The truth about Pacquiao v Hatton

Ricky Hatton won the light-welterweight championship in 2005.

- He did so by choosing to fight the best fighter in the division, Kostya Tszyu, a feared puncher and highly rated fighter pound-for-pound fighter.

- The guy became a world champion, looked up, saw the world pound-for-pound number 1 Floyd Mayweather in the division above him, and immediately thought of glory and greatness, and began planning how to get that fight, the biggest and the toughest fight available to him.

- He moved up to a weight division he was not comfortable in and beat a good champion Luis Collazo, and had to go to the USA to do this. This was to legitimize a fight with Mayweather by proving he could cut it at 147lbs, and to pressure Mayweather by holding a title in the same division as him.

- After being KO'd by Mayweather and looking very very shaky against Lazcano, Hatton again had the balls to go to the US and risk it against the consensus number 2 in his division, the slick Paulie Malignaggi, and Hatton was back to his best - or maybe even better than ever??



Manny Pacquiao won a world title at flyweight in 1998.

- Despite having been KO'd twice and having rarely fought in outside of Asia, he challenged world pound-for-pound number 3 Marco Antonio Barrera up at featherweight in Texas in 2003, Barrera having beaten top quality opposition like Hamed and Morales in the last couple of years leading up to that bout. Pacquiao annihilated MAB in 11 dominant rounds.

- Since then he has had wars with great fighters like Erik Morales (three times), Juan Manuel Marquez (twice), Barrera again, and has become the first former flyweight champion ever to win a world title at lightweight, and has also won a fight up at welterweight by dominating the far far naturally bigger Oscar De La Hoya. The guy is a weight-jumping miracle, regularly fighting and beating a high standard of naturally bigger boxers.



The conclusion?

Both of these guys have proved to be fearless. They have both proved their balls by the fights they have taken on and the way they have performed when it has come to the crunch.

All this talk of one being scared of the other or one ducking the other is infantile nonsense.


Pacquiao is the world pound-for-pound number 1, and the biggest star in the sport following his high-profile win over Oscar De La Hoya, and this has went to his head a little, understandably. He is the more highly rated and more proven fighter than Hatton, and he views this fight as having everything to gain for Hatton and everything to lose for him. He wants what he feels he deserves as the current kingpin - the lion's share. I think every p4p#1 has felt this way.

Hatton is the most popular fighter in the world. His fans can bring more revenue to the table than the fans of any other fighter. The fight is in Hatton's division and is for his title. He is not a journeyman, he is not a tomato can, he is not David Diaz, he is also a pound-for-pound ranked fighter and has topped the bill in big fights in the US before. For all that Hatton brings to this fight, he wants what he feels he deserves - a 50-50 split and recognition as an equal. I think it's only natural the most popular fighter in the world feels this way.


And neither man wants to back down. They both know this is a very dangerous fight for them, it's high high stakes, and neither one wants to take the risk without ensuring the highest possible reward if they are successful.

There's probably a bit of machismo there too, this is two proud warriors we have here, and neither wants to be seen to cave given how public this negotiation process has been.


No-one is scared. No-one is ducking. Pride is on the line, that's all.

Either Pac will compromise or Hatton will cave, or we will all miss out on the biggest fight of the year.

Either one of them could make it happen. I'm sure we all hope one of them does.

:bbb

 

Thanks mate.

I have always said I think Manny will knock Ricky out late, but I say that with very little confidence. I view this fight as about as near to a 50-50 as it gets. I re-watched Hatton-Tszyu the other night and it chilled me to my very soul! Hatton is a natural lww, and a ****ing beast of a lww at that. A Hatton win would not surprise me in the slightest. I remember not being too downcast when Morales beat Pac because it was a true warrior and a brilliant fighter that had beaten him. That's the way I feel about this fight. I will be rooting for Pac and I'll HATE to see him beaten, but I will be happy for Ricky if he does win.

But I stick to my original prediction. Speed kills, and Pac has the stamina to ensure his hands are just as fast in round 12 as they were in round 1. I just don't think Ricky will be able to hang with that late on, but as I said, you just don't know with this fight.