By Adam Laiolo: Much has been predicted since the announcement of this fight a fair few months back. It seems that everyone from trainers and fighters to writers and analysts is giving their ten cents, and nearly everyone is leaning towards a landslide victory for one or the other. A comparison to the blowout of Thomas Hearns vs. Marvin Hagler has been made, which is a big shout. There’s so many variables and factors that can swing either way it’s hard to know, or maybe it’s nigh on impossible to know what happens come fight night.
Every article is so biased one way or another it’s hard to know whose facts are facts, or whose are just twisted truth. But let’s push through the BS and look at stone cold facts for each guy.
Manny Pacquiao
The current pound for pound king, former title holder in four weights and probably the most exciting fighter on the planet for his gung ho relentlessness. After this past year Freddie Roach claimed it was the best year of Manny’s career, that he had surprised even himself in how far he could go. Well over the past year, he’d lost a fight, in this writer’s eyes against serial stalker Juan Manuel Marquez. Then opted out of a rematch and left Juan Manuel down at super featherweight to rot whilst he went to claim another title in another division.
Stepping up to lightweight was meant to be exciting, Manny stepping up to face Nate Campbell or Juan Diaz or Joel Casamayor all excellent fighters and all the best lightweights at that time. But Manny went for David Diaz, a durable fighter with far less talent than Manny, but held a WBC belt. Hardly a bold choice in terms of what he could have had against Campbell or Casamayor but the idea was it was paving way for something bigger.
Enter Oscar De La Hoya, searching high and low for a fight that would make him the money what the rematch with Mayweather Jr. would’ve got him. No one knew he would search that low, which presented Manny with a golden opportunity that rarely comes along.
A fight where he had nothing to lose. Oscar hadn’t weighed so low in nearly 8 years, so by being so weight drained he couldn’t put up a fight against Manny and wouldn’t even rise off his stool he was that broken down physically and mentally. That isn’t the greatest year I’ve seen and believe that he could most certainly have stepped up against a better lightweight than Diaz.
Would these results have been the same if he fought someone at the top of the lightweight and welterweight divisions? Maybe Nate Campbell and Miguel Cotto? I think we’d still be seeing Manny in a hospital if they were the options he’d gone for. Those fights were well thought out and calculated before any decision was made.
Still, stepping into 2 unknown territories in terms of weight classes and beating two fighters is respectable but not ground breaking. I don’t think it’s possible to over-hype what Manny Pacquiao has done in his career, he’s an all time great no doubt about it and a popular fighter with an exciting style and pleasant demeanor to go with it.
But this past year he’s been made into Superman more than Pacman. It’s true that your chin doesn’t improve in going up in weight, let’s not forget that Manny has been floored and knocked out by fighters from flyweight to super featherweight, his defense is lacking.
Manny is not hard to hit, it’s just that if you hit him he’s probably already starting a flurry of punches at lightning speed right back at you. And with moving up and down in weights over the past year, he hasn’t settled at any of them. Fighting at lightweight then welterweight doesn’t make you a good light-welterweight and I’m unconvinced that Manny is settled both in himself and with what to expect from any top rated fighters at those weights.
In Ricky Hatton, here is the first top rated fighter at a weight Manny has fought since Juan Manuel Marquez. To over-look a reigning Ring-Magazine and number 1 at a weight against someone who’s never even fought at that weight is dangerous. Especially when if you take a closer look, Manny hasn’t established himself at a weight within 5-10 pounds either side of light-welterweight.
Manny will bring what he always brings to the ring, that raw tenacity, overwhelming speed of hand and foot, he is an enigma. He is the closest we’ve had to an heir to Henry Armstrong and win or lose this fight, he has many options around him. He has to be able to maintain his speed, he can’t get caught up and take body shots. He needs to be as quick as he can for as long as the fight goes on, keep Hatton moving and missing and wear him down with punches. If Freddie Roach is right, then Hatton will just revert to type and will be there to pick off.
Ricky Hatton
Ricky’s career over the past few years has been like a heart- monitor in a hospital. From being on-top of the world as a two divisional champion and fighting pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather and losing soundly, to nearly quitting and a sloppy, lackluster performance against Juan Lazcano. Coupled with parting from long time friend and trainer Billy Graham it seemed like Ricky’s time as a top rated pound for pound fighter was over.
Enter Floyd Mayweather Sr., who took what looked like a dog ready to put down and made him into a prize winning pup again. Paulie Malignaggi stepped up as the number 1 contender and had established himself as the best light-welterweight under Ricky Hatton, posed a minor threat. I believe this was very alike to the Oscar fight for Manny. Not for weight issues, but purely for the risk factor.
Malignaggi wasn’t going to buzz Ricky even if he hit him with a sledgehammer, such is Paulie’s power. But it gave Ricky the chance to showpiece and try out his new style, with little or no risk or interruption. It was the right fight in a sense that Ricky could go out, practice everything Floyd Mayweather Sr. has shown him and put into play.
And all the time Ricky was taking on the number one contender, so definitely a carefully and calculated choice of opponent. But now Ricky has to put it all in for real, once again against the best fighter in the world. The weight advantage clearly lies with Hatton, especially after rehydrating overnight and coming in at around 150-152 pounds.
In Malignaggi he fought a fighter that’s about as fast as they get at light-welterweight, just there was no venom in those punches. Manny is clearly faster than a weight drained Oscar at welterweight and moves-like-a-bus David Diaz, but to be as quick as Malignaggi would be a great achievement for Manny, because there will be power behind every punch with him.
But here’s where it could come a dud, Ricky has been hit by a big welterweight in Luis Collazo and a freakishly big light-welterweight in Juan Urango so is there a chance Ricky could take Manny’s best shots? The area Ricky is going to have to get right is shutting the ring down and getting his shots in.
If Manny is allowed the room to move, whether he’s natural at the weight or not, he’s going to move. And fast. If Ricky isn’t sharp and clever enough to cut Manny off and allows him space then those lightning combinations will have room to be executed. Ricky will have to get inside and rough Manny up, and not cheating as people claim.
Mexicans have done it years with rolling in with shoulders and elbows and inside fighting is as much a part of the sport as distance fighting. Manny needs space and probably has never been pushed around by someone naturally a lot bigger than him. Ricky needs to let Manny know what he’s in for with the first punch, and I think that, along with Manny’s speed, is the defining point.
Ricky has only ever been down once at light-welter, against Eamonn McGhee early on in his career. The other is Floyd Mayweather Jr., so he doesn’t go down like a sack of spuds. The odds point to either a Ricky Hatton knockout or a Manny Pacquiao unanimous points decision, but if Ricky can fire those fearsome body shots then Manny is in trouble. Ricky has to get in range and unload to the body and chin, don’t let the guy breathe and he should be able to stop Manny, but then I’m biased.
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