By Scott Gilfoid: Well, I’ve now seen the 1st installment of Pacquiao-Hatton 24/7 and I’ve got say that Ricky Hatton has no chance whatsoever of beating Pacquiao on May 2nd in Las Vegas, Nevada. There was a short period of time there were I was listening to some of Hatton’s British fans crow about how great he has an all, and I almost took the hook. But, after seeing Pacquiao training with legendary trainer Freddie Roach at the Wild card Gym in Los Angeles, I can’t see how Hatton’s going to win this fight.
Honestly, Hatton might as well quit wasting his time training and get ready to come up with some good excuses for losing.
Hatton’s no going to win, that much is obvious watching him go through the motions in his training with new trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr.
I also think that Hatton’s wasting his time with Mayweather Sr., because the training is both too light and all wrong for Hatton’s style. I don’t what Hatton’s doing with Mayweather Sr. He spends a lot of time throwing slow motion punches at Ricky’s face and it’s a total waste of time. Believe me, that kind of stuff is a complete waste of time.
I studied both boxing and Karate for number of years, and I never saw anything good that came of throwing slow motion punches while in training. It doesn’t mimic real life combat, and won’t get Hatton ready for the speed, brutality and intensity that Pacquiao brings into the bout on May 2nd.
If Mayweather Sr. wants to help Hatton, he’ll have a young guy with speed – someone like Timothy Bradley or Junior Witter – throw blinding shots at Hatton without gloves and let’s see how well Hatton dodges, ducks and picks off the shots with his hands.
That’s what Hatton needs to be doing, not playing around with a 56-year-old man in slow motion. Hatton is supposed to be working on his speed, not slow motion fighting. If it was me, I’d tell Mayweather Sr. to bring in some young fighters and have him stand back and train without time wasting shadow boxing with him.
I also see Pacquiao making some mistakes as well by having Roach wear body armor and letting Pacquiao pound him on the gloves and body with fast shots. Roach is way too slow to help Pacquiao any in this exercise and it’s just a big waste of time.
He needs a younger fighter doing that chore while Roach points out mistakes that are being made. The only one that seemed to be doing any real coaching was Michael Moorer, and I’m not sure how receptive Pacquiao was to his pointers judging by the way that Manny wasn’t even looking at Moorer when he was talking to him. That’s not a good sign. But with the talent Pacquiao has, it doesn’t matter who he trains with. He’s like on auto pilot and can win in spite of what I see as bad training from Roach.
Hatton looks completely lost without his old trainer, and doesn’t seem to be entirely comfortable with Mayweather Sr. as of yet. I don’t blame him, because it’s all wrong and he’s going lose because of it.
If Hatton thinks he’s going to be able to be able to outbox the faster Pacquiao, then he needs to get his head examined. Ricky WON’T be able to outbox Pacquiao, and he needs to understand that before the takes place. Hatton’s not fast enough, isn’t as elusive as Pacquiao and doesn’t have the history of having proved himself against quality boxers.
Face it, Hatton is what he is. He’s a slugger who’s gotten by with brute strength against quite a bit of easy, handpicked opponents during his career. Hatton was managed carefully early on and given a lot of easy fodder in the same way that Amir Khan has been served up with C-class competition.
Facing a 36-year-old Kostya Tszyu proved little because of the age of the Russian fighter by the time that Hatton fought him, yet the fight was close all the way through it until the end when Hatton got the stoppage.
If that was me who beat Tszyu, I wouldn’t be happy at all with my performance, because look at how old Tszyu was at the time. There’s no victory over a fighter that age.
If you don’t believe me, six years from now when Hatton’s an old 36, put him in with one of the best light welterweights in the division and see how well he’ll do. I’m not talking about the best light welterweight, because that wouldn’t be fair at all to Hatton. I’m referring to a top five light welterweight.
Hatton would literally get torn to pieces if he sticks around and fights a top light welterweight six years from now, which is why I see it so bizarre that many of his friends see the Tszyu as a big accomplishment. It was? Okay, then bring Hatton into the ring in six years and let’s see how well he’ll do against a young, top light welterweight.
Hatton is really going to get destroyed by Pacquiao next month and I can’t see it turning out any other way than that. I just hope that as soon as Hatton’s knocked out, he gets a clue and figures out that he’s wasting his time with Mayweather Sr., and that he’s never going to be anything other than what he’s always been – a slugger that likes to wrestle a lot on the inside.
That’s what Hatton needs to be training for, and not trying to learn how to box. It’s too late for that now. He should be learning how to slam into Pacquiao and try to bump him into the ropes where he can mug him. Pacquiao is going to be training to keep the fight in the center of the ring, and if he can do that, Hatton is going to take a pounding. Hatton, from what I see of him, won’t have a backup plan to use.
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