"Is he crazy? (Ricky) Hatton will beat the f**king socks off of (Manny) Pacquiao.” So opined the ever loquacious Floyd Mayweather Sr. in an interview Monday with Boxing Scene’s Rick Reeno.
Conventional thinking would agree with Sr.’s sentiment.
Convention though is the opposite of what a Hatton-Pacquiao bout would represent. At least convention as it is known in the 21st century. Elite fighters who started their careers thirty pounds apart, facing off while both are still near their physical prime, is something that boxing hasn’t seen much of in the last seventy years or so.
The original Joe Walcott, a Welterweight, knocking out future Hall of Famer Joe Choynski, a Light Heavyweight, in 1900? Sure why not.
Middleweight Sam Langford versus Heavyweight Harry Wills? Almost twenty times? Hey, what else were two permanently ducked black fighters to do from 1910-1920?
The former lineal World Flyweight and Featherweight king Pacquiao (45-3-2, 35 KO, Ring Magazine #1 at 130 lbs.) challenging reigning World Jr. Welterweight champ Ricky Hatton (43-1, 31 KO) in 2008? I’m pretty sure I agree with Sr. that it’s crazy…but sometimes crazy is a hell of a show.
If he retired today, Pacquiao already has his slice of history. He’s the first and only fighter in history to reign as champion at 112 and 126 lbs. Along the way, he’s knocked out two Hall of Fame titans in Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales and slain a slew of other competent-to-notable foes. He doesn’t need a Hatton fight.
That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be worth a look to see him try. It’s an unlikely scenario for Manny Pacquaio to win a Hatton fight but not entirely inconceivable. If the marginally possible became the recently occurred, it would be the sort of achievement that could become truly transcendent; this generation’s Henry Armstrong triple-crown. Could this fight really happen?
While the talks with the HBO suits about this match have allegedly been serious thus far, there are of course two reasons not to pay much attention to the chatter. The first isn’t a reason but a man, one Juan Manuel Marquez (48-3-1, 25 KO, #2, WBC 130 lb. titlist). He and Pacquiao have the small issue of their rematch on March 15. Most will recognize the winner as the true, new World champion, replacing the long-reigning vacant at Jr. Lightweight, and there’s no telling who that winner will be. A Marquez victory will end the discussion of Hatton and send Pacquiao, hat in hand, looking for rubber match with Marquez.
There is another reason this fight may not come off and it’s all about Hatton. Specifically, the public should find this idea unacceptable for Hatton and I have a feeling that the backlash from the press and punditry would not be pretty. I’d expect something worse than the blowback to the once-rumored bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Cory Spinks.
While it is understandable that Hatton would want to maximize his likely increased earning potential with a more winnable fight than his last against the Welterweight champion Mayweather turned out to be, he is still the champion at 140 lbs. and should be held to those obligations or at least to fighting men near his natural size. Fellow Brit Junior Witter (36-1-2, 21 KO, WBC titlist) is far and away the most deserving contender in his weight class. Heck, Witter would have an argument as the most deserving contender to any champion in any weight class. Economics isn’t that big an argument either; Hatton-Witter would fill a soccer stadium overseas.
In other words, a lot of punches have yet to fly before we need to think too hard about whether Hatton would “beat the f**king socks off” of Manny.
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
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