By Ronnie Nathanielsz

 

While Ricky "Hitman" Hatton may be in better shape than he was prior to his previous fights, he still doesn’t look anywhere near as sharp as Filipino boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao.

 


 

Shortly after his arrival from London, Arum told BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports that Hatton "looked in better shape than before but he is still very heavy. My guess is that he was like 165 pounds while Manny looked very trim and around 150 pounds."

 

However, in their final media conference at the historic Imperial War Museum, Hatton claimed he was "in fantastic condition already and that shows you how much I am up for this fight."

 

Arum was completely enamored with Pacquiao and the way he handled himself. Arum said "Manny really captured England. It was unbelievable. The English media went nuts about him. He is humble, down-to-earth and very exotic.. So unlike a normal fighter. His is a great story."

 

Arum praised Philippine ambassador to Britain, Edgardo Espiritu who he said was "very helpful." The Top Rank promoter said "I didn’t realize there were so many Filipinos in England. Everywhere we went Manny was besieged by them and it was a tremendous buildup to the fight."

 

Arum revealed that when Pacquiao heard mass last Sunday at Westminster Cathedral "he set an attendance record. Every seat was filled. They reserved a pew for him in the first row and the priest acknowledged Manny saying ‘we have a distinguished visitor with us’. There were hundreds and hundreds of people outside. It was unbelievable."

 

The promoter who is considered an icon in boxing predicted the fight will be a classic because Hatton "as a fighter, is an attraction. As a fight its got to be a great fight because of the styles of these two fighters which is very exciting. As a box office attraction it has a huge dimension because of the tremendous number of pay-per-view buys in England." He calculated that the fight would do over a million homes in Britain.

 

Arum pointed out "that’s an element that no other fighter brings to the table. Not (Floyd) Mayweather Jr, not anybody else." He said English homes are paying $23 per home and "that is the bonanza in this fight" which in addition to the $8 million in gate receipts will also earn from the US pay-per-view buys which Arum believes "will be very, very strong. We are very optimistic."

 

Prior to his departure from London, Hatton expressed his appreciation to Pacquiao for visiting Britain. He said "I appreciate Manny traveling all of this way to come to England and especially Manchester to help promote this fight. He’s a great fighter and I am looking forward to the challenge."

 

Hatton said he was fighting for the pound-for-pound title currently held by Pacquiao and "this is what I want more than anything. The last time I had a chance to fight for the pound-for-pound title, I did okay. I came in second." That fight was against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Hatton pointed out that he fought Mayweather at 147 pounds and he didn’t think he was big enough at that weight, adding "now I have a chance to fight at 140 pounds and that is my weight."

 

Hatton recalled that when he fought Kostya Tsyzu "no one game me a chance against him and that seems like a long time ago. I truly believe I am a much better fighter now. When I fought Tsyzu I bulldozed him into submission."

 

"The Hitman" noted in his last fight against Paulie Malignaggi with trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr and a new team around him "my style is different and better. I think I proved that I have a much better jab, a stronger punch and speed too.."

 

He said both he and Pacquiao "don’t go backwards and I think that is the key to this fight. Whoever winds up going backwards is going to lose. We both have very exciting and aggressive styles and this fight is going to be tremendous."