By Dave Lahr: Ricky Hatton chimed in with his thoughts on who will win the mega fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., saying in an article at the Manilatimes.net, “I think Floyd is too good defensively. He is so hard to hit, and I think he might ultimately just have a few too many tricks up his sleeves for Manny.”

Hatton, 31, should have a pretty good idea who’s the better fighter between Mayweather and Pacquiao, because Hatton did, after all, fight both of them during his career and was beaten by both by knockout.

World Boxing Organization junior flyweight champion Ivan Calderon also thinks that Mayweather would prevail in a fight against Pacquiao, saying “Mayweather would win. He’s got a fighting style much like my own and I see him beating Pacquiao.”

You can get a pretty good idea who would win between Mayweather and Pacquiao without listening to the opinions of fighters by simply looking at how much better Mayweather did against another common opponent Juan Manuel Marquez, who Mayweather totally dominated by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision last September in 2009.

In contrast, Pacquiao went life and death with Marquez, beating him by a highly controversial 12 round split decision in 2008, and fighting to a 12 round draw with Marquez in their first fight in 2004. Pacquiao never really proved that he’s a better fighter than Marquez and it seems all the more strange that Pacquiao fought guys like David Diaz and Joshua Clottey rather than making a move to prove that he’s better than Marquez.

That fight seems like a no brainer if you’re looking to prove that the Marquez win wasn’t a fluke thing based on the whim of the judges. I had Marquez winning the fight by two rounds and that was after I gave a couple of even rounds to Pacquiao just because I figured the judges might do that because he was considered more popular than Marquez.

But I think Hatton and Calderon are dead on with their predictions of a Mayweather win. These are two of the smartest fighters in boxing, and when they speak, you just have to listen. Hatton and Calderon know their fighters and I’m now backing Mayweather to destroy Pacquiao now that they’ve spoken.

Before that, I was on the fence and not sure who to pick, but I got to go with the boxing stars in picking Mayweather to trounce Pacquiao if the fight ever gets signed. You can’t be too sure about these things because something could come up that prevents the fight from happening but I think it will happen this time because Bob Arum seems more willing to negotiate at a slower pace without leaping out for a fight against Clottey.

Boy, that was a weird move I couldn’t understand. That was the time to make the fight happen when Pacquiao was getting a 50-50 deal with Mayweather. I bet it isn’t a 50-50 deal anymore.