WILL PACQUIAO BE NEXT FOR HATTON?
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 24 Nov 2008
Britain?s Ricky ?The Hitman? Hatton completely out-hustled and out-fought Paul Malignaggi baffling the ?Magic Man? with his strong-armed aggressiveness and set the stage for a possible showdown with Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao or ?The Golden Boy? Oscar De La Hoya, depending on the outcome of their ?Dream Match? at the same MGM Grand Garden Hotel venue in Las Vegas on December 6.
The impressive 11th round TKO victory when Malignaggi?s trainer Buddy McGirt waved the white towel of surrender to prevent his young fighter from suffering more punishment in a fight he hadn?t a chance of winning basically using just his left hand, clearly raised the possibility of a fight against the winner of the Pacquiao-De La Hoya showdown.
However, Floyd Mayweather Jr was thrown into the mix when Hatton told BBC Sport that Mayweather Jr was coming out of retirement which he probably learned from Floyd's father who trained Hatton for the Malignaggi fight and did a fine job in seven weeks.
Hatton said he had only 46 fights and lost only one and that was to ?the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world? who was at that time Floyd Mayweather Jr. Pacquiao picked up the honor after he demolished David Diaz to win the WBC lightweight title after Mayweather Jr retired.
In a post-fight interview with Larry Merchant on HBO?s telecast which was carried in the Philippines by ABS-CBN Channel 2, Hatton boasted that ?No one will ever beat me at junior welterweight, no one. But what sort of a champion would I be if I didn?t take them (De La Hoya and Pacquiao) on next? That?s what Ricky Hatton is all about.?
Hatton?s father Ray told www.insidesports, Standard Today and Viva Sports some months ago that Hatton was eager to fight Pacquiao sometime after the Malignaggi fight, possibly in May or June 2009 and said it would be an explosive fight that would draw 100,000 people if it were held in Britain.
Pacquiao?s trainer Freddie Roach himself told us Pacquiao would no longer return to defend his lightweight title and was comfortable fighting at 140 pounds and that they are looking ahead to a Hatton fight after Pacquiao gets by De La Hoya.
In an intriguing twist Hatton suffered his only loss at the same MGM Grand venue when he was stopped in ten rounds by Floyd Mayweather Jr and this time around with Floyd?s father in his training camp and calling the shots in his corner Hatton put on a far more impressive showing.
As Hatton remarked ?I enjoyed it better than the last time I was here, that?s for sure. I?ve just come into a new camp and I?ve been working on new things.? Pointing out that they had been together for seven or eight weeks Hatton said ?it doesn?t happen overnight. But I showed glimpses of what I can do and after being with Floyd for seven weeks I think that?s pretty impressive.?
Hatton lost the first round to Malignaggi whose stinging, rapid-fire left jab took him by surprise but he soon bored in with vicious left hooks and a cracking right over the New Yorker?s left to dictate the tempo of the bout where thousands of British fans complete with a brass band and scores of banners kept the cheering on a high note almost throughout.
Despite the pleadings of McGirt, the former two-division world champion to double-up with the jab and to throw his right, Malignaggi was a one-handed fighter most of the time and only occasionally used his right which had been broken three times in previous fights and accounted for his lack of power.
However, there were times when he had enough power in the left to rock Hatton?s head back but the superbly-conditioned Briton whose skills were clearly improved by Floyd Mayweather Sr took everything Malignaggi threw at him and came back with a vengeance.
When McGirt decided to surrender, Malignaggi was way behind on the scorecards of all three judges and although he shoved McGirt when he stepped into the ring and tearfully lamented the premature stoppage because it would be a blot on his career, he admitted there was no way he could have won the fight.
With the win Hatton improved to 45-1 with 32 knockouts while Malignaggi dropped to 25-2 with 5 knockouts.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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