FOTY! What do you think is going to be the single most important factor tonight?

This fight could be another Hagler Hearns or it could be another Leonard Duran I. I don't put big expectations on many big fights but I do believe that we are in for something special tonight.

 

The most important factor will be the Referee. If Hatton is allowed to wrestle and muscle and work inside than he will win. If not, Pacquiao will win.

 

Size and strength, but not in the way most pundits are anaylsing it. Pacquiao looked small against De La Hoya but there won't be too much difference in size tonight, I just don't think Hatton will throw Pacquiao around like a rag doll, he planned this against PBF and was manhandled.

 

Hatton might be faster than both Diaz and DLH, but I believe he also won't be fast or skilled enough to deliver his punches effectively. He will get dominated, no amount of shoelace tying will save him this time.

Hatton 'out in eight.

 

Speed

 

i think the outcome will be determined by the pace of the fight. if pac is allowed to pick the spots where they engage he will cruise to a ud. if ricky can apply constant pressure he will force pac to defend in spots where he is not comfortable doing so. i dont think there will be a ko unless one of them gets really careless and fom what ive seen in their last fights they are both paying closer attention to defence. ricky needs to stay close and throw lots of punches, both for points and to slow manny down as the fight progresses. if ricky spends more time following pac around than he does punching, then pac wins. if pac spends more time defending than setting up his offence, then ricky wins.

 

Stamina is key. Both guys test your stamina physically and mentally. Who ever is more effective at coming forward will win. They both are quick but Pacquiao's movement is the biggest factor

 

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!:yep

 

I think Hatton of a few years ago would give pac more trouble than this version.
That said Hatton has looked better in his last fight than in his previous comebacks where he was caught too often too easy.

If hatton can move his head and not rush in too gung ho I believe he has a great chance to win.

I think at 140lbs he is a monster and I think that pac could be in for a big shock with hatton's strength and pressure if he can't avoid hatton's inside work. The oscar fight for me did not tell us too much about pac moving up in weight.
The diaz fight at 135lb was impressive but diaz in all honesty was a good few classes below pac and was made to look ordinary.
Pac's speed and footwork could be the deciding factor and if he can catch hatton coming in it might stop hatton chargin in.
I dont believe that the speed difference is so great that he will make hatton look slow.

It's looking like it will be a cracking fight, My request would be for at least 7 rounds of top class boxing between the two and no early end

I am going with hatton stoppage as pac is shocked by hattons strength and pressure.

 

I agree, and if not I think Hatton's recklessness can lead to a stoppage for the Pac-man. The only way that I see Hatton winning is if he can make Manny gun-shy. I don't think Hatton is going to fully listen to his corner either.

 

I think there are plenty of factors

Hattons 12 week training camp vs Mannys 8

The size of Hatton, The power he does have, the fact he is going to fight back and make it his fight no matter what.

Then you have Pacquiao on his end after comming off this huge upset over Oscar he has that added pressure that most fighters have when they come off of a Big DLH win, there are expectations just in that alone then you add the fact that he is now considered the best P4P fighter, so the people will expect to see that type of performance from Manny.

Then you have even more added pressure by Mannys mother being ringside for this one, the first time in his entire career that she has attended a live fight of her sons, and its against a man who brought and Army of brits with him.

I just think all the pressure here is really on Manny even though some will argue its on Hatton, but the truth is hattons expected to lose~

I fully expect to see a classic brawl Hatton stopping Manny in the 9th

 

Tszyu wasn't a pressure fighter. He didn't waste punches at all. If he threw something it was a good chance he was going to land it. Manny on the other hand uses more footwork and throws more punches than Tszyu did. The only thing that scares me for Manny's sake is he leaves himself off balance and open to counters when he throws certain punches. Also when he throws combos, sometimes while one hand goes out the other hand is at his waste. A serious puncher or a very accurate puncher can capitalize on this. :bbb

 

In Hatton's most significant win to date, one of the biggest factors was the ref. In fact, he should own a piece of that win.

To lesser degree, the ref was a factor in his only loss.

In the former, Paris allowed Ricky to hold and wrestle too much. In the latter, Cortez prevented Ricky from nearly any of the in-fighting and close-quarters clinching that is part of the game.

I'm hoping that Kenny B gets the balance right tonight.

The ref should play as insignificant as possible a role in determining the outcome of a fight, especially such a huge one.


Against Kostya, Ricky's strategy was heavily predicated on preventing Kostya connecting with his big shots (to the head, mostly).

Tonight, it's Pac who has to find a way to prevent Ricky from landing the big shots, especially to the body.

Ricky would not have dealt well with a shot of the kind Tszyu landed on Zab, and Pac will go down if he catches the body shot Hatton used on Castillo.

These considerations, I believe, will set the tenor of the fight.

Pac has improved with nearly every outing over the past three years and is the better boxer, with better movement. He has great stamina and conditioning, and while he lacks serious power, he can hurt by attrition.

Ricky has IMO, an ugly hit-and-hold style that I don't find appealing. (Pac is much more entertaining to watch). But he is effective. He has always managed to wear his opponent down and pull out the win.

The only exception has been Floyd, who is a better pure boxer than Pac, especially in his defensive game.

If Pac is to win, he need to improve yet again and step up his game to yet another level from what we've seen. He needs to move in, catch Ricky with moderately hard shots and move out without getting caught with anything big. (IMO, anything big landed by Ricky spells the beginning of the end).

If he can do this consistently for the first few rounds, he will frustrate Ricky and sap his energy and, more importantly, his confidence. This would rattle the Manchester boy into losing the focus of his gameplan, and I don't know if Ricky is a particularly adaptive fighter.

For Ricky to win, he has to remain cool and successfully stalk his prey until he lands hard. He has to keep the fight ugly and as close as possible. (If its a boxing match at long range, Ricky loses a wide UD).

So which will it be ?

At this point, I have moved ever so slightly from the 50-50 I held to, when the fight was first made, and I'm now leaning slightly towards Hatton (51-49).


Of the factors that will be in play, I believe Hatton's slight advantage in size and significant advantage in strength, will win out over Pac's advantages in movement and boxing.

Significantly, IMO, if Pac pulls this off, despite what the average fans and the bookies are saying, this will be a major upset.


Hatton by stoppage between rounds 9 and 11.