Hatton fired up for Pacquiao scrap

RICKY Hatton has developed a second shadow - and he reckons it will help him put world number one Manny Pacquiao in the shade in the heat of the Nevada desert.

Trainer Floyd Mayweather Senior flew in from his Las Vegas home on Friday to begin working with the Hitman ahead of his showdown with Pacquiao on May 2.

And Hatton revealed that, as well as improving him technically as a boxer, the wily old Yank also ensures that no corners are cut in his preparation.

The clash with pound-for-pound top dog Pacquiao will require Hatton to be in the best physical shape of his life, as he has to match the Filipino's incredible work-rate and stay on top of his man for what could be 12 non-stop rounds.

Desperate

And Mayweather, who is desperate to put one over his old foe Freddie Roach - Pacquiao's trainer - is staying on Hatton's case.

"He is very hands-on," said Hatton, who readily admits to his laddish lifestyle of pies, pints and nightclubs when he is not training for a fight. "When I am shadow boxing he is over my shoulder, when I am on the bag he is over my shoulder, when I am sparring he is over my shoulder.

"I get up to go running at six o'clock in the morning, and he is beside me, in his car.

"He flew in to Manchester on Friday, and the same day he was in the gym, working with me. We will do four weeks over here, then another five in Vegas, so this time I get two weeks longer with Floyd than I did ahead of the Paulie Malignaggi fight last November.

"There is no cheating, and you could see at the end of 11 rounds in the Malignaggi fight - which wasn't a hot-paced fight, but I had to keep on top of him - I looked like I could have done another 12.

"Manny will have to stay with the pace, and the ferocity, and the number of punches he will absorb."

Therein lies the key to beating Pacquiao, believes Hatton, who has carefully studied the fights in which the five-time world champion has been beaten, hurt or otherwise troubled.

Speed

"The problems that Manny is going to cause me are with his speed, but I was pretty fast myself in my last fight," says Hatton. "This time I will be even quicker - Paulie Malignaggi was a bit of a speed merchant, but he wasn't as fast as Ricky Hatton on that night. I have an answer for everything. Ricky Hatton at this moment in time is better than the Ricky Hatton who beat Kostya Tszyu - without a shadow of a doubt.

"I have seen Manny get knocked down several times with body shots. In fact two of his three defeats were from body shots.

"I have seen him knocked down by a jab from Nedal Hussein, the Australian fighter, and get knocked down by a body shot from a Russian early in his career.

"And he is like me, so aggressive that in all of his recent fights people have given ground to him. I won't give ground to him. The last person who put pressure on him was Erik Morales - and he beat him.

"So I am going to put pressure on him, educated pressure with better defence, more hand speed, better head movement and better jabbing - and I only see one winner.

"Manny has been shaken up plenty of times, and put on the back foot, and this time he will have to absorb a lot more punches.

"He has been shown to be a little bit fragile from time to time. People are going off his last two performances, and not looking to the past, where he has been shaken up by smaller men. I will be in his face all the time, with slick moves.

"Top and bottom of it is that Ricky Hatton is a right handful, and Manny has not had to deal with a handful lately."

Source: manchestereveningnews.co.uk