Pacquiao Wins, but Hatton Remains the More Exciting Fighter
May 6th, 2009
By Manuel Perez: Sometimes it doesn’t matter when a fighter loses, because in some cases they still remain the more interesting fighter to watch. I think this applies for Ricky Hatton in his 2nd round loss to Manny Pacquiao. Although Pacquiao ended up knocking Hatton down three times in the fight, it was Hatton who was the one getting all the attention because he was coming forward, trying to make the fight and winding up with big swings each time. I don’t know, I guess you could tie it in with having the Arturo Gatti type style that makes Hatton so appealing.
You’d think that Pacquiao would be equally if not more exciting to watch than Hatton because Pacquiao has been on a winning streak since being defeated by Erik Morales in 2005, but for some reason Pacquiao doesn’t nearly come across as entertaining as Hatton is in my book.
Maybe it’s Pacquaio’s awkward style of fighting or the fact that he likes to hit and run often, but whatever the case may be, Pacquiao simply isn’t in the same ballpark as Hatton is in terms of being interesting to watch. It matters little that Pacquiao beat Hatton, because this is about styles, charisma and a blend of power. Take for instance Alfonso Gomez, a decent welterweight.
While Gomez is in no way as talented as Pacquiao in terms of overall boxing ability and ring record, I think Gomez is a much more interesting fighter to watch than Pacquiao on any day. You can pick any fight you want of Pacquiao and match them up with Gomez, and I’d be willing to bet that Gomez would come out the winner each time for being the more crowd pleasing fighter. The same argument applies to Urban Antillon, although to a slightly lesser extent than Gomez.
Whatever it is, Pacquiao seems to be missing the crucial ingredient that makes him as exciting as Hatton, Gomez or Antillon. I think one of the factors that make Hatton and the others more interesting is that they take a lot of shots while fighting and keep coming forward despite the punishment that they’re absorbing.
It’s far less appealing to watch a fighter that is dishing out all the punishment and not getting hit in return. To me, that’s really boring and like watching a fighter pound on a defenseless heavy bag for 12 rounds. I’ve seen Pacquiao take some punishment in fights with Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales in the 1st fight and Pacquiao didn’t seem to respond well when getting beaten up a little.
It seemed like he didn’t like getting hit, perhaps because he wasn’t used to it. In each case, Pacquiao would resort to his jumping to the outside to escape the punishment. In doing so, he made himself less interesting to watch because he didn’t want to stay in the pocket and trade with Marquez and Morales.
In the Hatton fight, we didn’t get a chance to see how Pacquiao would respond to taking punishment because the fight was over so quickly. However, in the two rounds of the fight Hatton looked to be the one that was bringing all the drama and interest in the fight by trudging ahead no matter what slings and arrows he was facing.
Hatton didn’t care about defense and was single-mindedly focused on trying to get to Pacquiao so that he could knock the Filipino out. For that reason, I think that Hatton is a much more interesting fighter to watch than Pacquiao will likely ever be.
Tags: 38 Responses to “Pacquiao Wins, but Hatton Remains the More Exciting Fighter”
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ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!
pacquiao is regarded by even the HBO commentators AND amazing boxers as one of the moste exciting boxers of all time. does mr. perez think he’s a better analyst then merchant, lampley, stewart, lewis, leonard, and wright?!hatton – exciting? all he does is move forward so he can clinch, hug, and rabbit punch! what the hell kind of boxing analyst are you? are you saying knockouts/downs ARENT exciting? speed and power isnt exciting? but clinching is?? and FYI manny does not “hit and run”. that’s PBF’s style. pacquiao knows how to hit and and duck wild hooks like hatton’s shots. he’s just that fast…and GOMEZ??? you’re saying HE’s more entertaining than manny too?? Gomez is a joke…and you seriously must be deaf because the crowds and houses ALL OVER THE WORLD go CRAZY when manny fights. go get another job, mr. perez..cuz you don’t know what you’re talking about here.
Manuel Perez your crazy man!!! maybe you fall asleep too when ricky hit the canvass.In some ways your right ricky is exciting to see hit the canvass.
people like manuel perez just makes Pacman even more stronger.. keep it up. what a f*ckin’ hater.. it’s unbelievable. manny’s a great person in and out of the ring, he works hard everyday, he doesn’t trashtalk, he lets his fights do the talking and most importantly, he respects everyone. one day, you’ll praise manny and you’ll realize how big of an idiot you are. you don’t deserve this writing job. what a f*ckin’ douchebag.
just by looking the headin, not interested on reading the whole column, i believe that mr. perez is either: a genius or hallucinating. a genius in the sense that among the boxing pundits i heard he is the only one having a notion that hatton is the more exiting boxer than pq. hallucinating because he appreciation of fact is too far off from reality. maybe the impact of the blows from pq that cause the hatton to sleep in the canvas was too great that it even reaches to the very bittered soul of mr. perez.
when EA sports interviewed Lennox Lewis, Sugar Leonard and Winky Wright… all of them said than Manny Pacquiao is the most exciting fighter for them… now what about that Mr. Perez…
What a crappy commentary from mr. Perez,its crystal clear that ricky hatton got annihilated by the PACMAN! how come the one who gets his head flyin to the air be the more exciting fighter? Be true to your self sir, you got excited too when you saw that devastating left hook from the pac. as of you proclaiming the hitman the more exciting fighter in that fight, your reasons are too shallow! moving forward and get hit? hell yeah thats exciting. peace! ^_^
Hatton was entertaining because he got knocked out cold. Boxing is entertainment and people go to see boxers beat the crap out of each other. Boxing fans got to know how good Pac is at Ricky’s expense.
genius analysis, i must admit.
I should let people punch me so I can be more interesting and exciting
I have to agree withe writer. Brilliant article.
I’m british – definitely a hatton fan. But I’m not blind. You are the most conceited writer I’ve ever seen. I’ll bet my house mate that you’re a mexican.
I bloody am right – am I?
im a brit and ricky hatton woz shameful.
I agree exciting most exciting fighter; especially the way Hatton falls asleep on the canvas. It was so exciting that even Hatton himself would fall asleep.
Oh! Comon, man. Get real! Sounds like another excuse for an Englishman or caucasian guy to keep his pride? An exciting fighter is supposed to wins the fight with knockout punches; just like what Pacman did. That’s it. Period.
Next time you better ask Hatton whether he felt excited about hitting the canvas before you write such article.
Get real!
i hope chris was not one of those who sold his house and bet on the grappler!
I’ve been watching Pacman for a long time and have seen what he’s done to other boxers. C’mon Erik Morales he didn’t even want to get up. Oscar De La Hoya, threw it in after 8 rounds. We just saw Hatton. He’s moved up 4 different weights in the last 2 years I suspect he has more of a hatred towards Manny more than a love for Hatton. Manny is know as the Mexecutioner and by Perez’ name is probably of similar heritage. A true journalist would at least show some respect towards Manny. Look at the numbers…Manny threw more punches and connected on nearly 60% of his shots in the last 2 minutes. It was Manny who was the aggressor. Many times Hatton tried grabbing onto Manny just so he wouldn’t get punched. Watch the fight again, it won’t take long, you will see Manny isThe Real Deal. He is also a champion for a country that lives in poverty, tell me Mr. Perez, what have you done to inspire a country?
pacman is one of the most exciting fighters ever. always going for the knockout, and always giving me my money’s worth with his do-or-die style, unlike mayweather afraid of taking chances with his safety first mentality. i like ricky’s charisma, but he will never be an elite at the level of a marquez, pacman, mosely, or cotto. congrats to pac and all my pinoy brothers, hopefully we’ll see the trilogy marquez vs pac III.
Hatton is Great…
But you have to understand that Hatton is a brawler crawler. Even me i can knock Hatton down on the first round and even you manuel you can knock him down. thats how it is. Even if he fight again, he will be KO. 7 minutes of sleeping in the ring, good thing someone wakes him up.
If being a human punching bag is exciting then I agree!
Pacman is one of the most exciting fighters in boxing what are you talking about???????????
hatton brawller and dirty tactics style is exiting,what ???????hahahha, this man is crazy and pacquiao style of fighting is not intersting at all, what the hell.hahaha,,,,,pacquiao fashion in this sport is electrifyng thats the reality. pac man always fight like a man , no dirty tactics , slugger, aggressive, etc
manny is pure genius,hatton is a brawler,a spoiler,hes got no skills at all pacman has more skill in his little toe,no dis to hatton,who is an average champ at best
This Perez guy is a wee bit out of himself. Gen Macarthur once said “There is no substitute for victory.” The same goes for boxing. No matter how you lose, at the end of the day, it is still a loss. Only the winners are remembered, 20, 30 years from now. I think this guy is a masochistic of some sort, getting aroused when his man takes a beating.
It’s not a ‘bitter’ argument. I see this guys point. However, I think Paquiao is a really exciting fighter, and matches most people for these qualities.
I was called a ‘crowd-pleaser’ last season (in a write up), and believe me, I soon wanted to stop that, I may have been pleasing the crowd, but my hand wasn’t getting raised and I was walking on to heavy punches, and didn’t win a fight!
Let’s be honest (and I’m a Hatton fan), Ricky is a good exciting fighter, but he’s not on the same level as Pacman, Mayweather, Marquez, or even Shane Moseley.
I’d like to see Hatton go out on a decent win over a decent opponent, then call it a day.
is mr perez been knock out all together with hatton during the fight?. i think he didnt recover from hallucinating yet. sod off mr perez…
Who the h*ll wants be to hit by his opponent’s punches all night when he has all the capacity and defense to avoid it? Only maybe a writer with your name and Hatton.
What is exciting about Hatton when everytime he fights in Las Vegas, HE ALWAYS KISSING THE CANVAS!!! Oh well, people who does not know boxing finds that more exciting, I guess…
LOL if u think punch and clinch is exciting you must like getting hugged by dudes a lot and believe that dudes hugging are the exciting part lmao
is this geezer for real. pacqiuao is one of the most exciting fighters around. the reason why is because you don’t know what he is going to do next
I disagree totally! pacman is more exciting! peace
i dont see any credibility about this reporting but i do respect Mr. Manuel Perez for his opinion as a Big Hatton fan. But by doing so, it shows your lack of intelligence and your being “out of touch” as a columnist. Your “Most exciting fighter” just suffered a devastating loss to a “mere, smaller and less explosive manny pacquiao (that you thought)”
He’s a reality check for you, Mr. Perez. Pacquiao just handed Hatton a near-retirement, career-ending KNOCK OUT. The worst part is, He did not even lasted 3 rounds! The future just became much brighter for Pacquiao. i dont see anything how Hatton will pick up the pieces to move on. But retirement is a sure certainty. Good day, sir…
Perez is F’n genius. Pac will not win fight of the year but in category with Knock Out of the Year… Since he’s not a fan of hit and run I’m sure he just hates Floyd then.. Can you give us your input on Floyd.
lol funny that
Yeah, Hatton more exicting for instance I was excited when he got knocked the **** out!
Presume you’re having a laugh and hoping someone will take you seriously. You may as well say that a pillar box is more interesting to watch than Muhammad Ali – as the pillar box stands its ground while Ali ‘hits and runs’ too much. I dare say if you put a tortoise in the ring with Pacquiao you’d say the tortoise was the better boxer for moving forward as Manny peppered its head with jabs. You’re either a cretin or a genius. Im not quite sure which.
i sort of understand were you are coming from but at the end of the day styles make fights and every one likes different types of fights look at the heavy weights how boring are they these days but we still sit up and watch them just in case we see a knockout or watch the bantim weights no power but full on trading for 12 rounds, and yes hatton is an exciting fighter but last weekend it was all about the pac man and how exciting he was cos not in a million years i would have beleived he would have beaten hatton that bad within 2 rounds
I’ve read a few articles from this guy, and I’m wondering if this guy is serious or just batty. I mean, how can you argue for watching 12 rounds of Ricky’s mauling against Pac’s speed and power? And for the record, when Pac gets stunned, he bangs his gloves together and starts exchanging. When Ricky gets stunned, he’s hitting the canvas.
I totally disagree. Hatton was more exciting because he was the punchbag? If im not mistaken, hatton landed 18 punches, maybe one landed that stunned pacquiao. pacquiao’s punches made much more exciting view, snappin hattons head back many times. that was before 3 stunnin knockdown with the latter bein a candidate for KO of the year. To me, anytime pacquaio is attacked, he out of instinct counter punches back and makes it exciting, and wen he spots a gap, he punches in bunches and gets the crowd going. Theres being biased and theres making urself look silly. I believe mr perez is doing the latter now.