By Cliff Rold
Currently regarded by most as the ‘pound-for-pound’ best in the world, the challenger is attempting among other things to become the first fighter in history to make a case as lineal World champion in four different weight classes.
The champion is seeking a win which would put him over the top on the road to Canastota, a victory which would fully marry his resume to the incredible drawing power he’s amassed at the gate in recent years.
Those things circle about this showdown and yet, as the ring walks commence, as Michael Buffer invites them to ‘Rumble,’ all the analysis and contextualizing will evaporate as so much hot air until the final bell sounds to bring their combat to an end.
In the end, the fight is the thing.
On Saturday night, live on HBO Pay-Per-View from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, two of the world’s most famous pugilists will lace up their gloves, strip down to their shorts, and fight.
It should be, we wish for, one hell of a show.
Let’s go to the report card.
The Ledgers
Ricky Hatton
Age: 30
Title: Lineal World Junior Welterweight 2005-Present, 5 Defenses
Height: 5’7 ½
Average Weight - Five Most Recent Fights: 140.75 lbs.
Hails from: Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom
Record: 45-1, 32 KO
Record in Title Fights: 7-1, 4 KO, 1 KOBY
Major Belts Held: IBF Jr. Welterweight (2005, 1 Defense); IBF/WBA (05-06); WBA Welterweight (2006); IBF Jr. Welterweight (2007)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated: 8 (Freddie Pendleton, Vince Phillips, Kostya Tszyu, Carlos Maussa, Luis Collazo, Juan Urango, Jose Luis Castillo, Paulie Malignaggi)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat: 1 (Floyd Mayweather Jr.)
Vs.
Manny Pacquiao
Age: 30
Title: None
Previous Titles: Lineal World Flyweight 1998-99, 1 Defense; Lineal World Featherweight 2003-05, 2 Defenses; Lineal World Jr. Lightweight (2008)
Height: 5’6 ½
Average Weight - Five Most Recent Fights: 132.85 lbs.
Hails from: General Santos City, Cotabato del Sur, Philippines
Record: 48-3-2, 36 KO
Record in Title Fights: 11-1-2, 9 KO, 1 KOBY
Major Belts Held: WBC Flyweight 1998-99, 1 Defense; IBF Jr. Featherweight 2001-03, 4 Defenses; Ring Featherweight 2003-05, 2 Defenses; WBC/Ring Jr. Lightweight 2008; WBC Lightweight, 2008-09
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated: 9 (Chatchai Sasakul, Lehlo Ledwaba, Jorge Eliecer Julio, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Oscar Larios, Juan Manuel Marquez, David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat or Draw: 4 (Medgoen Singsurat, Agapito Sanchez, Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales)
Pre-Fight Grades
Speed: Pacquiao A; Hatton B
Power: Pacquiao B+; Hatton B
Defense: Pacquiao B; Hatton B-
Intangibles: Pacquiao A; Hatton B+
There aren’t many fighters in the sport with the explosive speed of Manny Pacquiao right now and so goes the presumed advantage to the ‘pound-for-pound’ king. Against De La Hoya, fighting just over the line which separates Jr. Welterweight from Welterweight, Pacquiao was just as crisp as he’d looked a fight prior against David Diaz at Lightweight making him faster than almost any active Welterweight in the world. Contesting at 140, expect Pacquiao to be sharp, a difference of critical split seconds in exchanges.
How big an advantage will Pacquiao’s speed be? Hatton might not match Pacquiao for hand speed but he isn’t a plodder by any stretch. Significantly, he possesses fast feet, meaning that if Pacquiao misses on his favored southpaw straight lefts. Hatton can close the gap to rip shots to the body. Hatton will also be well served to shoot for body shots as Pacquiao circles away after throwing the left. How he goes about setting up the rest of his offense will go a long way in determining whether Hatton holds onto his crown a sixth time.
In the knockout loss to Mayweather, and in unimpressive wins against Luis Collazo, Juan Urango, and Juan Lazcano, Hatton led too often with hooks and face, his jab all but forgotten. Prior to his World title win over Tszyu in 2005, Hatton actually employed an effective jab but as the quality of his competition improved he settled into a mauling style intended to minimize incoming fire and impose his physical strength. In his last outing, the first under the tutelage of Floyd Mayweather Sr., Hatton’s jab was back and it created opportunities for straight right hands with leverage on them to the detriment of Malignaggi.
With the increased leverage, on nice short shots, Hatton hurt Malignaggi repeatedly before forcing a corner stoppage in the eleventh. While Malignaggi might not be favored in a grape busting contest, meaning Hatton could fight with the confidence of knowing he had little of substance coming back at him, Malignaggi had shown a sturdy chin in the past. Hatton rocked him consistently with single shots more than anyone else ever had, including current Welterweight titlist Miguel Cotto. It was a reminder; while not a nuclear knockout artist, Hatton can hurt anyone in his domain at 140.
It was, plainly, Hatton’s most dominant performance in a long time…but Pacquiao is no Malignaggi. It remains to be seen how much his single best shots can hurt at a legitimate guy at 140. Against De La Hoya, whose chin was always an asset, it took a steady rain of blows to wear his man down and actually bring a buckle to his knees.
Maybe a lesser Welterweight folds faster, but then again it took a similar volume effort to break down the average David Diaz at Lightweight. Pacquiao was a lights out puncher up to 130 lbs. and is still hitting hard above it, but the jury is still out on how hard in comparison to other world class men this high on the scale. Knowing that he was in with naturally bigger men his last two fights provoked an extra level of control from Pacquiao; he rarely got wild and stuck to mounting the toll of leather over time.
Pacquiao, who turned pro at 106 lbs. and was still comfortably a Featherweight four years ago, has shown a tough beard. Serious punchers like Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez couldn’t drop him but that is not to say he in unhurtable. Both of those men at least stunned him and Oscar Larios rocked him pretty good in a 2005 bout at 130. After De La Hoya, it might be assumed he can absorb the blows of Hatton...but De La Hoya never really hit Pacquiao flush with anything.
If Hatton can be drawn into chasing a Pacquiao in rhythm, a Pacquiao able to bounce on his toes, moving in and out, the chance for Pacquiao to accumulate punishment on him will go up and Hatton is in trouble. Over the course of their twelve rounds, Lazcano kept pace with Hatton and also stayed professional, throwing at what targets he could find until Hatton’s chin was available and almost undone in the eighth and tenth rounds. But for an untied Hatton shoelace and charitable official who allowed it time to be addressed during the action of the latter, Hatton might not have been a champion long enough to increase his stock against Malignaggi.
Conversely, Hatton’s chances improve if he can slow Pacquiao down, putting the jab on him to mess up his timing and then using his roughhouse stuff inside while leaning on the slightly shorter man. Let’s face it; no matter how much refinement has been added by their rhetorically dueling trainers in the gym, both Pacquiao and Hatton get hit. Their defenses are good enough to keep them in fights with their best opponents but blocking and cute slips are not the natural inclinations of either.
Finally, it turns to the things less measurable and in this bout there are two big intangibles. The first is the mental strength of both. Against Mayweather, Hatton fought fairly well through five but by six the defense of Mayweather had him frustrated and a point deduction for an attempted, flagrant foul was the beginning of the end. He came apart and simply walked forward for a beating. Hatton’s got a big heart; he’s the kind of guy who when hurt pulls himself off the floor and forces the proverbial shield exit. But if he doesn’t slow down Pacquiao in the early going, will he have the acumen for a plan B?
Will he need it?
After all, there is still the question of size, which in this fight is an intangible because we can’t be sure whether it’s a factor or not. For Pacquiao, the win over De La Hoya can be overrated and the Diaz win caused more excitement than merited. Call it aesthetics over substance; one has to consider the conditions and state of opponents.
Diaz was incredibly slow and had barely gotten by a badly faded Erik Morales after Pacquiao had walked through Morales in the final two of three encounters. De La Hoya was a fight made on the cynical premise that Manny would have a shot depending on how little Oscar had left. It turned out he had less than a little and, with a legitimate modern great in front of him, could do nothing but take his whooping. It remains to be seen whether or not Hatton is ‘great’ but he’s clearly very good, still young enough to pull the trigger, and Jr. Welterweight remains his house. These two might be close to the same weight on the scales and in the ring, but weight isn’t always the same as natural size.
Hatton, who turned pro as a 140 lb. teenager in 1997, wasn’t carefully built into the division. Pacquiao has been and will be presented with his strongest foe to date. If his speed doesn’t overwhelm Hatton’s defenses, Pacquiao figures to be in for the most grueling night of his career. On Saturday, the world finds out for real just how competitive Pacquiao can be against elite, natural competition above 130 lbs.
The Pick
Win or lose this weekend, it’s easy to state before this fight even happens that Manny Pacquiao is already one of boxing’s all-time greats. He’s done things no fighter before him had ever done in becoming the first man to officially win the World title at Flyweight and then Featherweight, adding Jr. Lightweight honors for good measure last year against real fire.
However, it is a mistake to merely read the resume and think Hatton will not be in this fight. Considering the history of men coming up this far in weight, and remembering weight divisions exist for a reason, it’s pretty wild Hatton is an underdog. He has never lost at 140 lbs. while taking on many of the best in the division. And forget the scales; Hatton is the bigger and stronger man. He’s going to hit Pacquiao, and hit him harder than perhaps anyone else ever has particularly to the body. Hatton could very well be ahead through four or five rounds win or lose. If he is, Hatton winning this fight, even by stoppage late, would not shock.
The problem could be what Manny will throw back in volume as the seconds tick by. After round six against Mayweather, Floyd turned his offense up and it was game over. Pacquiao, as he showed against Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, has a way of upping the ante with sheer numbers of shots. Again, those were smaller men then Hatton and Hatton is likely to absorb better but ultimately only to stay erect by the end. In a fight of this magnitude, between a fighter proven already as great and a fighter yet perceived as only ‘very good’ (which is no sin), great has to get the edge.
Pacquiao by narrow decision in a crowd pleaser.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com