the UK.
Put this into perspective. Hatton/Mayweather. 4am in the morning. Clubs in Britain closed down early, pubs kept thier doors open and asked the goverment for extended licenses. I was ata bar with two floors with people climbing the stairs to watch the fight. Its not just in begas itself where Hatton fans are heard. You should hear the news the people in the UK make. It’s reverberates across the country. Hatton knows that many millions more at home in Britain will be watching this weekend.
Speed along with Left and Right Hooks is the key for Manny’s victory in this coming fight.
English fighters who have traveled to America for fights this year haven’t had much support. That’s because the Brits have all been saving their money for this one. Hatton will have the overwhelming support of the crowd, just as he did against Mayweather. These Brits are a tough lot, but they can’t get in the ring and fight for their boy. It won’t be the cakewalk the De La Hoya fight was, but Pacquiao wins this one, too. It isn’t even big man-little man this time. 140 is a lot closer to Manny’s walking-around weight than it is to Hatton’s, We’ve seen how well Pacquiao handled 147. He’ll be even better, and quicker, at 140. And it’s hard not to think back to Hatton’s fight with Luis Collazo, where there wasn’t much to seperate the two. We had the Englishman winning that one by a point — the edge he got from a first-round flash knockdown — and a lot of people thought Ricky lost it. No disrespect to Luis, but if this fight were Pacquiao vs Collazo, would we even be having this debate? Pacquiao stops him in nine
English fighters who have traveled to America for fights this year haven’t had much support. That’s because the Brits have all been saving their money for this one. Hatton will have the overwhelming support of the crowd, just as he did against Mayweather. These Brits are a tough lot, but they can’t get in the ring and fight for their boy. It won’t be the cakewalk the De La Hoya fight was, but Pacquiao wins this one, too. It isn’t even big man-little man this time. 140 is a lot closer to Manny’s walking-around weight than it is to Hatton’s, We’ve seen how well Pacquiao handled 147. He’ll be even better, and quicker, at 140. And it’s hard not to think back to Hatton’s fight with Luis Collazo, where there wasn’t much to seperate the two. We had the Englishman winning that one by a point — the edge he got from a first-round flash knockdown — and a lot of people thought Ricky lost it. No disrespect to Luis, but if this fight were Pacquiao vs Collazo, would we even be having this debate? Pacquiao stops him in nine.