By Scott Gilfoid: Since the fight is only two weeks away, I suppose is the best time as any for me to make my prediction on the Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs) vs. Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) super fight at MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 2nd. I really like Hatton, I really do, but I think he’s going to get massacred in this fight. I don’t know if any of you are familiar with Custer’s last stand or not, but I see this fight as kind of a repeat of that famous battle.
Hatton is going to be surrounded by a quicker Pacquiao and find himself taking shots from every side as he futilely tries to pot shot against the lancing shots that are being poured in on him from every angle by the lightning fast Pacquiao. Hatton won’t have the hand speed or the fire power to beat back the constant incoming fire from Pacquiao and will be overwhelmed from the beginning.
I think Hatton’s got the power to make it interesting in the becoming of the skirmish, but once it gets beyond the 3rd round, the blistering fire from Pacquiao will be too much for Hatton, who will cover up in a fetal ball and just get pounded into the canvas. Unlike what some people see this fight as turning out, it won’t be a case of Hatton going down punching as he takes the arrow-like punches from Pacquiao.
Instead, I see Hatton losing his senses completely and getting destroyed without putting up much of a fight after the 3rd. It will be a case of him not having a cool head, using his intelligence by staying mounted and moving on around the battle instead of moving to a fixed position and fighting it out.
Like Custer, Hatton’s ego will be his undoing because he will try to beat a superior Pacquiao who has vastly more offensive weapons he possesses. After the fight is over, people – his boxing fans – will wonder what went wrong for Hatton and why did he lose his head and go to pieces under fire. They may even glorify what took place and give him a heroic twice, but it will matter little, because in the end he will still have been destroyed.
If Hatton had more weaponry and better hand speed, he might be able to hold off the murderous salvos that he’s going to be assaulted with by Pacquiao, but he won’t have the needed armament to deal with the blistering shots for long. It see Hatton as being able to stand up under the raining punching for four, maybe five rounds but no more than that. At that point, Hatton will be pierced with too many shots and will drop for the ten count as he loses it mentally and physically.
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