By Ronnie Nathanielsz
IBO junior lightweight champion Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton has suddenly launched an offensive with just under two weeks remaining before his showdown with the world’s pound-for-pound king and Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao.
BBC Sport quotes Hatton as saying “Manny fights the same way all the time. He’s effective at what he does but he’s not a versatile fighter.”
At the same time Hatton said Pacquiao has “never met a man as fiery, ferocious and rough as me, and certainly not as big and strong.”
Hatton tried to turn around the observations about the way he himself fights by claiming “I don’t think Manny is the most elusive. He comes very square on and he’s there to be hit.”
Hatton who is handled by Golden Boy Promotions in the US also gave Oscar De La Hoya little respect when he said that Pacquiao’s eighth round demolition of De La Hoya after moving up to welterweight from an original flyweight when Pacquiao won the title in 1998, did not prove he was capable of holding his own.
Hatton suggested that if Pacquiao gets hit in their MGM Grand, Las Vegas “Battle of East and West” he is “going to get hit by the biggest man he’s ever faced. I don’t think Manny has fought at this weight before.”
Downplaying Pacquiao’s win over De La Hoya, Hatton said Pacquiao was “fighting a punching bag that night.” He had previously downplayed Pacquiao’s 9th round annihilation of WBC lightweight champion David Diaz.
The British hitman is, like Pacquiao, winding down training and fine-tuning his game-plan for the fight under Floyd Mayweather Sr who masterminded his preparation for the impressive win over Paulie Malignaggi last November.
Hatton says his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr changed his career even as he conceded he had too many fights where “there was no real thought in the way I was fighting.”
Hatton maintains he is now a far better fighter than when he was knocked out in the tenth round by Floyd Mayweather Jr, son of his present trainer. According to BBC Sport Hatton recalls telling himself “come on Ricky you’ve always had the ability. You just aren’t using it anymore. That’s why I went to work with Floyd Sr and I think you’ve already seen the difference.”
