And although four-division champion Manny Pacquiao has proven he can slug it out against big men when he scored a ninth-round stoppage of Oscar de la Hoya at 147 lb last December, Hatton isn’t entirely convinced.
The two face off on May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, with Hatton’s International Boxing Organization (IBO) junior-welterweight crown (140 lb) on the line.
The 30-year-old Hatton on Saturday said he is simply too big for Pacquiao, and pointed out that his Filipino foe has never fought over 135 lb, except against de la Hoya, who turned 36 last month.
Hatton, on the other hand, has been a light-welterweight fighter for over a decade and has never been beaten in the division. He also once held the World Boxing Association welterweight crown, stopping the left-handed Luis Collazo of the US in 2006.
“He’s been stopped twice before with body shots, he’s been shaken up several times by people who are nowhere near as big as me,” said Hatton, who absorbed his only loss in the World Boxing Council welterweight title showdown against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2007.
Pacquiao has won world titles in four weight classes, the heaviest at lightweight (135 lb), when he downed David Diaz of the US in June. The 30-year-old Pacquiao first won the flyweight crown before moving up to reign supreme in the super-bantamweight and super-featherweight divisions.
“The top and bottom of it is Ricky Hatton is an absolute handful,” Hatton said.
“He’s [Pacquiao] going to have to absorb more punches against Ricky Hatton than he has in his whole career—and he’s going to have to take them off the biggest man he’s faced.”
The two fighters began the promotional tour for the fight dubbed “The East vs. The West” on Saturday at the Trafford Centre in Manchester and will hold a press conference at the Imperial War Museum in London on
Monday before the tour shifts to the US.
Source: businessmirror.com.ph
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