By Manuel Perez: Oscar De La Hoya let loose the dogs of war in an interview with Sky Sports, saying Floyd “Mayweather Sr. is a better coach [than Freddie Roach].” De La Hoya, 36, was previously trained by Roach, and said that he still loves him but thinks that Floyd is a better technical coach and better physically than Roach. De La Hoya said “I have to take my hat off to Ricky [Hatton] for picking Floyd Mayweather Sr. because that was the best thing he could do.”
De La Hoya went on to pick Hatton to win by late knockout over Pacquiao tomorrow night at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas. De La Hoya said that Pacquiao doesn’t like bring pressured, and that Pacquiao seemed uncomfortable when Erik Morales (who beat Pacquiao by a 12-round unanimous decision in 2005) was pressuring Pacquiao.
De La Hoya thinks that Hatton can win by pressuring Pacquiao, using his jab to wear Pacquiao down. De La Hoya went on to point out that when he fought Pacquiao – and lost by an 8th round stoppage in December 2008 – Oscar wasn’t at his best because he was weight drained and weak. However, De La Hoya sees Hatton as being the “real deal. He has the overall skills.”
There you have it, straight from De La Hoya’s mouth. He knows who the better fighter is and who the better trainer is, and at the end of the day, the better trained athlete will win tomorrow’s fight. Pacquiao is a great fighter, De La Hoya points out, but Hatton is a solid 140 pounder, is natural for the weight and is used to fight at 140.
Pacquiao has little experience against larger fighters like Hatton, and the only fight that Pacquiao has at this level, an 8th round win over De La Hoya, hardly counts because of De La Hoya’s poor conditioning that he was in for the fight.
Yeah, I know that’s not Pacquiao’s fault. Pacquiao did what he was supposed to do by taking advantage of De La Hoya’s weight drained body and beat him. However, my point is that Pacquiao won’t have that same luck tomorrow night and will be facing a fighter in Hatton that is fighting at his normal weight and who will be much bigger, stronger and aggressive than any fighter that Pacquiao has ever faced before in his career.
This is why I agree with De La Hoya’s prediction. Hatton will be knocking Pacquiao out tomorrow night and he’s going to shock the world in the process. Right now, not too many people are picking Hatton to win against Pacquiao, but boy are they going to be wrong.
Hatton isn’t just going to win, I see him destroying Pacquiao with power shots and making him look like a fighter that doesn’t belong at light welterweight. In fact, Pacquiao doesn’t belong at this weight, but after tomorrow night it will be academic.
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