By Chris Williams: Now that the purse split scare is pretty much over between Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao with Manny agreeing to the 50-50 split, one wonders whether Hatton fully realizes what he’s about to do. I’m sure he’s probably has an idea of how he wants to fight Pacquiao already, as well as his trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. However, the best laid plans are often foiled and when it comes to a fighter as skilled as Pacquiao, he’s someone that is very tough to beat even under the best circumstances.
Hatton, called the best light welterweight in the division by many, has had little preparation for a fighter like Pacquiao in his career and it’s a little unclear what he’s going to do to beat the Filipino star. If Hatton thinks he can simply steam roll over Pacquiao, he may be in for a rude awakening when he gets carved up and taken out by Pacquiao.
The point is, Hatton can’t use his crude slugging skills that have worked for him up till now because Pacquiao is a much more advanced fighter than what Hatton has faced thus far. Though some people like to say about Hatton, if it’s not broke then don’t fix it. But I think his style needs fixing if he’s to be successful against Pacquiao.
Manny is a difficult opponent to train for because he has so many styles of fighting, a product of his ability to soak up things taught to him from every trainer that he’s had in his career. Yet, what makes Pacquiao even harder to fight is that sometimes he fights almost as if he’s had zero training at all, especially when he comes charging in with both hands firing at the same time. Hatton, at least until his recent fight with Paulie Malignaggi, has always been a fairly predictable fighter.
Hatton tends to come straight at his opponents, trying to overpower them with big shots. His fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. was a wakeup call of sorts, as Hatton seemed to finally understand that he couldn’t get away with his grappling and brawling on the inside, because he found himself in against a fighter with pinpoint accuracy that picked him literally apart at close range.
Hatton continued to have problems in his next fight against Juan Lazcano, making what on paper should have been an easy fight into a bout where Hatton was hurt on a couple of occasions. Those fights showed that Hatton, whether it be age creeping up on him or simply his issues with his fluctuating diet, couldn’t continue to use his old style of fighting.
That’s not to say that Hatton needs to abandon it all together, because that would be insane to do that. He’s very good for brief stretches where he can land combinations, preferably when he has his opponent backed up against the ropes. However, he can’t use that straight line, one direction style against Pacquiao on May 2nd, because Manny will probably easily dodge Hatton’s attacks and give him problems with lateral movement and jabs.
Hatton is good at cutting off the ring but he’s much less effective when having to move for a prolonged period of time. Pacquiao will probably circle him continuously in the right, picking the right spots to lunge forward to pound him with short flurries.
Hatton probably won’t have the reflexes or the hand speed to get the better of Pacquiao when this happens, so he’s going to have to try something different something. I’d suggest he focus on using his jab first off, because he’s going to be getting nailed a lot otherwise.
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