Ricky Hatton says he'll be the biggest man Manny Pacquiao has ever faced come May 2.
Pound-for-pound king Pacquiao defied ring logic back in December when he battered one-time middleweight Oscar De La Hoya into submission in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
All the pre-fight predictions had the 'Golden Boy's' size proving too much for the Pacman on the night.
But in the end it was a faded Oscar who entered the ring at a surprisingly low 147lbs on fight night, and he was battered to a humiliating defeat.
Hatton is next up for Pacquiao, again at the MGM Grand. And he believes size may well matter this time round.
He said: "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.
"But anyone who defeats Oscar De La Hoya is a fantastic achievement, no matter weight, training or anything like that. 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.
"With my new training camp with Floyd Mayweather, I would like to think I could have done the same."
Last time out Hatton produced one of the best displays of his career when stopping Paulie Malignaggi to prove once again he's the best there is at 140lbs.
That was his first fight with Floyd Mayweather Sr in his corner after the split with Billy Graham, and he believes things can only get better.
"I just think a change was needed. And people were telling me that obviously, it's not my former trainer's fault, but trainers' work is hard work. It was just a little bit of a harder decision for me to make because I'd been with Billy for so long.
"But the fact that I left Billy Graham, and I think everyone started to think that maybe I'd seen better days before the Malignaggi fight - to put the performance in I did after just seven weeks, I think shows that the right decision was made.
"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.
"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."
Source: sportinglife.com
No comments:
Post a Comment