By Edward Chaykovsky
Former world champion Ricky Hatton is picking Floyd Mayweather Jr. - by a very small margin - to beat Manny Pacquiao on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Hatton was knocked out by Mayweather in ten rounds in 2007 and then suffered a brutal two round knockout at the hands of Pacquiao in 2009.
Pacquiao himself suffered a vicious sixth round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012. Since that loss, he's beaten Brandon Rios, Timothy Bradley and Chris Algieri - and Hatton says the Filipino superstar has looked better and better. On the other end, Hatton has noticed a physical decline in Mayweather based on his performances against Marcos Maidana in 2014.
"I slightly lean towards Floyd but only by the narrowest of margins. A few years ago, Manny looked untouchable and Manny...when he fought Timothy Bradley and then fought Marquez, he looked like he had seen better days and Floyd was looking better than ever. But lately Floyd has been looking not quite the force [that he used to be], but still quite the force. He's beaten Maidana and that's no [small] feat, but it wasn't quite at the standard that we've expected from him. To be honest Manny has been looking better than ever since that knockout defeat," Hatton told Hatton Boxing.
