Some Post-Fight Thoughts

Well, what can I say. A disaster for us Brits and for Ricky Hatton. First of all credit to Manny Pacquiao, a fantastic performance and this guy incredibly continues to go from strength to strength as he moves up through the weights. And yesterday he produced another destruction performance. But in terms of Hatton's performance, he was woeful.

As soon as the bell started I watched in hope that he'd do things differently to like he did against Mayweather, I prayed that he'd use his head movement and more rounded boxing ability to get inside, like him and Floyd Sr said he would. But he didn't, he did exactly the same thing.

I made my prediction on this fight based on admittedly one, being British - because I will always back my country's fighters, and two, I banked on a more rounded performance. But I think as confident as some fans may of been, in the back of our minds there was always doubt because Ricky is Ricky, and he will never change his style.

And it was a bad style match-up, yes he was physically stronger and bigger, yes he had the potential to hurt Pac inside if he got close, but none of this mattered because he smothered his own potential by doing exactly what he did against Mayweather. And that's move forward in straight lines, no angles or lateral movement to find a way inside - which was the way to do it.

He tried to use his jab, but it was so poor and so slow that Pac could time the short right hooks perfectly as he brang it back. No head movement either, so everytime he stepped in range he got nailed with left-right-left combinations. On the basis that he gave Pac such an easy job timing him, I knew he was finished the first time he tried to get inside and didn't move his head an inch and got nailed. Because of this he didn't get the opportunity to get inside and work - the only time he got inside was when it was Pac closing the distance and Hatton was hanging on in the clinch for dear life.

I'm not trying to take anything away from Pacquiao because it was a fantastic performance, but I think Ricky's life style has finally caught up with him. I think it caught up with him a long time ago because his punch resistance is gone. Mayweather had him all over the place, Lazcano had him in trouble, hell even Malignaggi had him buzzed in I think round 5 of their fight when he caught Ricky with a right hand and his legs went a bit unstable. But with the fight-plan he used last night, I don't think any version of Ricky would of beaten Pacquiao.

Now what can you say about Pac, the guy continues to amaze me as he fly's through the weights picking up belts and big-name scalps. There is no doubt in my mind that he deserves to be the P4P #1 on the basis of his recent achievement and ability. But somee of the reaction to this win has been a bit over-the-top. I mean for example threads saying he would destroy Floyd Mayweather. Believe you me, Floyd is miles ahead of Ricky in terms of ability, and I will admit that.

Manny definately has a chance because of his southpaw stance, and combination of speed and power, and I believe this because of the early rounds of the Zab Judah fight. Both are a similar sort of size, both probably natural 140's, both speed and powerful and both southpaws. And Zab gave Floyd a bit of trouble early on. But this guy always finds a way to win, he's too good defensively, too sharp, too crisp, too intelligent, too good a counter-puncher in my opinion, for him to lose to Manny.

I'm not sure where Manny goes from here, I'd like to see him fight Floyd if and when he beats JMM, but I don't think he'll win. Shane Mosley is a definate no-go, he would blast Pac out in 3 or 4 rounds max. Hatton's punch resistance let him down badly yesterday, Mosley's chin is made of iron. And his speed and power and aggression will ensure a short night for Pac. Same with Cotto aswell, his power and composite punching skills would tell by round 5 or 6 with Pacquiao on the canvas.

But good luck to him, he produced a great performance yesterday and I will definately be backing this guy if he fights Mayweather. As a neutral I can look at it from a realist point of view, the way I couldn't look at this fght because of my bias towards Hatton, but as a fight fan I think Pacquiao is fantastic for boxing and I'd love to see him be the first man to beat Mayweather. There's question marks over whether the fight will happen but I honestly think it will. It's too big a fight not to be made. There may be questions asked over the cut both fighters will take, I don't think Floyd will accept anything less than 50%, but I think in the end it'll be worked out.

 

Absolutely yeah. Pacquiao was great don't get me wrong, but Hatton showed no improvement under Floyd whatsoever, same old thing we've seen all throughout his career. Coupled with his now pretty obvious lack of punch resistance it made out for a pretty easy win for Pac.

Well, most of us British. I can't see why you'd want to see Hatton get KO'd but there you go.

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He's been a positive influence for boxing as a whole, especially British Boxing. He's got so many people interested and produced some great nights and fantastic events.

 

In fairness, probably both. I mean I'm biased and made my pick based on hope mainly, but I honestly did think aswell that Hatton had a good chance. I wasn't certain like I made out, but I think it was a toss-up.

But this only confirms what I feared, and that is that Hatton can't deal with the real top level guys. He will always be a very good fighter, but not a great fighter unfortunately.

But Manny is on that level of superstardom, I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon and say he will beat Mayweather, Mosley, Cotto etc because I don't think he would, but the guy is entertaining and a helluva a fighter. He's one of those ATG throw-back fighters you only see once in a lifetime and we're privileged to able to live in an era where we can see such a great fighter live.

Yeah no problems man I know your not directing a shot at me, I can see why you'd be a fan of Pac. The guy has a great entertaining style and he's a brilliant fighter and a genuinely good guy.

And that last punch was awful. The way Pacquiao delivered the power into that punch, it was right on the money. Hatton wouldn't have got up with a 10 minute count let alone 10 seconds.

There must always be a slight bit of doubt in a fighter, even the elite guys, and Pacquiao definately has a chance. But Mayweather, as much as I don't like him as a person, is an incredible fighter.

The only thing that convinces me about Floyd Sr is perhaps his work with Guzman and early on that Mayweather Jr. They are 2 very good fighters, I mean Mayweather's a great fighter, but for me it's really guesswork how much of Mayweather's ability is natural talent, work with Floyd Sr and work with Roger.

I was very unimpressed last night, but this morning having seen the 24/7 show for the first time, I saw that clip where he was educating Hatton about the right hook and Hatton in the ring on Fight Night didn't seem to take any notice of what he'd been told at all.