By Simon Hirst: In a huge suprise, Manny Pacquaio knocked out Ricky Hatton in the 2nd round of their fight at the MGM in Las Vegas. The surprise isn’t so much that Manny Pacquaio beat Hatton, but it’s more the ease in which Pacquaio did it. Before the fight, Ricky Hatton looked sumpremely confident, arguably more confident and relaxed than Manny Pacquaio, but once the bell rung, it was a completely different story.

Ricky’s tactics seemed all wrong for the fight, with it being unclear whether these were the tactics employed by Mayweather Snr. Pacquaio got the better of the opening exchanges using his superior speed to keep Hatton at bay. Any success Hatton had was minor and it wasn’t long before Hatton hit the canvas with a right hook.

Hatton got up, but bizarrely, rather than protect himself, preceded to move forward into Pacquaio’s trap and before the end of the round, was down again after a barrage of punches, with a straight left sliding of Hatton’s glove onto his temple.

Surprisingly, Hatton didn’t change his tactics much in the second round and got caught clean by Pacquaio and with roughly a minute to go, Pacquaio caught him clean with a left hook with all of Pacquaio’s power and Hatton was KO’d.

No attempt at a count was made as it took several minutes for Hatton to clear his head and get to his feet. For Pacquaio, he cemented his current status as number one in the pound for pound rankings. For Hatton, it would seem like the end of the road with no clear options ahead of him.

Before the fight, there was a rumoured fall out between Hatton and Mayweather, with Mayweather reportedly being late to training sessions and getting to the actual fight. When Hatton entered the ring, there was no eye contact as they acknowledged each other, which isn’t a good sign.

This cold behaviour between them was highlighted when Mayweather squirted water in Hatton’s face to wake him up. Of course, I personally don’t believe this would have had a huge effect on the outcome of the fight because Hatton’s punch resistance against Pacquaio’s power wouldn’t have changed, but you can’t help but feel it was an unwelcome distraction.

It was also worrying that Hatton didn’t seem to have a plan B should his game plan of trying to bully Pacquaio didn’t work. He didn’t get behind his jab, there was little to no head movement and he was far too easy to hit with the counter punch. Hatton had around 12 weeks to prepare for this fight and as the saying goes, an leopard doesn’t change his spots.

With that said, I think credit should go to Pacquaio who has the world at his feet. With huge potential fights ahead of him, it seems likely he’ll move up a weight division as that is where the big money lies. He has potential fights against Mosley, Cotto and Mayweather to look forward to and i believe he has the beating of all.

Mosley, despite his amazing win against Margarito, may be the next victim of Pacquaio, whoshould he take on and beat Mosley, should change his nickname to legend killer. Then there is Miguel Cotto, who is a very good fighter, has a terrific punch, but can be vunerable if pressured and I feel Cotto may fall into Hatton’s trap and try to bully Pacquaio only to get counter punch throughout the fight.

Finally, there is Mayweather Jr. This is the fight I believe most fans want to see happen, although I think Pacquaio could and probably will take another fight before this happens. Mayweather is a defensive master, but in Pacquaio, he’ll fight someone who is a similiar speed.

I don’t believe Mayweather’s chin has properly been tested. I believe if Manny Pacquaio catches some of the punches Hatton took tonight, then it’ll be a very interesting fight. Of course, there will be those who compare the results, as both Mayweather and Hatton will have fought Hatton, De La Hoya and Marquez.

Pacquaio already wins as he stopped Hatton in 2 compared to Mayweather’s 10 and De La Hoya was taken to a split decision in favour of Mayweather and Pacquiao forced him to quit on his stool. Hopefully, this is some fire that will get Floyd to want to take on Pacquaio should he get past the excellent Marquez, which in my opinion, is far from a certainty.

As for tonight, Pacquiao proved he’s the best in the world and for Hatton, I think retirement awaits. He’s made enough money out of boxing to not need the sport anymore and despite his disappointment, I think it proved the time is right for him to go.