MANILA, Philippines – Aggressive. Defensive. Technical.
Normally you wouldn’t associate Ricky “Hitman" Hatton with all three adjectives, the Mancunian known more for being a slugger than a boxer.
But the 30-year-old fighter claimed he would display all these traits on May 2 when he defends his International Boxing Organization and Ring Magazine world junior welterweight title against pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao.
"I think people are used to me, that sight of Ricky Hatton, which they still get. And I'm aggressive but I'm also technical as well. You've seen the boxing side of Ricky Hatton now, and that's going to stand me in good stead. I'm being aggressive and defensive and technical at the same time now," Hatton was quoted by the Sporting Life.
The power-punching Hatton said he’d given fight fans a glimpse of his technical side during his previous assignment, in which he dismantled Paulie Malignaggi, a fighter known for moving well around the ring and an effective counter-puncher against aggressive opponents, in 11.
Hatton said the man who trained him against Malignaggi, Floyd Mayweather, Sr. has been polishing his newfound weapons again as he gears up against the Pac Man.
"So I showed improvement from the technical point of view in the last fight against Malignaggi, where I think we only just scratched the surface, me and Floyd. We're doing fantastic in the first two weeks. I think with another eight weeks under our belt, we'll be fine, to say the least," he said.
The Pacquiao camp, though, expressed belief that Hatton would revert back to his move-forward nature once he gets hit by the Filipino bomber, a style that trainer Freddie Roach said would spell doom for the fighter from Manchester.
But the “aggressive-defensive-technical" Hatton asserted there’s one more weapon he has at his disposal against the Filipino superstar: Size.
Downplaying what Pacquiao did to a bigger Oscar De La Hoya, Hatton said his size advantage would spell a big difference this time around. “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."
The two protagonists are in the thick of preparations with both camps predicting a KO win in the late rounds for their respective fighters.
Source: gmanews.tv
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