MANILA, Philippines -- British junior welterweight star Ricky Hatton today said that when Manny Pacquiao steps into the ring for their fight, the current pound-for-pound boss will be in with the biggest opponent he has ever faced.
Referring to Pacquiao’s bout with the supposedly much bigger Oscar De La Hoya wherein the Pacman even outweighed the Golden Boy 148.5 pounds to 147 pounds on fight time, Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) told sportinglife.com that this won’t be the case when he and Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs) share the ring on May 2 in Las Vegas.
"Oscar weighed 147 in the ring on the evening of the fight. And come fight night, for as long as I can remember, I regularly weigh 154. So I am going to be the biggest man that Manny has faced, even though he has faced Oscar,” Hatton said.
Still, the fighter from Manchester, England, has nothing but praises for Pacquiao’s eight-round pummeling of De La Hoya last December in what turned out to be boxing’s richest fight of 2008.
"But anyone who defeats Oscar De La Hoya is a fantastic achievement, no matter weight, training or anything like that,” Hatton said.
The Hitman, however, bared he too could have beaten De La Hoya that night given the latter’s condition.
“But in my personal opinion, because — only Oscar can answer this question — because of what happened to make him weigh and how much weight he piled on after the weigh-in, which was very, very little — without sounding too disrespectful to Manny, I don't think it was too hard to outbox Oscar that night and too hard to beat him,” Hatton added.
The De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight, dubbed “The Dream Match,” was ridiculed by most in the boxing the community, calling it a “mismatch” due to the great size and weight disparity between the two protagonists. The fight indeed turned out to be a mismatch — but in Pacquiao’s favor.
De La Hoya looked drained for the welterweight bout, and he was an easy target for Pacquiao’s lightning-quick combinations. It was the first time De La Hoya fought at the 147 limit in seven years.
This time, against Hatton, Pacquiao may have some worrying to do as “ The Mancunian Candidate” has never lost at the 140-pound junior welterweight limit. Hatton’s lone setback was at welterweight against the then pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
Pacquiao started boxing professionally as a 106-pounder and has since jumped several weight classes, winning titles at 112 pounds (flyweight), 122 pounds (super bantamweight), 126 pounds (featherweight), 130 pounds (junior lightweight) and 135 pounds (lbs).
A win over Hatton will net the General Santos City-based southpaw the lineal championship at 140 pounds (junior welterweight).
Source: philstar.com
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