Hatton Must Find A Way to Beat Pacquiao
May 2nd, 2009
By Sean McDaniel: Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) has a great deal riding on tonight’s bout with Filipino sensation Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs), more than just bragging rights or Hatton’s little known IBO light welterweight title. What makes this fight so particularly important is that if Hatton can beat Pacquiao tonight at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Ricky stands a good chance of getting a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr., the only fighter ever to beat Hatton.
The loss has bothered Hatton ever since that time, and he’s badly wanted a rematch with Mayweather but has never had a chance. That could change if things work out right for Hatton against Pacquiao. That’s a big ‘if’ because Hatton is the underdog against Pacquiao, and many people are expecting for Manny win by a knockout.
It’s Hatton’s job to try and prove them wrong somehow, but for him to do that, he’s going to have to fight the perfect fight against Pacquiao. Hatton has received all kinds of advice in the past couple of months from all corners of the globe, many of them telling Hatton to try and use his boxing skills to box Pacquiao, while others want him to rush Pacquiao and try to take the Filipino star out with big punches.
Hatton has been pretty open with what he intends to do, saying that he’ll box more, use his lab and move his head a lot. However, I don’t know that this will be enough to beat a fighter as good as Pacquiao. That sounds a lot like what Marco Antonio Barrera attempted to do in his 2nd fight with in 2007, one in which Barrera lost badly but was spared by Pacquiao, who seemed to let Barrera get through the fight without trying to take him out.
However, Pacquiao easily controlled the entire fight with his in and out attacks and looked to have won every round of the fight. This is the same kind of fight style that Bernard Hopkins advised for Hatton to use on Pacquiao, and frankly, I think its dead wrong for Hatton. He doesn’t need to box Pacquiao, because that won’t work and Hatton will just find himself losing rounds because he won’t be able to land as many punches as the faster Pacquiao.
Instead, Hatton is going to need to try and attack Pacquiao hard, get him going backwards and keep him on the run. In watching many of Pacquiao’s fights, I’ve noticed that he doesn’t punch when he’s being attacked. Instead, Pacquiao often shuts down and tries to cover up and wait his turn to throw punches.
In Pacquiao’s loss to Erik Morales, Pacquiao found himself being backed up all around the ring and getting hit with a lot of shots. Morales basically stayed on top of Pacquiao, not letting him breath, and throwing continuous punches. It was a style that favored Morales and before long, Pacquiao’s left eye was badly cut and bleeding all over the place.
Pacquiao then continued to struggle as Morales kept pouring in punch after punch and not giving Pacquiao any rest being them. This is what Hatton needs to do against Pacquiao, because it’s a style that suits and it’s one that has a good chance of working for him.
If Hatton fights in a kind of passive style that Hopkins is hoping he will, I see Hatton losing by a lopsided decision. Hatton is not a boxer and if he thinks he’s going to beat a fighter as good as Pacquiao by boxing him, Hatton has a big surprise in store for him tonight.
Tags: 19 Responses to “Hatton Must Find A Way to Beat Pacquiao”
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well here goes nothin ….
oi there mates!!!!!!
hats off for Manny
welcome to pacman era!!
to Hatton fan…just accept the fact that yur guy lost sheesh…and its their fault for underestimating PACMAN !!YEAH!! !!GO PACMAN!!!
u no wah u yanks can keep goin on buh hatton would ko any stupid yank u get me its the fact that pacqiao is phillipino the onli yank that can beat hatton is may wether buh if there was a rematch and ricky trained hard hes untouchable
well, i was wrong.
all credit to pac-man, he really is a great of our time and easily as good in my opinion as ali.
about the fight, i totally agree with ukansodoff. there are no excuses for hatton apart from what was happening in his training camp, but the bottom line is he lost to the better man.
to answer all these gobby americans, hatton was the best in his weight division and is a very good fighter. top boxers and trainers chose hatton over pac-man and many fans were split. i too was split at first, but decided to go with hatton at the end because i’m a fan of his and because of what he has done previously. but like i said, i was wrong. however, respect must go to both men and those of you who are gloating, you should grow up and stop being such bad winners.
oh, and if i remember right, didn’t adam keep shouting out how froch was going to lose against taylor and be destroyed in a round and so on? i think so. oh, and wasn’t it the same adam who kept shouting out how hopkins was going to be destroyed by pavlik? YES IT WAS! funny that.
I disagree with your comment with pacquiao just waiting for his turn to punch when he’s getting rushed. He tries to counter and if all else fails he quickly dodges and move away from the playing ground.
pacman era.wow its brutal for fan of hatton again going home with disapointment. whos next for pacquiao , mayweather, cotto.
@willbill
who is marquez? that proud guy who kissed the canvass many times? lol he’s not worth it..
Like De La Hoya, Hatton under-estimated Pac-man and thought size alone would do the job, I wanted Hatton to win but didnt really see it happening, afterall the only other two big names he thought in their prime were mayweather and collazo (a ko loss and a tough split decision win)
I agree with u, Ukansodoff. It is too obvious that the win was brought by the trainer. I didn’t really saw any defense from Hatton camp. You cannot really put up a good chance of winning with Pacquiao if you will not train defense. Look at Pacquiao-Marquez. Though, Marquez didn’t win with Pacquiao, he made a point that he got some edge with Pacquiao, because he is a counterfighter wwith a good sense of defense.
You know what Adam your guna get some defecive replys from some Brits but to be honest you are right.
Theres not much you can really say in defence of Hatton really.
But i really am wondering what the hell was goin on in Mayweathers training camps. Roach and Pacman seem to of worked on the whole package where as Mayeather and Hatton just seemed to think they could turn up on the night.
Surely they didnt work on the tactic that you could throw a jab and leave your chin out against one of the quickest men in the sport.
It took 20 seconds of round 1 for me to figure out who was guna win and at the end of the 1st i knew Hatton wouldnt see round 3.
I also believe that even if Hatton had gone in there with the best possible game plan hed of lost, I made the excuses for DLH but theres no excuses here, there sublime skill steamrolled the brawler.
Where are the limey pundits that had Hatton winning easily? Gone back to their rot gut or anything else that’ll help them forget…?
Twice Hatton has stepped up in class and twice he has been beaten.I cant believe these fans and pundits who predicted a hatton win.It would help if they actually watched the Pacman fight first..Then they would realise how great he is and how little chance Hatton had Hatton retire NOW
All the sht talkin from alt he Brits.This is what i’m talkin about.I said from the start.Ricky is not on the same level as Pacquaio.Ricky should keep to fightig Urango,Lazcano, and Collazo.He got KTFO in the second round.No contest and the same will happen with David Haye.He is not on the same level as Klitschko and will be fcked up in the same manner.Like I said.Not gonna be a good year for the big mouth Brits.Not talkin bout you Doctor.Your my dog.
i had hatton ahead on my card at the time of the stoppage. just kidding.
hatton’s skull is still bouncing off the canvas. OUCH!
never underestimate pacquiao. he’s without peer right now. a ko artist. why i love this sport.
manny/mayweather -november ’09.
all that talk from the Hatton fans and he gets knocked out in the 2nd……….
please shut your mouth next time and just wait for the fight results…..
“Manny doesn’t have the power Hattin has…” Lol… you’re right, he has more. Hatton was KTFO. At least Dela Hoya made it past the 2nd round. For safety sake Hatton should quit boxing. He did not look good at all after the KO.
We will see who is surprised when was the last time you whoever you are who wrote this story seen hatton fight did he ever fight passivly NOT i dont think so he s a bulldozer you should ask yourself if manny can punch while moving backwards as hatton pounds him dont you think? manny hasnt got the power hatton has nor the bulldog attitude of hatton sure he s fast but where is the power . who ever will lose , just remember a rematch is forth coming , money money money you are right about when manny is attacked he does shut down and if you know hatton you well know that he dosent back up or shut down hummmmmm sosmething to think about dont you think?
Floyd and ricky again ? well who would have guessed , I think that was obvious in the first place all this isnt about boxing its about money those in power do play games dont you ?