By Mark Vester
Brendon Smith, trainer of Michael Katsidis, doesn't feel that Manny Pacquiao has the right style to beat Ricky Hatton on May 2. Pacquiao is being picked by many as the favorite to win. Many of those who back Pacquiao are basing their pick on Manny's one-sided wipeout of Oscar De La Hoya.
Smith tells Sports Nut that De La Hoya was nothing more than dead weight on the night he was stopped by Pacquiao. He expects Hatton to surprise a lot of critics by breaking Pacquiao down in the same fashion as he did to Kostya Tszyu several years ago.
"Don’t judge the outcome on Manny’s win over Oscar De La Hoya. Full credit to Manny for the win, he’s a great fighter but that was a long way short of Oscar’s best. On that effort Michael would have stopped Oscar as well. Against a fit and motivated Ricky Hatton, who has not had to boil down in weight like Oscar, I think we will see a very different fight," Smith said.
"I think Ricky will be so powerful in close that Pac will not be able to do a lot of the things he showed against Oscar. Kostya Tszyu was a great, great champion like Manny and Ricky broke him down inside with strength and constant pressure. I see Manny suffering a similar loss. He is a walk-up fighter who will trade punches with Hatton. When Ricky suffered his only loss it was to a very scientific boxer in Floyd Mayweather. Pacquiao is not that sort of boxer.’’
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