By Mark Vester

Lee Beard is sometimes viewed as a young man in an old man's game. Others view him as the secret weapon of Ricky Hatton's team. Even prior to Hatton's well publicized split with long-time trainer Billy Graham, Beard was receiving a lot of praise for his work with Ricky and younger brother Matthew Hatton. When Hatton split with Graham in 2008, he refused to give up Beard, who was Graham's assistant and often in the background. The removal of Graham made Beard, and his work with Hatton, more visible to the public eye.

When Beard is not training the Hatton clan in England, he is watching over his step-son Adrian Gonzalez, who turned pro on the undercard of Hatton-Malignaggi last November. Gonzalez trains and lives in Las Vegas with Hatton's head trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. Beard has worked with Mayweather Sr. since 2004 and was very instrumental in his appointment as Hatton's head-trainer.

On May 2, Beard has a big test in the form of the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, Manny Pacquiao. Over the last few weeks, Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach has been very vocal with his prediction of a knockout win by his fighter. Recently he said the fight would be close for the first six rounds and then Pacquiao would pull away with his speed and probably stop Hatton around the ninth.

Beard is usually quiet and keeps to himself, but was more than happy to sit down with BoxingScene.com to discuss Hatton's upcoming fight with Pacquiao and the recent comments made by Roach.

"Freddie sounds very sure [of himself] when making statements like 'Manny will KO Hatton in round nine after the first six will be close and action packed. Then Manny's speed will take over and KO Hatton.' What Freddie is failing to see, is that Malignaggi was hoping for the same when he fought Ricky, that his jab, speed and movement would control the fight from the middle rounds. But, the result was that Ricky got stronger and stronger as each round passed and Malignaggi could only hold his way through the rounds to avoid getting knocked out," Beard told BoxingScene.com

Beard doesn't feel Pacquiao will be able to stay with Hatton for the first six rounds of the fight. He says Roach is overestimating what Pacquiao can do, and says the wins over David Diaz and Oscar De La Hoya are the reasons why Roach is so sure of himself. If Hatton was facing Diaz or De La Hoya [on that same December night], Beard says that his fighter would have finished both off much quicker. Beard has been looking at Pacquiao very closely for the last few years and sees a lot of holes that Hatton will exploit in May.

"Freddie is so sure of Manny being able to stay with Ricky in the first six rounds and use his speed to outbox him. Freddie's views are based on the way Manny dealt with Oscar [De La Hoya] and David Diaz. My view is simple, if Ricky fought Diaz - he would be way too fast, big and strong and stop Diaz in three to five rounds and if Ricky was in the ring with Oscar on that same night it would have ended within four," Beard said.

"Freddie doesn't realize two things. I've been around Ricky for the past two to three years and seen his hunger back like it was years ago, and seen the improvements made during the last camp with me and Floyd. I've also been at the Wild Card [Roach's gym in California] watching Manny train and spar, plus witnessed his fights over the past few years. I've seen lots of mistakes and they will automatically play into Ricky's hands. We can use them to our advantage, mistakes which Manny makes over and over. I'm not going to say the mistakes right now, but I'm positive Ricky will knock Manny out within six rounds and I believe that the fight won't be has difficult as some may think."

Beard says that as early as the first round, Manny will realize that he underestimated Hatton’s level of speed and strength. He was ringside for Pacquiao’s 2008 rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez. He saw plenty of things that worked for Marquez, some of them are Hatton’s bread and butter.

“Ricky's only loss came to Mayweather Jr, a defensive master which Pacquiao is not. And Mayweather Jr. himself admitted Ricky was his most difficult fight. Freddie is easily underestimating Ricky’s speed, power, strength, footwork and overall boxing skill. Manny will realize in the first round, as all Ricky’s previous opponents have, that he's in the sh*t and he will quickly run for cover until Ricky catches up to him to close out another great night for the Hitman,” Beard said.

“I thought Marquez won [the rematch]. Even though it was a close fight, before the announcement Manny didn't look like he thought he won. The main thing though was Manny was really hurt a few times in that fight and once to the body.  Ricky is stronger than Marquez and will hit that target frequently. Manny makes one major mistake which he does constantly in sparring and I’ve studied him doing the same thing in his fights. I can’t say what for obvious reason but when Manny makes this regular mistake - the fight is going to be over.  Me and Floyd have been talking and putting a game plan together and we are 100% confident Ricky will knock Manny out early.”

Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingvester@gmail.com