By Manuel Perez: If there’s one thing I can’t stand more than anything is an over-hyped fighter like Manny Pacquiao. I don’t mind Pacquiao getting a little praise for some of his accomplishments, but honestly Manny hasn’t done all that much in his career against what I consider quality fighters. Ricky Hatton, by far, is going to be the best opponent of his career on May 2nd.
That’s not that I think that Hatton is a better fighter than Juan Manuel Marquez, who twice fought Pacquiao and twice was given the shaft with terrible scoring, but rather I think that Hatton is much bigger than Marquez and therefore much more dangerous opponent for Pacquiao.
Basically, Pacquiao has fought like three fights in his whole career, those being his first bout against Erik Morales and then the two fights against Marquez. All the remaining fights and opponents of his career have been just a lot of fluff without any substance.
And, of those three fights that Pacquiao has fought, he should have lost all three of them. He did lose the fight against Morales, and lost badly terrible beating by Erik in March 2005. Pacquiao’s two wins over Morales after that don’t count as wins as far I’m concerned because Morales had eaten himself out of the super featherweight division by that time in his career and had to take drastic measures to make weight for the fights.
Pacquiao’s wins over Marco Antonio Barrera don’t count either, because Barrera had been through one through hell and back by the time he fought Pacquiao, having already fought twice against a prime Morales. Remember, it was Morales at the end of his career that gave Pacquiao a boxing lesson, easily beating him.
Just imagine what Morales would have done to Pacquiao if he had fought him in his prime both times instead of at the end of his career. So, besides Morales and Marquez, all the other names on Pacquiao’s record are totally meaningless, including Oscar De La Hoya.
All of those fighters were either much too little, or too old to even be considered as competition for Ricky Hatton. I can just imagine would happen if Fahsan 3K Battery stepped in the ring with Hatton, it wouldn’t be pretty. Hatton would literally be lifting him up with punches to the body and head and would probably send him flying out of the ring with a big shot.
The same would go for Agapito Sanchez, another one of Pacquiao’s super featherweight opponents during his career. Really, there are no accomplishments that Pacquiao has achieved that can prepare him for someone like Hatton. I don’t like Hatton as a fighter, but I got to call like I like I see, he’s going to beat Pacquiao black and blue come May 2nd.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure of the plan that Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach is going to devise to try and beat Ricky. It’ll be something along the lines of Pacquiao bouncing on his toes nonstop in his typical Bruce Lee imitation that he likes to do, with Pacquiao trying to jump in range for quick flurries and then jumping out of range. Roach will have Pacquiao using his right hook to try and nail Hatton coming inside, as well as jabbing him a lot from the outside.
Basically, Pacquiao is going to fight Hatton the same way Manny fought David Diaz, whom he stopped in the 9th round. Pacquiao will use lateral movement and right hooks to try and catch Hatton out of position. It’s up to Hatton to defeat these measures by staying in close to Pacquiao, where he is most vulnerable.
On the inside, Pacquiao is a no better fighter than his brother Bobby Pacquiao, a journeyman. If you watch any number of Pacquiao’s fights, he hates when his opponents get in close to him and he immediately tries to get away so they don’t hit him to the body and head.
In close, Pacquiao is very average. He’s also more comfortable when he’s doing the attacking. When the shoes on the other foot and his opponent is coming at him, for example, in his two fights with Marquez, Pacquiao looks discombobulated mentally and doesn’t appear to know what to do.
He does best when he can run at his opponents with his two-fisted arm punching style. Roach taught Pacquiao to use his jab and right hook much more than he used. In fact, Pacquiao primarily was a one-armed puncher for most of his career using his left for everything.
Roach broke him of this and now has Pacquiao shooting the jabs and banging with his right hook. Hatton must not let Pacquiao bounce around on the outside, because with his quickness he’ll be able to jump in fast, land flurries and then run away to the outside.
Pacquiao will try to act like a matador with Hatton coming at him, jumping out of the way and trying to pick him off with fast shots – mostly hooks – with Hatton out of position. I have little doubts that Hatton will be agile enough to turn on Pacquiao and blast him if Ricky ends up not catching Pacquiao.
It’s pretty clear that Pacquiao will try to be elusive and hope to pound Hatton with fast shots as Hatton leans forward trying to land. Once on the inside Hatton needs to let his hands go fast, because Roach is probably going to have Pacquiao clinching Hatton.
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