By Jim Dower: Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs) may have thought that he impressed a lot of boxing fans with his 8th round stoppage over Oscar De La Hoya in December 2008, but he’s not quite impressed Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs), who sees Pacquiao’s win as nothing but a fluke due to De La Hoya’s weight depleted condition that he entered the fight in.
Pacquiao may not like what Hatton has said, but those thoughts are echoed by many of those who have seen the fight. Hatton quite rightly points out that De La Hoya was only a shell of himself on that night due to both his advanced age of 36 and a strict diet that he had been on to make the 147 pound weight class.
“I don’t think it was hard to beat Oscar that night,” Hatton says. Pacquiao may not like it but his win over De La Hoya probably isn’t as important as he may thing because of what Hatton correctly points out about the physical state that De La Hoya was in on that night.
Hatton thinks that Pacquiao’s so-called speed advantage won’t be a factor in this fight, because Hatton has gotten much quicker since he started training with Floyd Mayweather Sr. recently. Ultimately, Hatton says that his size will be a major factor in him beating Pacquiao on May 2nd in Las Vegas, Nevada.
However, if there’s one concern coming into this fight is that Hatton has started training much earlier for this bout than he typically does for his other bouts and is already near 150 already. Hatton might be making the same mistake that De La Hoya did in his fight with Pacquiao by training much too early than what is necessary for the fight.
Hatton could end up leaving his fight behind in the gym if he trains too hard or he could end up weight depleted much in the same way that Oscar was in his fight with Manny.
Martin Rogan vs. Sam Sexton on May 15th
Commonwealth (British Empire) heavyweight champion Martin Rogan (12-0, 6 KOs) will defend his title on May 15th against challenger Sam Sexton (11-1, 4 KOs) at the Odyssey Arena, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Rogan, 37, is coming off arguably his biggest win of his five year pro career with a 11th round stoppage win over Matt Skelton to capture the Commonwealth heavyweight crown on February 28th.
The fight went back and forth with Rogan getting the better of Skelton in the early rounds with his heavy pressure, but then Skelton coming back to take the middle rounds. And just when it seemed as if Skelton was on the verge of taking control of the fight and getting the win, Rogan came to life and hurt Skelton with a big right hand in the 11th.
Rogan then staggered Skelton with a left hand. Skelton backed to the ropes where Rogan teed off on him with a blizzard of shots knocking Skelton to the canvas. After a badly hurt Skelton got to his feet, Rogan jumped all over him and hit him with a series of massive right and left hands to the end not letting up until referee John Keane stopped the bout at 1:21 of the 11th round.
In facing Sexton, Rogan meets up with a fighter who has also won the Prizefighter tournament, like Rogan, and who is 13 years younger than Rogan. Sexton may not have the power or the pressure offense that Rogan has, but he’s very impressive with putting his punches together. His only loss of his career is a 6th round stoppage to Derek Chisora in June 2008.
Since defeating Skelton, Rogan has become a wanted man in the heavyweight division with many top heavyweights interested in fighting him. If Rogan, ranked number #11 in the WBO, can keep on winning he might find himself in a world title shot in a year or two against someone like Wladimir Klitschko. Before that, Rogan has a lot of other options on the local scene with English heavyweights.
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