Hatton next on Pac Man's menu?

Ben

you are not wrong with your comments re ricky's weight - i couldnt believe it when i saw the photo from saturday night. how is it possible to put on that much weight in 2 weeks? he hasnt been hanging out with the Gallaghers, he has been chillin with Ronald McDonald, the Colonel and the Burger King.

i cant see him beating Pac-Man unless he starts training immediately on the turn of the new year. listen to Mayweather Snr and cut out the beer and cakes. 1 more year of dedication and then ricky can look back on a good year - hey if he cut out the vices immediately then i could see him beating Pac-Man and running PBF a lot closer in a fight Autumn 2009. but if he doesnt he will get taken to the cleaners by either of them

I think Mayweather Sr is spitting blood at an already over-bloated Hatton! Hopefully now he's punished his liver with the Oasis boys he'll keep himself in semi-trim shape.

I for one thought DLH was going to stop Pacman and stop him early. This all changed when i heard the news he'd only managed to rehydrate himself to the measly tune of 2lbs, i for one was expecting him to be back up around 14lbs. At that point i'd already handed the bookies an early Christmas bonus. Pacman did fight well though, but if you had tied a bell to DLH's chin a blind man would have fancied a go - wasn't as if he could get out of the way of Pacmans pitter patter before Pacman realised he could stop him. All rather sad to see especially when it's one of your boxing heroes taking a beating

Hatton v Pacman then. Wembley. Hmmmm, could be an absolute humdinger as neither of them will take a backward step. Will Pacman find it as easy against a guy who's never been beaten at 140lbs?

To stir this up i happen to think Hatton can do it, hazarding a vague guess probably with a KO left hook to either body or head. Pacman (when leading with the straight left) leaves his right hand extremely low, fancy Ricky to jump straight in there.

Now, there'll be the usual 'what are you talking about' posts, but what was proved on Saturday? That Pacman can indeed mix it at a much higher weight? Nope. DLH was so shot (more so than people realised he may be, especially coming down the weights) that it's impossible to gauge if Pacman can take a shot from a much bigger guy, if Marquez (now at lightweight) can wobble him then i'm pretty sure Hatton could.

Good blog Ben

That Terry Downes comment you mention all those years ago still rings true to this day, never before can I remember such an honest and accurate assessment of a fight against one of the true greats. He, and everyone else knew that if they had met in Sugar Ray's prime there would have been no contest, dare I say they never would have even fought each other.
One of my favourite moments in boxing was that, I wish others in the modern era would follow suit. A certain fight just weeks ago involving a Welsh 'legend' could have done with a dose of that.

I must confess I had predicted a ODLH win purely based on the weight and size avantage but I don't think many knew just how far gone he was. A crying shame to see such a man reduced to that, I hope he has enough money in the bank to walk away.

As for a Hatton v Pacquiao match up,well, it would surely go down as a epic, providing the Mancurian can sort his conditioning out. I too was shocked at his weight gain, is that even possible?
They would both be fighting at their proper weight but as you noted Ben the 'pacman' has fought fighters of equal if not greater ability and style and beaten them. A tough one to call which is what makes it so intriguing. If it is hosted at Wembley then I will be there as will many thousand others I suspect.
It is certainly the most exciting prospect in world boxing at the moment so finger's crossed.

On a different note, I very much doubt Mayweather will come out of retirement to face Pacquiao. In all honesty the 'pretty boy' would come out as pretty as he went in and would go no further in enhancing his reputation.He would be just too good.

Nice write up although i disagree with you about hatton not being a legend.....He is definitely a legend, love him or hate him, if he quit today he would always be remembered as a boxing legend.

I agree with comment 1, if he wants to beat pac man (and we all know he is capable) then he better pull his finger out straight after crimbo.

I don't know how many people watched De la hoya/ Pacquiao 24/7 but i noticed oscar didnt have that zip in his punches when sparring or hitting the bags whereas pac man was viscious in every session, boxing is so unpredictable but it was quit clear before the fight that oscars heart was in it but the power and speed of old had gone.

my prediction: Ricky Hatton to stop Pac man via brutal rib cracking in the fifth round.

Pacman Vs The Hitman what a fight that would be. Can't see Hatton winning especialy if he gains more weight before he gets back in the gym.

But there could still be a lot to gain for both fighters. A good showing from Hatton against the PFP champion could do great things for his reputation. And a good win for Pacquiao would be impressive at 140lbs against a fighter who would offer a lot more power than DLH did.

Great for the fans, great for the fighters what more can you ask for!

One of the better bloggers on here along with Tim Vickery, always good to read your thoughts after a fight.

Pacman is my favourite boxer, probably ever. His defence comes from his attack, constantly bopping and weaving and dancing, hardly anyone can touch him. I remember Mayweather doing his stint on Dancing With The Stars (although i never watched it), Pacman would surely win it!.

To move up two weight divisions and put in that kind of performance is magnificent. Before i watched the fight i thought that the extra weight would make him slow(er), but how wrong i was! Remember Hatton moved up 1 weight division and looked totally out of sorts. Pacman is a freak of nature, in a good way :)

Pacman vs Hatton will be next, their is no doubt. Being from greater manchester my heart should be torn, but after the way Hatton glorified (sp) his defeat against Mayweather i've lost a lot of respect for him. And Pacman will destroy him. He's quicker, lighter on his toes, got a better head movement and is a good tactician.

But i'm surprised Ben! You've only gone one step ahead! Surely, this fight will be an eliminator to face Mayweather? And i think, probably know, that Mayweather vs Pacman will be the best fight this century. The pound for pound kings going toe to toe will be amazing. And because i'm biased (im no sitting on the fence david cameron), i think Pacman would win. Pacman is just too good in every department now to be beaten. What people forget is his chin and his heart. For all his amazing movement and boxing skills, he can go toe to toe with someone and still win.

Pacman is one of the all time greats their is no doubt. After Hatton and hopefully Mayweather, he will be the greatest there can be no doubt (the fact hes not american means that he has to work harder to achieve such recognition)

Luckily I had the fortune of watching the fight on saturday between Manny and ODLH. From the HBO point of view, De La Hoya has fought southpaws before, but not southpaw champions. Pacman started off at 112lbs and through his career, his maximum weight was 147lbs and he still possessed this freakish power. The criteria for a p4p fighter is surely courage, strength, power, ability, speed, knowing when to slip and move punches, legwork, footwork, taking a punch and having the heart to take it and giving it yourself. The most important of all is where you can move up weights and actually decide if you possess enough power, speed and agility to fight at the new weight.

We have seen Hatton move up from 140lbs where he is the king. He moves up to 147lbs and gets his head boxed off for 10 rounds. What you need to remember is that De La Hoya took Mayweather to a split decision only 18 months ago, and this is the reason why. FMJ wasn't an intelligent boxer against the golden boy. He was in fact fighting de la hoyas fight. Pacman, on the other hand was fighting his own fight, and I heard the old trainer of the golden boy, freddie Roach, tell the Pacman "if you feel your back against the ropes, move to the side and get into the middle." Now, there is a reason as to why he said that. De La Hoya is only effective if you are backed into a corner or against the ropes due to his left hook either onto the jaw, or into the ribs. Pacman fought his own fight in the middle of the ring and de la hoya was simply out of his territory.

Personally, although I was born in Manchester, I cannot see Hatton beating Pacman at 147lbs, because the HBO network were right in stating(and finally acknowledging) that Manny Pacquiao rules the divisions from 130lbs to 147lbs and unfortunately this is bad news for Hatton. If Pacquiao has so much power and speed at 147lbs to destroy de la hoya, then he will possess even more speed, power, agility etc.

Mannys brawling days are over if he continues at the higher weights, because he can not afford to hit by the bigger guys again and again, it will tell towards the end of a fight, that why he and freddie got the tactics spot on and a round of applause for actually pulling them off on the night, bravo .

Ands why I believe manny has more in the locker than someone like pbf as he can obvisouly brawl but is also able to box, and i believe all true champions should be able to do a little bit of everyting it takes when the title is on the line.

Would like to see hatton v pac man in the spring/summer, then maybe pbf v pac man in the autumn/winter.

I think the manny v hatton would suit both fighter IMO. Hatton fights at his own weight, against a smaller man. Manny gets to come back down in weight because if he fought a full blown welter like margarito he would get crushed, although he still looked very sharp and fast with the extra muscle, i think light welter may suit manny the best for the future.

I could'nt understand why the bookies had Pacman at odds of 2-1+ when Oscar was obviously past his prime (though at his prime he was a great fighter).I think that Hatton love him as i do won't be able to cope with Pacman though it will be a great fight to watch.Froch after his fantastic fight is being hyped to fight Calzaghe can't see him winning that.It was nice to see Amir fighting solidly not just flashy though it was a mismatch Fagan did have a good rep for durability so perhaps the sparring with Pacman and coaching from Roach is going to pay off .
And lets hope that Oscar De la Hoya and Audlet both come to their respect senses and start media work if they need money.

Pacquiao vs Mayweather Jr- imagine what a fight that would be!

First off MUFC - they won't fight at 147lbs, they'll fight at the jr welterweight limit of 140lbs.

Where was Pacquiao's power on Saturday? I didn't see DLH legs wobble at any point, his corner took him out of the fight because he was in no way shape or form to stop the punches. His left eye was shutting from getting pinned regularly but that was about it. He even told Roach afterwards that he couldn't pull the trigger and was done.

All we saw was an old guy who was shot being put into retirement, sure he took FMJ to a split decision 18 months ago but he faded massively after the first 5/6 rounds. And 18 months ago is a long time when you're 35 years old.

Whilst Pacquiao has been in with more big name fighters than Hatton he hasn't necessarily shone. He was lucky to draw against Marquez (in their 1st fight at featherweight), he then got a boxing lesson from Morales (at super featherweight) and then picked up a highly dubious split decision in his rematch with Marquez.

I'll say it again, but if a featherweight can rattle Pacmans bones then i'm pretty sure one the hardest hitting light-welters will be more than capable of sticking him on his back.

I've already given up on trying to offer a neutral view on Hatton v Pacquiao but sod it, i'm already excited about all this and am nailing my colours to the mast!

Sorry for the ignorance, but who's PBF?

Hatton won't beat Pacquiao. Ok, Pacquiao couldn't take Oscar to the floor but when you beat someone up to the point at which they aren't even trying to attack and have lost the ability to defend then you've won whether the ref stops it, the doctor stops it or the judges hand it over.

Pacman might not be able to take the punches of a welterweight but Hatton needs to be fast enough to hit him and he certainly wasn't able to hit FMJ. Nor does Hatton have as good a chin as Oscar considering he was ko'd by FMJ so to say that because Manny couldn't ko Hatton isn't true.

I had a sneaky feeling Manny might win, just felt that his workrate and speed would see him out point ODLH. But i didn't expect him to be so that powerful at the weight.

I'm just gutted i didnt get some cash on Manny, good odds were on offer.

Manny vs Ricky would be electric, both 2 of my fave fighters in the last few years, both have magnificent work rates and both can dish it out and take it.

My heart says Ricky, my head says Manny as still feel Ricky's defence is slightly lacking and Manny would break him down eventually as PFM eventually did.

Can't wait for this one, it has to happen, with the winner to hand PFM his first defeat....

I think Hatton would be utterly humiliated by Pacquiao - boxing-wise he is not in the same league.

But then again, maybe he's willing to put up with that for the cash.

If the fight is made I would want to know the odds for the fight to go the distance & Hatton not to win a round.

Generally a good piece of scene-setting, although it is pushing it to suggest that Manny was the first to stop Barrera. It is the merest technicality that Marco's cornermen entered the ring to save their man from being nailed to the canvas by Junior Jones, so rendering the official decision LDQ5, rather than the more accurate TKO by 5 or KO by 5.

That said, Pacquiao represents by far the most serious threat to Hatton's self-proclaimed "unbeatability at light-welterweight", not excepting Tszyu, who, let's not forget, has never fought since the Hatton contest and in 2005 was clearly not the fighter that he had been. The question is now whether Hatton was genuinely an improved fighter against Malignaggi, or whether the American simply lacked the skill set to force Hatton into a truly searching examination of his own technique.

Whatever the case, Hatton is going to have to scrape the floorboards of his ability and resilience to come away with the right result against Pacquiao. If Hatton is indeed improving, then Manny has raised his own game by remarkable levels over the past three or four years. At 29, he is younger than Hatton, lives better between fights and so far as we can tell, is still refining his remarkable range of talents. The heart may well say Hatton, but heart is not a negotiable currency at the bookies. My money, which is, will be going firmly on the Filipino.

The Hand Of Hidden Forces,

I think you are exaggerating Pacquiao abilities somewhat whilst at the same time under estimating Hatton's.

He is, by a country mile the biggest threat to Hatton's dominance of the light welter division but to suggest a humiliation will result is excitable to say the least.

The 'pacman' has demonstrated his versatility and his fighting style is much the same as Mayweather, a style which transcend's divisions. If you are quick,accurate and have the work rate you will always have a chance. His fight against ODLH didn't so much emphasise Pacquiao's ability but more the fall of Oscar unfortunately.

jimmyjimjames- I hope that's not your real name! PBF stands for pretty boy Floyd i.e Floyd Mayweather Jnr arguably the best pound for pound boxer in the world although now 'retired'.

I agree with captaincarrantuohil assessment. On current form the 'pacman' takes it, but Hatton has it in his locker to win if he can find the key and rest assured it is not at the bottom of a pint of Guiness.

When I think of Hatton vs Pacquaio I see a great fight, but I worry how Hatton will weather those whirlwind attacks of Pac Man.

Make no mistake though, if it comes off I'm there!

captaincarrantuohil is right about Barrera suffering a stoppage 'of sorts' against Junior Jones but why is that fight called a DQ for Jones yet Holmes-Cooney is called a TKO in Larry's favour? Cooney's trainer jumped in the ring to save him.

Good post Ben.

Hatton's size worries me. I know he has no fight scheduled, but he can't do the boom and bust style of preparation and hope to win against the pac man.

I want him to win - be good for British boxing - but, despite DLH's woeful show, Manny has now won at welterweight and showed a lot of speed. He won't be a push-over, despite being the smaller man.

Hatton will need to be fit to catch him.

PBF = Pretty Boy Ffloyd aka Flloyd Mayweather Jr.

I think that Bob Arum should arrange a fight for Pacquiao with Ricky Hatton which although not a certainty he might expect to win. This would be an exciting fight which would have massive expectation and excitement surrounding it. It would also generate a vast sum of money for both fighters and the loser could retire on the proceeds.

From Bob Arum's point of view he would expect his fighter to win and then go on to fight PBF (if he can be tempted out of retirement), now PBF would probably have too much for Pacman, but it would again be a massive fight and would pay a fortune to both fighters again and would really cement the winner's legacy.

Some very valid comments but not very well thought through.

ODL should have retired before this bout; alas you will not know when you pass your prime.

Are you guys trying to tell us that Ricky will not be at his best against Manny?

Please do not insult us - Ricky will be in the best shape of his life.

He is with Floyd Snr and his tactics will be the main element of his training. He will fight Manny and take his titles NO DOUBT.

Strategy is critical to any fight. Without it you will have odds against you. The very moment Ricky has confirmation ...

The deal is done - he will knuckle down to training for the toughest fight in his life on paper. What will Floyd Snr do though?

He will prepare Ricky for one outcome and that will make him the Best PFP boxer of the modern era. Do not write him off.

He has Spirit & Skill and will achieve a victory. You should be very proud of the person that he is and the sacrifices he makes on your behalf.

I am not asking you to bet on him - no I am asking you to give him your full support and lift him at Wembley when he needs it.

I find it slightly irritating when I read posts claiming that Hatton wont stand a chance against pac man and he would be humiliated? (which I presume are rooted in personal dislike for Hatton rather than objective opinion). Without reeling off his entire record, its fair to say Hatton's is world class and has fought plenty of WC opposition and only has one defeat to date, to the p4p no1.

I personally think that Manny could edge it, but given Hatton's ferocity, punching power, solid chin and work rate, it could go either way. Provided he stops going to taco bell drive thru for breakfast every day!

I'm getting to like this blog Ben. Cheers.
Thanks for the link you posted on the Warren blog a few days ago.

On this subject, again I speak from a relatively low base of knowledge, it seems to me as though if pacman fights hatton then hatton will bleed quite badly and the fight will be stopped.

Manny doesn't drink and has zero body fat. If Hatton wants to win he will need to match this i think. Otherwise Manny will become more powerful from now and hatton will go backwards before going forwards again.

The big question in the Hatton / Pacman match-up, is whether Hatton will withstand the punches he will inevitably have to take to get into a position where he can deliver his own. In the Tzu fight, Hatton did this to devastating effect, but he did take clutches of punches coming in each time. He will know this, so he will realise the importance of conditioning.

I think Hatton's power when he nails one on the Pacman will be too much for the lad, durable as he is.

It's a mouthwatering prospect for sure.
I see it as a Hatton knockout, quite probably a body punch, and I see Hatton knuckling down as soon as the fight is announced. He's a jack the lad, but he's not an idiot.

And I'll see you at Wembley or Eastlands in early summer!

#22.....

i thought Mayweather Snr had retired due to health problems?

The fact of the matter is this; Pacman is the complete fighter at this very moment, whereas Hitman is rebuilding and back to learning.

If/when he gets in the ring with Pacman, he will learn a new lesson- he won't be pound for pound king whilst Pacman or Mayweather Jnr are around.

i love legends and so it was with mixed feelings that i watched Manny beat De La Hoya. I had a big bet on De La Hoya - as unlike many wiser people i didn't think he was truly past it at "just" 35 seeing as many people thought he could have beaten Mayweather when they met... and i thought the size difference would mean that he would simply walk through Manny.... I was wrong ... and i am gutted for De La Hoya - who being a 6 weight world champion should be spoken about in the highest regards.... i guess it sometimes shows that maybe you should believe the hype!

Manny has surely put to bed any "doubters" who questioned a) his size to compete at heavier weights and b) the fact he has losses on his record - hence the "is he really that good" question that i have heard bounded about.

Hatton - Manny - i love Hatton, but on Saturday Manny probably showed enough to beat Hatton... although i doubt he would have the power to beat Hatton in the way Mayweather did... and that in itself would give Hatton enough chance to rely on his massive heart..... but as for "the" real superfight Mayweather - Manny... that would be a fight!... and would probably see pretty Floyd win... hopefully someone can put a big enough cheque up to make it happen!

I'd love to see Hatton fight Pacquiao. Both fighters have similar styles and won't spend too much time going backwards, so it should make for a cracker of a fight.

If it happens i'm sure you'll see a more savvy Hatton.

Before the Mayweather fight Hatton had been doing the same things wrong for a long time and i am confident he now knows he can't make those mistakes against the big boys if he wants to win.

Against Malignaggi - Hatton started to show some of the old skills, but he stopped boxing too quickly when he realised Paulie couldn't hurt him and reverted to chasing him around the ring thumping him.
Not that i was complaining mind as i throughly enjoyed watching Malignaggi getting as many knuckle sandwiches as he could stomach.

Hatton will win, i have faith!

Matt..

It seems there are plenty Mayweather fans out there. Ok maybe i'm alone, but i doubt it, in thinking Mayweather was protected by the ref when he fought Hatton.

I'm not saying Hatton is a more gifted fighter than Mayweather but i still beleive Hatton is gifted and on his day has the style, work ethic, ability and heart to beat anyone.

The ref kept Mayweather safe from a 'roughhousing' Hatton and forced Ricky to fight Floyds fight. The favouratism was boarderline Ottke in proportions.

Matt..

could pacman lure mayweather out of retirement?

I think it will be Pacman v Hatton first. I have said before that I think this fight would come down to Pac's speed and Hatton's body punches. We still don't know if Pac can take a 140lb punch, but we do know Pac will not be under-prepared. Hatton can't keep doing the lifestyle of a 20-something when he is 30.
My hunch is that the fight might be Madison Square Gardens or MGM Las Vegas-I understand both fighters are contracted to HBO and Golden Boy and they will want a US fight. From reading the US boxing news, it is the only match-up generating a buzz.
Also both fighters will demanding at least $10m each and that kind of money is only put up by the US. I think Pac would be against a UK venue. I wouldn't be surprised to see Pac pushing for a hot Las Vegas summer fight-Hatton can't stay away from Vegas buffets and nightclubs, so why not tempt him.

Theres so much at stake for hatton his one of the big two/big three now his got a chance he thought he might not get again P4P No 1 and you know what he can do it because of one man Floyd Mayweather Sr.

The key to the fight against De La Hoya was that lead left hand he connected it at least 50 times during the fight but Mayweather SR is widely regarded as the best defensive coach in the world and apart from the left lead busting him up pacquaio didnt look to powerful unlike against diaz only a few months back.

Another key point is what freddie roach said all along that De La Hoya cant pull the trigger anymore, which as the fight proved he was correct in saying,However hatton certainly can pull the trigger so how will he react to that as hatton is quicker and cant hit harder than oscar and is more likely to land than oscar is.

This fight wont be toe to toe i feel which is shame because if it was itd probably be one of the best fights ever, however hatton can box as shown against malignagili(spelling) and pacqauio has shown against de la hoya my main worry is whether hatton can back him up into the ropes as that where most of his damage is done.

Tiger Milk Boy pacqauio is with bob Arum and tophawk promotions, he nearly signed for golden boy when he was younger though.

When Hatton won against Kostya Tszyu, the guy was 36 years of age and well shot, it was no wonder that a guy like Ricky Hatton who was 27 years of time was a winner of that match. Another point is that Hatton wasn't even in shape versus FMJ, yet he still took him upto the 10th round so, if Hatton had indeed been fit, then he might of taken him all the way. FMJ was only recognised as the p4p at the time because he was American. I am sorry, but Calzaghe is so far unbeaten and in 2 weights so, why isn't JC p4p in the world, because he is Welsh. This is typical American bias. The americans cannot accept that someone from the Philippines can go over there and beat there own, plus a few Mexicans along the way.

Another point is this, how can anyone especially ODLH complain of not having it anymore? Look at JC, the guy throws 1,000+ punches in three minutes, and he doesn't stop throwing for 12 rounds, so if he doesn't win by KO, then its by number of jabs and powerpunches landed. JC is 35 so, by all of your reactions, Calzaghe is well past his best, please feel free to correct me. One more thing to consider is that the Pacman will have too much for Hatton. I watched hattons last fight against the well-known pacifist Paul Malignaggi, who did less than de la hoya, in fact he threw about 12 jabs and then did nothing for 8-9 rounds. I am sorry, but if you have not got the ability to KO someone who runs his mouth off but can't back it up, then its a poor show, not for Hatton but for those who question his ability against REAL OPPOSITION. If that had been the Pacman against the pacifist, then he would have taken him out in 3 at most.

IMO, I feel that the Pacman will have too much for Hatton, he has everything that Hatton hasn't got. The only arsenal I can think of is his hook to the ribs, but knowing Freddie Roach, he will instruct Pacman on how to avoid this.

Woah woah woah Mr Trickett (and every other Hatton doubter).. Manny has to beat Hatton to get to FMJ first - and why has the old boxing saying 'a good big-un beats a good little-un' suddenly been disregarded? Ok, he beat DLH but a far inferior welterweight would have fancied the chances on the basis of how badly shot he was.

I can say this until i'm blue, but if Pacman can get wobbled (or even KO'd, at that point by a flyweight) by someone at a much lower weight, then imagine what a prime light-welter could do to him?

As for #31, the fight will 100% be in England, most likely the Millenium Stadium due to it having a roof and our climate being, well, not all that predictable. Hatton v Pacman is the biggest match-up going at present. It won't be Vegas or MSG, the only thing they may do is hold it open-air at a stadias somewhere, but the American stadias seating isn't conducive to that as the seating is miles away from the pitch.

I for one am already saving up (sod xmas, time to go down the local market for some cheap imitations!) for this, this is going to take over once they announce the date and venue.

But common guys and girls, get behind your own man!

andythetoonfan wrote:

Have to disagree with you there. I don't think the Pacman will go against the ropes v Hatton if the fight happens. ODLH used to keep his opponent on the ropes and in the corner, thus using his hooks to finish the opponent. Freddie Roach is the best coach in the world and when he said "if you feel your back touching the ropes, move to the side etc", he said this because he knows how ODLH fights. Roach will instuct him to do this again and ask him to bring it into the middle of the ring.

You stated that "Hatton can box as shown against Malignaggi." Well, Malignaggi was exactly like Oliver McCall against Lennox Lewis all those years ago. Malignaggi could have just let his hands down, he was just so much of a bottler. LET ME JUST SAY THAT PACMAN IS NO BOTTLER LIKE MALIGNAGGI, and I feel that Hatton is in for a rude awakening against the Pacman, the P4P best ever.

I genuinely believe that Hatton would either stop or comfortably outpoint Pacquaio. Pacman has proved himself to be a great fighter in the last few years but DLH barely threw a punch on Saturday night and never really looked like going down despite taking an absolute pasting for the entire fight. DLH's performance was so poor that you can't really draw any conclusions about Pacman beating any of the top welters. I'd fancy Margarito, Cotto, Williams and of course Hatton to deal with him pretty easily at or above 140.

With all due respect Ben, you just CANNOT compare Robinson at 41 losing to Downes to Manny Pacquiao beating De La Hoya on Saturday.

De La Hoya' last fight a year ago, was a split decision loss to P4P King Floyd Mayweather, who then knocked out Hatton in 10 rounds.

Your analysis is doing a serious injustice to Manny Pacquiao's achievement on Saturday night. He fought an unbelievably exceptional fight that not one person predicted. If De La Hoya had faced Mayweather in a rematch, as was originally planned, there is no way Mayweather would've knocked out De La Hoya in 8 rounds, even this old past it De La Hoya that has suddenly become an OAP since his Split Decision loss to Mayweather last year.

Manny Pacquiao fought one of the best performances in Boxing history in every department and left De La Hoya bamboozled. Saturday's De La Hoya would've still beaten every other fighter on the planet bar 3 or 4, Margarto, Hatton, Cotto and maybe Williams. All Top-Tier world class fighters that would probably have still been the underdog going into the fight .

You cannot parrallel that with Robinson's lost to Downes, which was more akin to Danny Williams defeat of 38 year old Mike Tyson in 2004. after which Williams said in his interview, "That was only a 40% Mike Tyson, but I'm still happy".

By using the Downes example, you are seriously devaluing Manny Pacquiao's amazing achievement that nobody predicted and overplaying De La Hoya's "unbelievable decline".

Reply to comment 35,

I am truly staggered, not just by your own but many others complete dismissal of Hatton as a creditable and challenging opponent for Pacquiao. The Filipino does arguably have the better record within his division, beating some great fighters as mentioned by Ben but Hatton deserve's more credit than this.

You obviously realise the significance of the Tszyu fight in relevance to Hatton's career and are attempting to tarnish it. Yes, he was past his prime but he was still dangerous and always had a puncher's chance. Admittedly, the fight that put Hatton on the map was against a ageing and struggling great but so too was the 'pacmans', against in my opinion the greatest of the modern era, Oscar DLH.

Comparing Joe to ODLH as if to reason that they must be of the same fitness and sharpness because they are the same age is ridiculous. Joe is a consumate professional and at the risk of causing a whole new debate has not been in with the greats earlier in his career so is still 'fresh' as it were. If you watched the fight and have seen some of ODLH previous bouts then you would not be having this arguement. He was barely even a shadow of his former self, almost to the point of being upsetting.

It would be a tight fight and in my opinion Hatton's preparation will be the deciding factor.

As for this Mayweather fight for the winner,well, it would take a big,big purse for Floyd to even consider it. He fights at welter and is more likely to go up than down so he won't consider dropping, that means the winner will have to come up and that's easier said than done particulary against someone of FMJ class. For me, can't see beyond a Mayweather win irrelevant of who he fights, the boy is in a league of his own.

Firstly someone wrote that 'Hatton glorified his defeat to PBF,' how exactly did he do that?!
I also think you guys are dreaming and that Pacman vs PBF SHOULD never happen!
Mayweather would annihilate him, look how much bigger DLH (a shadow of his former self) was than him. PBF although not as big as DLH is comfortable at that weight.
You are talking about the best of the best here people! I think he would have way too much for him.... I dont think that fight will happen....

Re 33.
Tiger Milk Boy pacqauio is with bob Arum and tophawk promotions, he nearly signed for golden boy when he was younger though.

I believe that because Pacqauio v DLH fight was billed first as a Golden Boy Production. Part of Pacqauio getting this fight was conceding part of his promotion deal with Arum. I read somewhere, I think the Las Vegas Review Journal that Golden Boy has options on Pac's next two fights if he beat De La Hoya. Technically De La Hoya insured himself if he was beat by getting a big cut of Pac's next fights-which De La Hoya knew will either be Hatton or Mayweather.
That is why I believe Pac is contracted to Golden Boy and TopHawk. De La Hoya is still the major player in boxing, just not as a fighter anymore.

As for the P4P debate. Right now I would give it to Pac, but I still believe FMJ is the best P4P in the last five years.

1886DialSquareGreats wrote:

Reply to comment 35,

Well, you have answered your own question then. De la Hoya was past his prime "but he is still dangerous and has a punchers chance", as you put it.

Hattons record against greats = Tszyu, and FMJ.

Pacmans record against greats = Barrero 2X,
Marquez 2X, Eric Morales 3X, Diaz 1X and ODLH.

There you go. Simple. Pacman to win, plain and simple.

Post 35,

I think you are a tad deluded.... Either that or you are just pretending to know what you are talking about....
To compare JC to the fighters is ridiculous. Do you know how many big fights JC has been in compared with DLH or Pacquiao. By my reckoning JC has only had 1 'BIG' fight and he lost it in many 'boxing' peoples' opinions!
Moving up 1 weight class because you are getting older and struggling to make the weight is not even comparable to moving 5 or six classes and fighting the best of the best!!!
Hatton has even fought in bigger fights (and against the best boxers at their peak), and the post which dismisses Kosta Tzyu is sooo incorrect and over the mark!!He fought the best of the best and at their peak, ok he lost but he was stupid really;he could have just ignored America and good fighters, for more safer options back home..... against 39 and 43 year olds too.......

MUFC greater than England,

"Well, you have answered your own question then"

I don't think I asked a question!??

My statement is as true of ODLH as it was of Tszyu, the difference being I did not use ODLH conditon as a way of demeaning Pacqauio abilties as you did with Hatton.

Both fought struggling giants,both won, no more need be said. I must confess to my admiration of the way Pacqauio has made a mercurial rise through the divisions however.

"There you go. Simple. Pacman to win, plain and simple"

Rather black and white, I bet you lead such a simple life.
It would be a close fight and given both fighters records and abilities to suggest otherwise is foolish and unfounded.

RE Comment 41;

"in my opinion the greatest of the modern era, Oscar DLH"

How can a fighter between the ages of 26-35 (1999-2008) win 8 relatively easy fights and lose 6 mega-fights against tough fighters that would truly test their legacy, be called the greatest of the modern era?

This is what annoys be about De La Hoya and his fans. He maybe good looking and extremely marketable, but that does NOT make him a legend. It's almost like comparing Beckham to Zidane.

He has lost ALL his big fights, in the last ten years, that is the majority of his career.

I admit he is a top class fighter, that is a useful benchmark for up and coming wannabe greats, but to call him the greatest of the modern era is naive in the extreme!

PS this takes nothing away from Pacquiao jumping two weight classes to destroy DLH in the 8th, who PBF just beat on an SD.

reply to post 37,

I Quote "and pacqauio has shown against de la hoya my main worry is whether hatton can back him up into the ropes as that where most of his damage is done"

i said Whether not that he could i like you think hed just do what he did against ODLH thats the point i was trying to make, and yes manny has more heart than maligniaggi but its not like hatton has none either.

am i right in reading so many people questioning if ODLH needs money!? He's been (upto this point) one of the smartest businessmen in boxing, the fact that he has his own promotion company and some great looking young boxers in his stable should be evidence of that at least.

I've been a huge fan of his forever and it was heartbreaking to watch the fight, had it happened 2 maybe 3 years ago it could have been the fight it was billed to be. Part of me wants to see him fight 1 more time at a heavier weight where he actually looks like he can stand up walking to the ring (unlike saturday!) to see if he still has some magic left.

As for Pac-man, he's already a legend and rightly put, currently the most loved fighter in boxing with only Ricky coming close! Would be a great fight to see as long as Ricky is at his absolute best, would like to see Manny take a good hit from a truly fit heavier guy or even do as Joe Calzaghe has been having to do recently and come back from being put down. Hurry up and sort the contracts!

you might want to freshen up your boxing knowledge mate,pacman wasn't the 1st to stop barrera,jnr jones was,good day!!

MUFC,

I'm sorry but on what planet is David Diaz considered a great?

Also, the anti-Hatton brigade often like to say that Tszyu was shot when he fought Hatton. Where is the evidence for this prior to the Hatton fight. Going in to the fight he was P4P No2, behind PBF.

When you look at the advantages that Oscar was supposed to have against Manny, body strength and punching power being the main ones. These advantages didn't materialise, due to good work from Manny, but also due to age and being weight drained. It must be remembered that Ricky will have these advantages at 140.

If PBF comes out of retirement to fight Pacman, just watch the first Pacman vs Morales fight for what will happen, only to a greater extent

I think Hatton needs another fight before stepping up to tyhe level required to beat the Pacman.

You have to admit that after the demolition of de la hoya the Pacman is the hottest fighter on the planet.

Ricky would be stupid to go straight into a fight with him now, he clearly has shown some improvements working under Floyd senior. One more outing is needed at least to continue his development and then a big fight showdown with Pacman is more likely to go in his favour.

Also he's seriously damaging his career by going on these inbetween fight drink and food binges, if Floyd senior can't make him realise then who can??

As an Englishman married to a Pilipina, and living in Philippines, I feel I will need an extra large English flag on this night, but I think it will be the Philippine flag which is flying high after the fight.
Hatton will not be fighting just PacMan - he's up against the whole of the Philippines.
If you walk down the high street in UK and ask people who Ricky Hatton is I guarantee 90% will not know. But if you go ANYWHERE in the Philippines and they'll tell you Manny Pacquiao's entire family's names, when and where he was born, and probably what he had for breakfast! The guy is an absolute LEGEND here and the country's entire sporting status is on his shoulders. His fights even delay planes leaving from the airport - I know because I was in the terminal during his last fight. It was on TV and NOBODY was boarding!

Can't wait!

First and foremost floyd mayweather will not fight pacman
reason 1: Pbf has vowed never to fight against one of bob arums fighters. Things got real sour between them in the past and that's why nothing was mentioned about floyd after the de la hoyas dramatic fall.
Reason:2 when does floyd mayweather ever really take a chance against someone who could beat him?.... Miguel cotto antonio margarito these are real tests for floyd, I think pacman poses a real threat to floyd and that's why he'll be hoping ricky takes care of him first. On the topic of hatton pacquiao it has all the right ingredients to be a truly amazing spectacle. Granted im only nineteen but I'm a huge sports fan and I love boxing and in my opinion you write ricky hatton off at 140 at your peril. He looked fresh as a daisy against malignaggi at the end and I can't see pacman taking even as many shots as paulie took from ricky remember malignaggi has never been knocked out. And he has been twelve rounds with cotto. Given cotto was slightly weight drained.I just think hatton would be so much heavier on fight night remember against malinaggi he was 11st 2 or 3 by the time of the fight even though pacquiao looked very impressive against oscar who was obviously over the hill it will be completely different against hatton at 140. I don't think pacman will be able to get anywhere near the 10 st 8 he was on fight night against oscar and that was welterweight. I think it will come down to ricky being the stronger man the bigger man and ultimately packing a far bigger punch than manny.

Also carl Froch please stop calling out joe calzaghe. All you could hope for is that is a very good doctor ringside. Does everyone not agree that although he has a granite chin he also has granite like head movement and joe would simply have a field day.

Oh and congratulations to Paul mc closkey my fellow irishman. I wonder what odds you would get on the next Irish world champion!

COMPLETE WASTE OF LICENSE FEE.
Just kidding :).
Good blog Ben. Hope you will be covering test series in INdia.

Post 54:

It is obvious that you don't live in britain. To suggest that 9 out of 10 people in britain would not know who Ricky Hatton is, is quite absurd - and by quite a stretch. I'd go the opposite. you'd be lucky to find 1 in 10 that didn't know who he was. He has the biggest fan base in british boxing that hasn't been seen probably since Lewis.

As for the potential fights discussed:

Hatton vs Pacquiao:
---
I think it would be a classic encounter. Talk of Hatton's inbetween fight antics have been discussed many time, but in fairness, he's only ever lost to Floyd and looked uncomfortable in the fight afterwards. Other than that, there's no problems proven there. He clearly trains hard. It might affect him later in life, but certainly not his boxing. He was brilliant against Malignaggi no matter what you say. Malignaggi was on the back foot from the minute he got hit good.

You can't take anything from Pacmans fight against De La Hoya either, because Hatton would be scrapping back hard in all the close encounters that were seen. An awesome prospect for a fight.

Pacman Vs Mayweather
---

I see this as a less pointless affair as people might suspect. Pacman has the heart, chin and speed to challenge Mayweather. More importantly though, he has the ring tactics. Pacman was incredible in one particular area against De La Hoya, and that was in his caution. Through every round he knew he had his man, but he still had the nous to realise he could still get caught. Naturally, he wouldn't have as much of the fight, but he can dodge as quick as mayweather can just as he can throw as well. It would definitely be a points affair and would be a close one at that.

The fight will happen ' so will MP vs FMJ ' simply because they are the 2 biggest fights out there at the moment . I wasnt surprised about the MP vs ODLH result i suspected MP would stop him ' he was just too fast and his timing was' as usual excellent .RH will be the next boxer that MP retires. He will be too fast and too accurate for RH and will definitley stop him ' proberly around the 8th round, yeah i know its a bit early for predictions . It will be a sensational fight , they both love to attack and to pressure fighters . Cant wait

For people who have jumped on the 'Pacman is the greatest' bandwagon - go and watch Pacquaio v Morales (1st fight) and Pacquaio v Marquez (both fights) on youtube. I'm guessing that Sunday AM was the first time they've seen him fight, he got smashed around the ring by Marquez (twice) and somehow got both decisions and got taken to school and battered by Morales. Doesn't anyone else think that he throws punches straight down the shoot and doesn't move around much to create angles?

I can say this next bit until i go blue and pass out...

If a featherweight can smash Pacquaio around the ring, then the best light-welter could and probably will flatten him.

Hatton won't be drained at the rate, he won't have lost the zip & timing to his punches and most of all he's still in his prime. Hatton can out-muscle any guy he wants at light-welter, he did it to Tsyzu and Pacman won't be afforded the luxury of standing on the outside all night long.

Post 59 above,

Absolute nonsense what you say. Yes I have seen an inexperienced Pacman lose to Morales (a legend) ON POINTS but then send him into retirement in their next fight. He also moved up a weight to fight him the first time.
Don't forget he had already moved up in weightclasses when he fought Marquez, who himself is another great fighter (Pacman's resume' is filled with top names). I guess you have 'heard' what others said about both fights and 'jumped' on the proverbial bandwagon.
Marquez was knocked down 3 times in the first round in their first fight (demonstrating the power of Pacman's punches) he came into the fight later but Pacquiaou easily did enough for me and most others.
The 2nd fight was closer although Marquez was dropped a few times in that one aswell. Marquez did better in this fight and it was extremely close but for me again Pacquiao won, if anything it was a draw - NOT A MARQUEZ WIN!!
The quality of both those fights if anything prooves Pacquiao's quality not disprooves it!! But you reckon he smashed him around the ring: I suggest you watch the fight again mate then come back to me and apologise!
Oh yeah, and about 'not moving around to create angles' and 'throwing punches straight down the shoot'..... Watch the fight on saturday again and then say that again. Furthermore watch the Marquez fights and Pacquiaos subsequent demolition of Morales (which you ignore) and say the same again. What about Barrera?

Re: The above nonsense!

"Inexperienced" - The first fight with Morales was in 2005, correct me if i'm wrong but that's not even 4 years ago. That was probably the last time the great Morales was anywhere near his peak, and the record suggests that. DLH took FMJ to a split 18 months ago but was shot when this fight came around, the same seemed obvious with Morales, even though he did move up to lightweight to face Diaz (and almost beat him when being past it, proving that a 50% Morales was almost a match for a supposed big name lightweight). Barrera too had been in perhaps one too many wars by the time they met, simple as really.

As for the rest of you disagreeing that he won the 2 fights against Marquez, why would i go back and watch the fights again; when i've already seen them and have them scored for Marquez?

But at least i know what happened in his fights...

You watched his fights with Marquez, huh? In the 2nd fight Marquez got knocked down in the 3rd, not a 'few times' as you innacurately stated.

Both the decisions were highly 'disputed', with a big divide of boxing fans and critics giving Marquez the 1st fight and being somewhat split on the 2nd. You using big capital letters doesn't make your opinion right, and i quote Freddie Roach after the second fight "It could have gone either way". His own trainer wasn't even sure who'd won!

And as for the DLH fight, i've watched the fight twice (live and repeat). From what i saw Pacman does what he usually does and that's lead with the straight left, he's a southpaw - that's what they generally do... I didn't see any hooks to the body, most of the punches landed were by straight lefts, so i'm not too sure why you're saying otherwise? Was he doing a really typical southpaw thing by coming in throwing big right hooks? When he threw the right it was a cross shot, not a hook, and a cross is still a relatively straight lined shot.

Let's be honest- Hatton is now FATTON again! All the benders, booze and take- aways won't do him any good whatsoever if he has to fight pacman next year. Conditioning is not just short term- it is long term. You HAVE to be in reasobable shape half a year out, otherwise the shock to your body is too great and you are physically weaker as a result. Pacman on the other hand has an AWESOME background of conditioning in the bag, and will be able to box for longer, and faster than Hatton. You cannot get to Pacman's fitness levels in a few months having been on the booze. I hoped Hatton would have learnt his lesson from his FM defeat- obviously not. He will get a beating from the pacman.

Right Coxy that is enough!

Okay inexperienced was the wrong word but it was MP's first fight at the weight. They fought in September and the rematch where MP battered him was only four months later in January I believe... That negates your point about DLH. MP learned from his mistake and demolished Morales, it was only after MP demolished him AGAIN that he reitered!
Freddie Roach happens to be a person whose view I respect the most (which is why I think JC lost the Hopkins fight). He said it could go either way which I was essentially alluding to above, but because it went to Pacquiao (and fairly in my opinioin) that suggests the most Marquez could have hoped for was a draw.
The way you dismiss the Barrera fight is also quite comical.....
I don't have much time during the day to watch you tube, but I sawe the second fight live and have seen it since and I am sure Marquez got put down more than once - although I could be wrong there. How many time was MP knocked down by the way?
I lastly must laugh at your attempted 'intellectual' boxing comments you make at the end of your nonsense. You are clearly a PS3 or Xbox player who doesn't really know how the game works.
If you are going to talk about MPs movement and creating angles you should notice that MP occupied the centre of the ring from about round 4. Go and try out some boxing attempt to do this and then come back to me...

you didn't see any hooks to the body??!! Watch the fight again!!!

Shall we just turn this forum into an arguement between us two?!

From memory the 1st fight with Morales was in March of '05, the rematch came in Feb '06. Fact is he lost and lost recently and to a fighter that didn't look anywhere like the fighter he was 11/12 months previously.

Pacman has been knocked out twice, that i know for sure. Most of his early fights were back in the Phillipines so my knowledge on any other knockdowns is sketchy.

As for your comment about me being a PS3 or Xbox player.. i have neither. The right cross right is a punch that comes over (for arguements sake) a left lead from the other boxer, hence the 'crossing' motion. And for someone who obviously knows so much about boxing, and belittles my knowledge, a cross is also known as a straight.

And no, i didn't see much to the body that was worrying DLH, i saw a lot of punches to the head. The doctor was asking him inbetween rounds if he was dizzy, not if he had any broken ribs...

Marquez v Pacman - A draw and a split decision offers up the obvious divide because they're so close, i'd personally like to see a 3rd fight between the two if Pacman somehow overcomes Hatton.

Actually the 2nd Morales fight was 10 months after the first one, and Morales had gone up to lightweight and lost to Raheem inbetween, before coming back down to face Manny. Do you honestly believe a peak Morales would lose to Raheem.

As for his bouts against MAB, I think his first win over Marco is Mannys greatest win, he completely shocked Marco and won comprehensively. In their 2nd bout I thought Marco was dealing quite well with Manny till he faded and Manny capitilised well.

In both fights against JMM he caught the teak tough Mexican with some great shots, but JMM always came back and at times out boxed Manny, as you rightly say Cleverlivenut, they could of gone either way. Whats interesting is after the draw in the first bout it took Manny four years to give JMM a rematch. Then surely after the SD in Vegas a 3rd match should of been made. But Manny moved up to fight the average Diaz, JMM folloed and impressively beat Casamayor. I dont think Manny is too keen on fighting JMM again

So, weve seen Manny outboxed before, but weve also seen Ricky outboxed. But I dont think any of disadvantages Manny is supposed to have at lightweight or welter against bigger men have been tested yet. They will be tested against the best light welter, and thats were the fight will be decided, on whether Manny can negate these disadvantages.

As for JC vs B-Hop, in america, 3 american judges and a horrificly biased american ref (the headbutt is legal if your fighting a brit), what more do want. B-Hop lost the decision because he couldn't live with the work rate and clever angles Joe presented, and tried to con his way to the finish line. The americans saw through this, just look at the HBO scorecards and Max Kellermans post fight interview with B-HOP.

i think that this is a very interesting fight. first of pacman wont stop hitman. hes only been on the floor against mayweather and, mayweather is more powerful than manny, despite mannys TKO vs ODLH wer mayweather was taken the distance. this was not due to a power difference, it was due to other factors such as DLH being shot from the weight drop. secondly i cant see hatton winning if it goes the distance. pacman is too quick to get beaten on very often in the fight. however i certainly feel that hatton has it in him to knock out a smaller man who has shown in the past that he's not invulnerable when hit. to me it all depends on hatton and floydd snr. can hatton get the conditioning right so he can apply full pressure whenever he gets the opportunity and, can floydd snr teach hatton enough boxing to create these opportunities. not only do i think they can i think they will. this is the perfect fight for hatton if he can get it right and that definitly means nuckling down and cutting out the pints by the new year. it also means that he will have to learn once and for all, when to box and when to slug.

Why are there so many people who dismiss the Pacman? Having looked up the stats, Oscar De La Hoya actually threw more punches at Pacman, than Hatton threw at FMJ. That is official.
These are the stats:

Hatton V FMJ:

Mayweather Total punches= 129/329 = 39%
Ricky Hatton Total punches= 63/372 = 17%

Pacquiao v ODLH:

Pacquiao Total punches = 224/585 = 38%
De la hoya Total punches = 83/402 = 21%

These stats say that Hatton was more of a pacifist against FMJ than ODLH was against the pacman.

Plus, we should add that the Pacman doesn't tire easily. He has been known to throw almost 700 punches per fight, and in fact a high percentage of his power punches connect.

If you feel the need to look up at any stats, then look up compubox. I can only see one winner and thats the pacman due to his speed, agility, his low centre of gravity, his hit and move, his power and his incredible workrate which is equal only to Joe Calzaghe.

People may think that Ricky's conditioning suffers in between fights, but he would argue hes done alright so far. We have to assume Ricky knows what hes doing. Some fighters when they stop such a punishing regime of training and weight control can gain weight very quickly, this is because their body "clings" to every available calorie thinking its going to be starved again.

Can we please stop this fantasy that if Pacman fights PBF it will be a great fight? It wont. It will be boring. P.M. will come to fight but PBF will try to win without fighting.

As for Hatton vs Pacman, that will be a proper fight. Aint sure who would win, pbly Pacman, but it could literally be the best fight ever seen on these shores. Pacman is beatable and I think Ricky has the tools, but he wont have fought a "legend" like P.M. before

A dose of realism I feel is on order after reading some of the ludicrous statements posted on here.
Particulary one from a obviously well informed chap stating Hatton will have no chance against Pacquiao!?
Of course he has, If he has taught us nothing else as long as he is on his feet and swinging he will always have a chance.

I must confess to my admiration of Pacquiao, he is a brilliant fighter there can be no questioning that. He kind of reminds me of a modern day Henry 'Homicide Hank' Armstrong, not particulary by way of style but his ability to fight any type of fighter at any weight and win. I will also note I am in no way comparing the achievements of my favourite boxer in history to MP, well, not just yet.....

As for the much debated ODLH fight, there can be no understating just how far gone he was and for anyone to argue that does not watch enough boxing. A tragic demise of a top class fighter.
Another point worth noting and I have always said this, provided you have a good chin it is always harder to come down in weight than it is to go up. It drains your body massively and any advantage you had dissapears.
Yes, Pacquiao has come up a lot of weight classes from the start of his career but he is now a natural light welter and has vowed never to fight again at 135. Roach said that he even struggled to make the weight for the Diaz fight and at the bell weighed 146.5, so in this sense ODLH was at an immediate disadvantage.

I take nothing away from MP but it really cannot be considered a benchmark for his future performances at that weight. He has yet to take sustained punches from a in form, 'proper' welterweight boxer. We will soon find out how well he get's on, given the boy can do no wrong just lately probably fine.

If he fought Hatton, well, what a fight that would make. In my view, Pacquiao is the more talented boxer and for Hatton to win he is going to have to turn it into a war. Pin him down and go toe to toe, he tried and failed to do this against Mayweather. The difference in that fight is Hatton had to come up a class and couldn't hurt him, it is surprising the difference in punching power between just one weight class. That and FMJ brilliance at defensive boxing.

Hatton will need to get on top of him from round one and stay there, the best fight I can think of to demonstrate this would be the 'The brawl in Montreal'. Suger ray was the slicker and tactically better boxer but Duran went after him and would not let go. Sugar Ray later described him as a demon in that fight and was one of the fights of the century.
If I have been a bit over zealous with my fight choice please feel free to offer a alternative.

In conclusion, Pacquiao fought a good fight against ODLH but it can't be used as a true guide to his future at this weight. He will come in as favourite for a potential Hatton fight but it is win-able for Hatton. Finally, the potential Mayweather clash. If Manny beats Hatton there will be a fight between the two but Floyd is just as quick, slick and is the more comfortable at the weight so he takes it.

Hatton to be "humiliated" by Pacman? No way. I think Pacman will win but Pacman is beatable and Hatton will win a few rounds.

However, I don't want to see Hatton vs Pacman. I want to see Pacman vs Juan Manual Marquez who I feel won both fights against Manny but never got the decsion in either or see Mayweather Jr come out of retirement and fight Manny in what will be one of the greatest fights of all time.

Another reason I don't want Hatton against Pacman is I can't bear the thought of all those casual followers of boxing and non-boxing fans spouting out all the rubbish which we had to put up with before Hatton vs Mayweather.

Tough call - The fight that really want is Pacman vs Mayweather but for this to happen unfortunately Ricky has to lose - if he wins Mayweather won't bother with either

The Wenger Way,

Completely agree with all you have said there mate and that's really quite rare.

Everyone has been mentioning how Manny has come up such an amount but no one has mentioned ODLH coming down.

ODLH is/was a fully fledged junior middle weight who hasn't fought at 145 since 1997 and you are quite right when you say coming down is alot harder than coming up. It goes against the bodies natural order.

Manny must now be considered a light welter fighter, fair enough he came up a weight for the fight but we must not underestimate the effect dropping had on ODLH.

To reinforce this here's what Roach said before the fight.

"I think it's a lot harder to come down in weight than to go up in weight," Roach said. "We're catching Oscar at the right time. We would never take this fight with Oscar in his prime. Just like when Oscar fought Chavez. Could he have beaten Chavez in his prime? No way. But, when he's an old man, yes."

Put's things into perspective and that's from his trainer.
The Filipino is a great fighter but the Hatton fight will be the real teller, I think the tactics you said Hatton should employ are spot on. Make it a slugfest and attack the body and he has got a brilliant chance.

What a performance from the pacman!!
IMO the next fight for pacman will be Hatton followed by mayweather.
I think Pacman v Hatton will be a good fight to watch. Both boxers are pressure fighters who always come forward. I like Hatton and was hoping he would do well against Mayweather even though deep down I knew he was going to get wasted as he did.
Again, I hope he will do well agains pacman but I have the same feeling again. When Hatton enters the ring with pacman he will have a few options. 1. He can adopt his normal pressure approach and keep going forward but he will be undone because pacman is a better pressure fighter than Hatton and can throw bombs the whole three minutes of each round. 2. He can try to outbox pacman but we all saw how the pacman boxed so beutifully against delahoya. How he danced so magnificantly and ran rings around him. I think pacman is better than Hatton in every department and Hatton poses no threat to pacman whatsoever.
Pacman v FMJ will be the real deal. Impossible to predict what may happen and I cant wait till it happens!!!

If indeed the fight between Hatton and the Pacman does take place, I believe that the fight will be the best ever in the noughties. What we will have are two punchers who love to mix it and not wrestle or be defensive. This fight will be easily the greatest fight for Hatton. On too many occasions in the FMJ v Hatton fight, FMJ turned his back and there is no way a puncher can fight someone like that. Therefore, the fight between Hatton and the Pacman will great because it will be a war. Imagine, two fighters who want to actually fight and give it their all. If the Pacman should win, then the fight between FMJ and Pacman will not be that great because FMJ is good at defensive boxing. I reiterate, the volume of punches from Pacman are enormous. These vary from 500 to 700+ punches in a fight.

Ben,

I agree with you, I accept that the Danny Williams example is not apt enough either. That was my whole point.

Oscar De La Hoya is not a washed up, shot fighter that was a superstar legend (Robinson/Tyson) who has now gone so downhill that he loses to fighters the likes of Manny Pacquiao.

My whole point is, is that Oscar De La Hoya's reputation was largeley based on US commercialism and marketing, and he was never that great to begin with, a bit like Roy Jones.

In the UK, we just assume Oscar is a legend but if you really analyse the stats and his career, you'll realise a lot of his reputation was based on Hype and the Mass media commercial world that most of us grew up in.

He is not a Chavez, Robinson, Ali or even Tyson etc, yet he has been hyped that way by the mass media and we have all been duped in my opinion.

He is and always has been a top class fighter who when faced with other true legend contenders, such as himself, always seems to lose.

That in my opinion does not constitute a legend, when compared with Robinson and Tyson i.e. Robinson 171 wins/19 losses and Tyson by far the youngest Champion in the Sports most elite division.

De La Hoya will never be remembered in that league.

PS in terms of most money generated he is the P4P king of all time! They are two seperate arguments.

Re # 75: "Hatton poses no threat to pacman whatsoever"...

So what happened to a 66 fight warrior in Castillo, when he fought Hatton? He got put down for the 1st time in his career by a brutal body shot.

Hatton can bang big at his natural weight, so to make an absurdly wild sweeping statement like that is absolute nonsense. Hattons power is the thing Pacman and Roach will have to try and neutralise.

Why will no-one realise that if Hatton walks onto a Pacman left he's probably going to keep on walking (unless he does a DLH and gets hit by 100s of them!), if Pacman walks onto a Hatton right i'm not convinced he'll be able to handle the power and may well up in horizontal.

And will people stop banging on about Pacman fighting FMJ and it being a contest. Every time FMJ has fought a come forwards fighter he's made them look disctinctly ordinary (Corrales, Gatti, Hatton etc etc). Based on this what evidence is there to suggest he'd fair any better?

If Pacman beats Hatton he should fight Marquez

If Hatton beats Pacman he'll probably have to go up a weight to fight the likes of Cotto, Margarito etc. I'd still like to see him get another pop at FMJ though, with half a plan there's an increased chance (from 0% to about 5%!!) that he could pull something special off.

But that statement is my heart speaking and not my head.

Hatton needs to match Pacman's speed for him to win the fight. As of this very moment, Pacman can smash Hatton in to pieces.

Advantages for Hatton: 140lbs is his natural fighting weight and in fairness he is the best in that division. He has the more natural power at the weight.

Disadvantages for Hatton: He's not as fast as Manny and even against Paulie showed susceptibility to straight shots - something Manny would exploit with that left cross. Hattons lack of conditioning would play a part - like PBF Manny is a pure athlete, Hatton is a darts player in between fights.

Advantages for Manny: Speed, movement, fitness, youth (just!), good chin and durable enough it seems to fight at 140 and above. Better boxing skills than Hatton.

Disadvantages for Manny: Oscar never hit him so it's not known if he can take world class punches at a heavier weight - and Hatton is capable of landing those punches.

Anyone saying it would be an easy win for either fighter is wrong - this would be a ferocious, closely contested match and I really wouldn't like to call it. As for Manny V PBF - I dont think that would be the 'great fight' many people are claiming - Floyd would fight defensively and use spoiling tactics to ultimately take Manny on points. Reckon it would be interesting, but Manny/Hatton would be the real entertainer and it will surely happen next year, sometime in May I reckon. Cant wait. (Ricky should start training now and lay off the pies is he wants a chance of winning!!).

Sorry but your comments about Manny being the First and Last person to beat Marco Antonio Barrera is very wrong.

Junior 'Poison' Jones ko'd him in 5 rounds years before Barrera beat Naz.

And in my opinion it was an even more impressive performance from Jones.

Only 'technically'.

Barrera was destroyed by Jones in a shocking upset, particuarly when looked at retrospectively.

Other than that I enjoyed the blog and enjoyed peoples comments on the topic!!

And, for the record;

Manny will KO Hatton who will be outclassed and beffudled by Mannys superior skills and speed.

It will be a much more pleasing fight than the one against PBF, Hatton will land more frequently than he did vs Floyd and that will keep it interesting.

I hope Hatton doesn't neglect the bodywork as he did against Paulie though...

JobyJak,

"My whole point is, is that Oscar De La Hoya's reputation was largeley based on US commercialism and marketing, and he was never that great to begin with, a bit like Roy Jones."

What you say of ODLH I completely agree with despite being a top draw fighter. So many people consider this man one of the greats but it's all smoke and mirrors with very little foundation. It's nice for someone to have the same view as I, only the other day I had a arguement with a mate who swore blind he was the greatest he has ever watched.

I do however sincerley hope you are not talking about Jones Jnr at the end of your paragraph there?
If so I feel I would have just cause to dispute that claim.

karlosfunkster- I do believe the record books adjudged that as a disqualification.

Odds on Pacman to win: 4/9

Odds on Hatton to win: 15/8

Bookies usually get boxing right, didn't happen with the DLH v Pacman fight though did it?

Unless some of you guys have a crystal ball i'm not too sure how you can say 'this guy is going to smash Hatton to pieces'.

"A good big-un beats a good little-un".. Well this big-un happens to be the best light-welter in the world, fighting at his natural weight.

I personally don't want to call it as for me it's Hatton by KO (or TKO if some of you want to be pedantic) or Pacman on points.

But god how i love how everyone now thinks Pacman is the best, most godlike, gifted and brutal boxer there is around at present..!

Having read all the opinions before the fight from american journals and newspapers, every single one of them gave the Pacman no chance, in fact one suggested that ODLH would win by KO in the 5th and another suggested a very comfortable unanimous decision for ODLH. Compubox's analysis of Pacquiao suggests that he is in fact a better fighter when he moves up weights which I guess is the reason why he lost a couple of fights at lower weights.

Secondly, FMJ v Manny Pacquiao. Having done some research on both fighters it seems to me like another Bernard Hopkins v Joe Calzaghe. FMJ will keep pacquiao very close to him so that he can't find his range and then try to counter. For me this is not boxing. The art of boxing suggests footwork, legwork, hand speed, being able to slip and slide and the most important of all, being able to actually punch. Looking at FMJ's fighting stats suggests he prefers a more defensive fight rather than go toe-to-toe with a fighter which means he is afraid of something. The FMJ V Pacman fight would just be a damp squib compared to pacman v marquez or pacman v hatton. For me, FMJ is a negative boxer who gets lucky by actually knocking someone out or, he goes defensive for 12 rounds and throws punches in between that connect. Knowing the judges, if that fight went ahead, they would award FMJ the fight because he is American.

That is why for me, Hatton v Pacman would be the best fight ever. These are two fighters who excite the public, who would go toe to toe in the middle of the ring. I am sure that both Hatton and Pacman would prefer to lose doing what they do best rather than being all defensive. Pacman and Hatton are exciting fighters, FMJ is not.

Here is some of an analysis from compubox:

Pacquiao’s accuracy was searing as Pacquiao never dipped below 50 percent in power shots, peaking at 68 percent (32 of 47) in round four. Pacquiao’s success also inhibited De La Hoya’s desire to attempt power shots. In the final five rounds Pacquiao landed more than De La Hoya attempted and the totals from that segment showed he landed nearly twice as many power punches (149) than De La Hoya tried (79).

The seventh round illustrated just how lopsided the fight had become. Pacquiao attempted 103 punches (a fight high), and 45 of his 47 connects were power punches (the most ever scored by a De La Hoya opponent in a single round in 31 of his fights tracked by CompuBox). De La Hoya was a meager 7 of 24 overall and 4 of 9 in power punches. Most other fighters would have been rescued from such a battering but De La Hoya’s standing in the sport was such that he was granted one more chance to come back. Because he couldn’t, the fight was stopped in the corner.

Analyse that if you wish.

ok guys, let's just chill on the RJJ analogy, I did say "a bit like Roy Jones", and I stand by that.

However, RJJ was a great Champion who achieved great things, BUT he is not as great as many would have us believe, based on his record.

His best wins came in 1993/94 against Toney and Hopkins. Since then he fought a lot of bums and easy win fights, almost like "bum of the month" for Joe Louis.

The fact that Hopkins and Toney are still going strong 14 years later, after both losing close fights on points to Jones, proves exactly how bad the opposition Jones fought during that period and easily knocked out was.

That is why I feel a lot of his reputation was also based on hype. As soon as he met any class contender(John Ruiz is not class) he got beaten, Johnson, Tarver and Calzaghe, and I wouldn't even call Tarver a class fighter.

At the risk of offending all the Jones worshippers out there, I would say that he was the most protected fighter in boxing history!

Well written piece that, and lots of good posts. I'm thinking, if Hatton had fought ODLH at Wembley instead of this bout, with a similar result, don't you think that it wouldn't have been the same 'last big fight' for Hatton, the Terry Downes quote would have been very apt too, and Hatton might have felt let down a bit, despite the win?

Has to be Hatton-PacMan now, and I'll be watching for sure.

I think the Pac Man will be all over Hatton, but Hattons big body punches will prove to powerful in the end. Can't wait.
I dont think it was a true reflection on ODLH present ability, the fight was more or less over before it began. He looked like death before he started! I couldn't believe how ill he looked approaching the ring. Hatton commented on this at ringside. Only rehydrating 2lbs for a man his size is crazy. Maybe not to old to fight on, just to old to make that weight.

This

I find it slightly irritating when I read posts claiming that Hatton wont stand a chance against pac man and he would be humiliated? (which I presume are rooted in personal dislike for Hatton rather than objective opinion). ( rob 733)

vvv

Not at all - Hatton seems a likeable enough guy.

But as a boxer he is a ham-and-egger. His technical skills are not in the same league as Pacquiao.

Sure he has a lot of heart and a good workrate, but that is pretty much it.

As for the claim he has met plenty of world class opposition - ermmm OK, he beat a 35-year-old Kostya Tszyu - which was a good result. He beat a Castillo who was obviously past his sell-by date - and that victory came by a liver punch. And then he got completely pasted by Mayweather. That's pretty much it.

I really think people need to take off the red-white-&-blue specs and admit that Hatton is pretty much a supercharged club slugger, not a world class boxer.

rob733 wrote:

"I find it slightly irritating when I read posts claiming that Hatton wont stand a chance against pac man and he would be humiliated? (which I presume are rooted in personal dislike for Hatton rather than objective opinion)."

------------------------

Not at all - Hatton seems a likeable enough guy.

But as a boxer he is a ham-and-egger. His technical skills are not in the same league as Pacquiao.

Sure he has a lot of heart and a good workrate, but that is pretty much it.

As for the claim he has met plenty of world class opposition - ermm OK, he beat a 35-year-old Kostya Tszyu - which was a good result. He beat a Castillo who was obviously past his sell-by date - and that victory came by a liver punch. And then he got completely pasted by Mayweather. That's pretty much it.

I really think people need to take off the red-white-and-blue specs and admit that Hatton is pretty much a supercharged club slugger, not a world class boxer.

JobyJak,

Like him or not, Jones Jnr was easily the best fighter of the 90's and would creep into many peoples top 10 post war fighter's. He was undoubtedly aided by the commercialism he recieved but even you surely could not question is brilliance.
I am not going to take this debate on a tangent and anaylse every fight he has ever had so I will keep it short.

"His best wins came in 1993/94 against Toney and Hopkins. Since then he fought a lot of bums and easy win fights, almost like "bum of the month" for Joe Louis. "

And what a couple of wins that is, quite easily the best two boxers within his divison at the time and they should not be under estimated.
As for fighting 'bums' as you so eloquently put it I would hardly count González in that category.

He was completely dominant at middle, super middle and light heavyweight and even dabbled successfully in heavyweight. I would hardly blame Jones that there was nothing out there for him and what was, he was a class apart.

He did come out of retirement when he was in the twilight of his career and lose some fights, most notably Calzaghe. The Terry Downes comment mentioned in the piece would sum up that fight.

"At the risk of offending all the Jones worshippers out there, I would say that he was the most protected fighter in boxing history!"

What!?? I am not even going to start.

If you want to talk about protected fighters then look no further than our Joe, but that's for a different time.

Much as I love Hatton and who he is, I feel that after his defeat against Mayweather, it showed that there is a level above being great and that is being obsessed with your trade.
Mayweather has it, as does the 'Pac Man'.
I fear Ricky may not. I think losing to Mayweather has given him a 'second best' complex that will now stay with him.
Love to see the fight though but only in Manilla.
Now THAT would be the test.

At the risk of sounding harsh, Floyd's done. I don't see him coming back at all.

Now that's said and done, Oscar, smoke and mirrors according to post 86? 6 weight world champion. Not sure how you get that without being an awesome fighter, care to elaborate? Oscar beat plenty of fine fighters on his way to the top, that he's struggled recently might be a sign that 16 years of boxing is too much.

Manny still has questions to answer if he's to be considered a great fighter at welterweight or light welter, fighting Hatton is a great chance to answer those questions. Hatton has the tools to make it a fantastic fight, and he's got the heart and the durability to make it a real contest. Bottom line though, is Hatton has less questions to answer at light welterweight than Manny, We all know Hatton is capable of hitting hard at that weight after all.

#22 I didn't realise Hatton was making sacrifices on my behalf- is there a cheque in the post?!