By Chris Williams: Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) will be reportedly fighting Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs) in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 2nd, according to the latest news. The choice of Las Vegas seems rather strange, given the fact that neither Hatton nor Pacquiao are from the U.S. Though a fight in the Philippines would seem out of the question due to the logistic nightmare it would create for the media, but a fight in Wembley Stadium would have seemed like a reasonable alternative.
Of course, that would have given Hatton, a native of England, a huge advantage by fighting in front of a huge, screaming crowd that would number a minimum of 90,000 rabid fans. Pacquiao, however, probably could handle that and ignore the fans enough to take care of business against Hatton.
Hatton, 30, still in the resurrecting of his boxing career after a disappointing 10th round stoppage to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2007, has beaten Juan Lazcano and Paulie Malignaggi back to back in his last two fights. However, there are questions remaining about Hatton’s chin as he was hurt on a couple of occasions in his fight with Lazcano in their May 2008 fight. Hatton would eventually win the fight by a 12-round decision, but he looked like he needed saving at one point by the referee after being hurt by a left hand from Lazcano.
Questions about Hatton’s chin weren’t answered in his fight against Malignaggi due to the lack of power of Paulie. For some fans, it was strange that Hatton had chosen to fight Malignaggi, a non-title holder, rather than one of the younger, stronger, champions like WBC light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley or WBO champion Kendall Holt.
For some, it looked as if Hatton was taking the path of least resistance to avoid getting beaten again. To be sure, Bradley and Holt are very good fighters, with much better speed and power than Malignaggi, which does make it seem odd that Hatton didn’t chose to fight them rather than a non-title holder like Malignaggi.
Pacquiao, 30, recently defeated Oscar De La Hoya by an 8th round stoppage on December 6th. The fight, which many had picked Oscar to win due to his big size advantage, ended up being a brutal mismatch as Pacquiao had too much speed, power and movement for the faded former welterweight/light middleweight star.
Looking little more than a 2nd rate sparring partner, De La Hoya was beaten around the ring, cringing at times under the heavy onslaught by boxing’s pound for pound number #1 fighter and offering nothing up in return other than a few jabs here and there.
It was a beating reminiscent of the kind of beating that Sugar Ray Leonard, then 35 and well past his prime, suffered at the hands of Terry Norris in February 1991. De La Hoya was beaten without stop by Pacquiao, taking a lot of punishment and unable to do anything to stop it. Eventually, De La Hoya finally decided it was best to quit rather than continue to take a beating, and ended up quitting on his stool following the 8th round.
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