Pint-sized Filipino packs a big punch

Ricky Hatton gets a second chance to enter superstardom next weekend, although you can probably bank on the fact that the Englishman will lose to Filipino Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on Saturday night (Sunday morning SA time).

If there is one area in which England’s top boxers have excelled over the years, it’s falling at the final hurdle.

Lennox Lewis, arguably their most successful fighter since World War 2, reached the top in an era when both Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson were way past their best. And even then, Lewis was knocked out cold by two journeymen along the way — not the type of entries you find on the résumés of ring greats, like Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis or even Floyd Mayweather jnr.

Lloyd Honeyghan, Naseem Hamed and Randy Turpin scaled some impressive heights, but they never reached boxing’s Everest.
And so it was with Hatton. In his assault against Floyd Mayweather in 2007, he came spectacularly unstuck.

Mayweather, then rated the world’s top pound-for-pound boxer, destroyed the Mancunian in a fight that should be used for instruction on the art of counter-punching. Hatton spent the night blocking Mayweather’s punches with his chin.

Since Mayweather’s retirement, Pacquiao has inherited the tag of best in the world, enhanced considerably by his stoppage win over Oscar De La Hoya, who recently (finally) announced his overdue decision to hang up his gloves.

Both Pacquiao and Hatton are 30 — the Englishman is older by less than three months — but the momentum is with Pacquiao in this junior-welterweight fight.

What makes this fight interesting is that Pacquiao, who started out as a 51kg flyweight before achieving fame at the 57kg featherweight limit, is supposed to be the good small ’un taking on the good big ’un.
In spite of his smaller size, Pacquiao packs the power as well as the speed to take on some of the bigger men — as he did when humiliating an ineffective De La Hoya at 67kg.
Hatton took a beating of note from Mayweather and one has to wonder if there were any lasting effects; in his next fight, against unheralded Juan Lazcano, he was caught by a punch that wobbled his knees. It was a brief moment, but it was surely significant.

Hatton was more impressive in his last outing, registering an 11th-round TKO over Paul Malignaggi, who is probably best known for losing on points over 12 rounds to Miguel Cotto. But with all due respect, Malignaggi is a non-puncher who lacked the fire power to test Hatton’s chin. He scored his last stoppage victory in 2003.

Make no mistake, Pacquiao will not only test Hatton’s undefended chin on Saturday, he will examine it closely over and over again.

Pacquiao’s status as fight favourite doesn’t mean this won’t be an entertaining bout; as it is, the MGM Grand venue is sold out.

Financially this is likely to be one of the biggest non-heavyweight fights of 2009, although presumably the largest match-up out there is Pacquiao versus Mayweather, who is scheduled to rescind his pensioner status in July when he takes on Juan Manuel Marquez, the skilful Mexican who once drew with Pacquiao.

Mayweather against Pacquiao would be the mega-fight of the year and nobody wants to spoil that potential party. Except Hatton.

Source: thetimes.co.za