By Manuel Perez: In television coverage of the lead up to the mega fight between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton for their May 2nd bout in Las Vegas, Nevada, I couldn’t help but notice that Pacquiao appears to be really nervous around Hatton, looking almost afraid of him in a way that I’ve never seen Pacquiao look before.
Could it be that Pacquiao realizes that he may have bit off more than he can chew by agreeing to fight the English bulldog? Unlike Oscar De La Hoya, who looked sickly because of a bad diet before his fight with Pacquiao, Hatton looks much bigger than Pacquiao and much more powerful. It’s quite startling difference in size and physical build.
Oh, I’m sure that Pacquiao will have the speed advantage in this fight, but I can’t help thinking that Hatton is going to snap Pacquiao in two like a little twig. Pacquiao may be now weighing in the 140s, but Pacquiao still looks too small for a fighter as powerful as Hatton, and worse than that, Pacquiao looks unsure of himself and frightened.
In his past bouts against Juan Manuel Marquez, De La Hoya, Erik Morales, and David Diaz, Pacquiao always looked confident, like a cat that had cornered a mouse. You could tell just by looking at Pacquiao who was going to win the fight, and sure enough, Pacquiao generally came out. However, with Hatton, it looks like the roles have reversed.
Hatton looks confident and mean in comparison to the worried look on Pacquiao’s face. Recently, I had been thinking that Pacquiao was going to easily this fight and make quick work of Hatton, but not now. I can tell 100% that Pacquiao is not only going to lose this fight, he’s going to be knocked out by Hatton, and I know I’m going to be right.
Pacquiao may have easily defeated the much bigger De La Hoya in an 8th round stoppage in December, but that fight was pretty much meaningless because of the physical condition that De La Hoya was when he came into the bout. I think Pacquiao recognizes that himself, and probably realizes that he didn’t accomplish a whole heck of a lot in beating up a weight drained De La Hoya.
Against Hatton, Pacquiao must realize that things will be dramatically different. Hatton won’t have to starve himself to make the weight, and indeed, he’ll be fighting at his normal weight for this fight and won’t have to jump through so many hoops the way that Oscar did in his preparation to make weight for his bout with Pacquiao.
This means that Pacquiao will be entering a level of fighting that he’s never faced before. Pacquiao was taken to the limit by Juan Manuel Marquez, and due to some poor scores from a couple of judges, Pacquiao was able to squeak by Marquez.
However, if you ask most Americans who won the fight, they all pretty much will tell you that it was Marquez that should have won. Nothing has changed since that time, Pacquiao’s the same fighter he was back then. Instead of doing the right thing and giving Marquez a rematch with different judges involved, Pacquiao sought out easier pickings, beating lightweight David Diaz, a decent fighter but not a great one, and then destroying the starved looking De La Hoya.
Now, after those two easy fights which were never going to be competitive from the first because of the talent gap and De La Hoya’s poor physical conditioning, Pacquiao finds himself in a real fight against a fighter with talent, size, power and in good health. I feel sorry for Pacquiao in a way. He’s going to lose and lose badly in this one.
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