Hatton plans to use speed to beat Pacquiao
by Scott Christ on Mar 2, 2009 3:31 PM EST
in Boxing News Analysis
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According to a USA Today article, Ricky Hatton is hoping to use speed and power to beat Manny Pacquiao on May 2:
Ricky Hatton admits his old bulldozing style of fighting won't be good enough to beat Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on May 2 and he will rely instead on handspeed and punching power.
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"Kostya was a great punching powerhouse but I bulldozed him into submission," Hatton said on Monday. "But in my last fight against Malignaggi, who is a speed merchant, I ended up out-boxing him and out-speeding him. In the end I beat him up.
"The Ricky Hatton of old would have put his head down and steamed in at 100 mph without a lot of thought on how to do it. I've no doubt Manny's speed will cause me problems but they said that about Malignaggi."
Well, OK.
Paulie Malignaggi is quick, but Pacquiao is quicker. Pacquiao can also punch, while Malignaggi can't punch his way out of a wet paper bag. Hatton routed Malignaggi because Paulie couldn't get Ricky to respect him at all. Once Hatton felt Paulie's shots, I'm sure he knew there was no check hook that this guy could possibly throw that could put him down. Pacquiao is not the same story.
Malignaggi also just didn't fight well at all. All credit to Hatton for making that happen in many ways, but let's not mistake Paulie Malignaggi for a guy that's going to teach Hatton how to fight Pacquiao, who is not only faster and stronger than Paulie, but he's a southpaw who moves around the ring very well, punches in vicious and sudden combinations, and comes from a variety of angles.
We don't know yet if the pairing with Floyd Mayweather has actually changed Hatton at all because we haven't seen him against a guy that can hurt him. Freddie Roach says later in the article that he figures when Hatton gets hit and stung by Pacquiao, he'll go back to what he knows. I kind of figure the same.
It's going to be a great fight and Hatton, because of his strength and punching power at 140, can beat Manny Pacquiao. If he chooses to go into a firefight with Manny, he can bull him around the ring, get him in close quarters, and dig away. Much easier said than done because Ricky's footwork will have to be good enough for him to even get at Manny, who likely will prefer to bounce around and come in quickly with his combos.
What I'm really saying is that yes, Hatton looked better under Floyd against Paulie than he has looked in years, and it's likely no coincidence. Billy Graham was clearly lost for anything to tell Ricky against Floyd Jr. in December 2007, and Ricky was sluggish and underwhelming against Juan Lazcano last May. But Lazcano and Malignaggi, though different fighters and of different quality these days, stood more or less the same chance against Hatton, and he beat them both because he's better than both of them. Manny Pacquiao is a far, far bigger challenge. If Ricky plans on playing a speed game with Pacquiao, I think he's digging his own grave. A lot of his night will be spent hitting reset.
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“It will be a great fight in the first half but Manny will get to him in the later rounds and will knock him out at some point,” Roach said. "Ricky is very resilient but his come-forward nature will walk him into some shots and that will get him out of there. He’s tailor made for us.
I can’t see Pacquiao KO’ing Hatton. He’s too small and lacks the power. However, Freddie Roach has been right every time he’s made bold statements like this about his fighter.
I can see it being stopped if he’s just dominating Hatton.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
just a thought
But is manny not getting enough credit for his chin. He’s been in with marquez twice, the same marquez how stopped the baby bull ( who has never stopped) and Joel, and Manny never touched the canvas. Manny’s chin seems underrated.
I see him cutting up Hatton. I think this might be a fight where Ricky’s weightcuts catch up to him.
Manny’s chin is very good. It’s not among the first things people usually talk about though, and people that reference his past knockouts miss the point. He was essentially a boy then. But Hatton’s a strong dude, and I dare say much stronger than Marquez. Not really a better puncher, but a guy more able to wear Manny down just by bulling and leaning perhaps.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
Manny's chin is fine
But historically he’s had some problems with tough body punching. I’m pretty sure that every time in his career he’s been down it was on a body blow. Of course, at 140 he’ll have a lot more mass protecting his midsection than he did when he was at lower weights, but it bears keeping in mind, especially since Hatton is a vicious body puncher.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
But historically he’s had some problems with tough body punching.
This is what concerns me about his chances against Cotto at 147. Cotto is quicker than Hatton, stronger than him, and an even better body puncher, plus he’s just bigger.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
Especially considering how many clean shots Manny took from Marquez, his defense being adequate at best (last two fights notwithstanding). He also took serious punishment from Morales in the 1st fight, and ate some clean ones in the 2nd.
“Chin” is a funny thing anyway. Some fighters have always been granite chinned (Chavez, LaMotta, Hagler), some “grow” a chin. Though his chin always seemed to be the thing that failed him most, I’m pretty confident that Tommy Hearns took a better shot at 154 than he did at 147. You have Duran who gets knocked down twice as a lightweight, iced by Tommy in 2, but stands toe to toe with Hagler and Moore and Barkley (???). Oscar de la Hoya went down, what was it, twice(?) as a lightweight, but could take bombs at 147 and 154.
Seems to me that the way Manny’s body has developed his punch resistance has gone up some. As for the two KO losses, the first one by Torrecampo was when Manny was a teenager and I don’t count that. Torrecampo was in his 20s I believe. It looked like a body shot but I don’t think it was. It was a short punch to the chin while Manny was crouching. If you observe Manny’s movements after the KO, that is not the look of someone who was KOd with a bodypunch. He wasn’t hunched over, wasn’t writhing. Singsurat scored a legit bodyshot KO against a severely weight-drained Pacquiao who’d been killing himself to make 112, which I think is common knowledge. Pacquiao doesn’t skip one, but two weight classes and resumes his career as a Jr. Feather.
STILL, he WILL be tested by one of the best body punchers in the sport in Ricky Hatton. It’s not like Pacquiao is gonna go all Mayorga on us and say “Hit me. Right here.” He’s tough, not stupid.
Hahaha, well, according to Roberto himself, he didn’t train for that fight, and that’s not exactly hard to believe.
But even best on best, meaning the Duran from Montreal vs the best version of Tommy at 147, I still think it’s a terrible physical match-up for Duran. 60-40, maybe more in favor of Hearns. And I LOVE Duran.
8th round tko . I’ll be off by one round like the last fight. Oh, i’m for pac, but this will be a great fight. Hatton will mug him a couple times, but pac’s footwork is too quick and elusive to be trapped on the ropes, and that straight left hand is just gonna zing hatton all night. I bet rounds 2-5 will be a fire fight, but like pac’s performance his last few opponenets, he’ll simply be too fast and hatton won’t see the shots coming and pac will be sure to move after every punch so he won’t be touched. Aweseom fight tho!
Bruce Lee
I may be the only one, but if you rewatch the Pacman-DLH fight and take a look at Pacman style, he had something similar to that of Bruce Lee’s. The slight jumps from front to back and the quick counter attacks were trully amazing. So, who knows maybe the speed will be a lot more of Pacman side than Hatton.
I think Hatton is going to have a bit of a problem after the 5th around with him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he falls face first like David Diaz did in the 9th round then the history was TKO. It should either be a late 8th or 9th round TKO. Or perhaps an early 10 TKO. I doubt it’ll go past the 9th though.
"Count on us! We sponsored Margarito for several years." - CEMEX
I dunno, i think their styles are a bit different. Actually Muhammad ali was a big influence on bruce lee’s style, he used to shadow box while he had a film of muhammad ali projected on the wall and imitate the movements. Bruce Lee was more likely to strike someone first with his speed than counter, and his first line of defense would be a side kick to the knee, not a jab.
Also, maybe b/c I"m asian american i picked it up, i felt it was kind of racist for pple to associate manny pacquiao with bruce lee. It’s like you very rarely see a great asian boxer, and when you do, it confuses you b/c it breaks up the stereotypes of asians being unathletic, weak, and can’t fight, then the next thing is, even tho he’s Fillipino, he’s “close enough” that you can link him to the most popular stereotype of an asian fighter: bruce lee or jackie chan. Floyd maywaether or sugar ray leonawrd or Evil Vic has super fast hands, no one ever went up to them and be like “has anyone ever compared you to Bruce Lee?!!” It’s like pple need to put pple in compartments and categories in order to make themselves feel comfortable. Two different ethnic groups (chinese vs. fillipino), two different sports (boxing vs. martial arts/jeet kun do/wing chun kung fu). Just a thought.
That wasn’t what I was getting at. Now you just took it in a whole different direction and level.
"Count on us! We sponsored Margarito for several years." - CEMEX
Well you din’t make up the comparison, so i’m not calling you a racist. but the hbo pple or mario lopez or whoever thought it up, the concept itself is racist b/c they’re two athletes that have nothing in common excpet they’e both from the same continent and they’re both fast.
If manny pacquiao were white, this conversation wouldn’t even be happening. Actually, when Frank Shamrock fought Cung Le, a Vietnamese American, an announcer said jokingly to Shamrock: “So how are you going to prepare for Cung Le? By watching Enter the Dragon?” Cung Le practices Sanda, different from Bruce Lee.
I would not mind seeing a video link that shows Bruce’s similarities to Manny. Would it be Enter the Dragon, or Return of the Dragon, or his Long Beach Demo, or Game of Death?
You can actually say Bruce Lee has something in common with every boxer. He adopted many of boxing’s training methods in his efforts to “modernize” martial arts. He did a lot of roadwork, he used a punching bag, he adopted a boxing stance, he jump roped for 3 mins at at time, he shadow boxed, and he also adopted jabs, hooks, and upper cuts into his reportoire. At that time in the 1960’s, most martial artist were not training this way.
Speed...
I think Hatton’s a lot faster than a lot of people give him credit for. It really depends on what he means by “using speed.” If he thinks he can box on the outside with Pacquiao, then I think he gets KO’d probably brutally because Manny will get full leverage on that left hand. If however he means he’ll use it to cut distance so he can work inside then sure, speed will work for him.
Been playing this match-up out in my head over and over. The angles are all wrong for Ricky, I think. Hatton’s best punch is a left hook to the body for which Pacquiao has a natural defense, being a southpaw. His right hand, while far from being a pillow punch isn’t exactly a thing of beauty, ala Marquez (you can bet Mayweather Sr. is drilling that right hand lead over and over). Plus, Ricky’s got short arms and will be in Pacquiao’s range while firing that right hand.
On the other side of things, Ricky’s naturally lined up for Pacquiao’s left which is always locked and loaded. He’s been leading with that left and pivoting clear pretty well as of late. Ricky seems a sucker for the left hand. Lazcano hurt him with it, Malignaggi hit him with it (but couldn’t hurt him), and you know what, Pacquiao’s gonna hit him with it. And of course there was the infamous Check Hook that caught Ricky lunging in while his right hand was low.
Conclusion: Between Hatton and Pacquiao, it’s Hatton who will most certainly get hit. He needs to get up close to hurt Pacquiao and do so consistently, while the same doesn’t follow for Manny. I think a Hatton victory depends more on his ability to soak up the barrage as well as his edge in physical strength. If his chin and skin holds up enough so he can muscle his way into punching range, he can win this. That’s a big IF. Speed is only a factor if used to get him in position to bully.
by Areglado on Mar 2, 2009 5:30 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
Now if hatton really is comparing Manny to Malignaggi then he is in for a rude awakening come fight night...
And i would love to see hatton try to outbox and out speed manny. Even if hatton trades with manny, i think he’d get the better of it..Roach has done wonders with pacquiao’s defense and it is really seen in his last few fights… i cant say the same about hatton’s..
http://weoweoweo.deviantart.com/
Pacquiao might be the best learner I’ve ever seen. You’d never have thought years ago, as good as he was then, that he’d be the fighter he is now.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 3, 2009 12:13 AM EST up reply actions
yup. I was amazed on how much he’s improved throughout the years.. before sure, pac was good, but everybody criticized him about having only a left hand, no defense, and he gets out of control. He’s way more disciplined now, more technical. He has much more improved defense, and he now has a dangerous right hand..
I’ll stop there, cause im starting to sound too much like a pac-nut (i dont want it to be that obvious hahaha.)
http://weoweoweo.deviantart.com/
by Anton Tabuena on Mar 3, 2009 12:20 AM EST up reply actions
it's the same Hatton out there
Clinching his way every second for 3 minutes of every round then try to land a body shot or an uppercut at close range is probably what Hatton, under the guidance of May Sr, is up to when he fights Pacquiao in May. Doing this consistently at every chance may not only tire but also can frustrate and irritate Pacquiao, whose forte is outside fighting, causing him to be careless at some point. Hatton is known for his holding and bulldozing tactics and he doesn’t mind doing it all night long if he thinks it’s working. Against Mayweather, he looked dumb. Against Malignaggi, he looked brilliant. Against Pacquiao, let’s see.
1 part DLHoya looking terrible, 1 part Pacquiao looking amazing and sticking to a concentrated/concerted gameplan and dismantling him. If there was ever a time where Pacquiao finally seems at the height of his powers and not overrated to me, this is it. Hatton will have trouble…and his questionable in close tactics will be largely negated by Pacquiao’s movement and angles (which clearly negated DLHoya)……bad/tought fight for Hatton.
Gatti.
Dekkers.
Pele.
Tadahiro Nomura.
Hidehiko Yoshida.
Aoki.
Kang.
Vanderlei.
by theworldsoldestsport on Mar 4, 2009 10:40 AM EST reply actions
"I'm fast enough to beat Malinaggi, so I can beat Pacquiao, too."
Let us know how that turns out for you, Ricky.
Although detractors decry (MMA) as a brutal, bloody form of human cockfighting, aficionados know it is a brutal, bloody, totally fucking awesome form of human cockfighting. -The Onion
by The Kittitas Kid on Mar 4, 2009 12:30 PM EST reply actions
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