It is, perhaps, the most anticipated legitimate boxing match in decades.
I say legitimate, because the recent Manny Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya 150-pound event was just that: An event. A one-time exhibition. It was not a title bout. People watched Pacquiao take out the aging (or aged?) De La Hoya, much like they’d watch a car wreck. It was ugly and interesting at the time, but so one-sided, it was hardly memorable.
However, what we will witness on May 2, live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, could very well be the best boxing match of the new century. It’s the pound-for-pound king, Manny Pacquiao (48-3 with 36 knockouts), against the hard-nosed British entertainer Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs), going nose-to-nose for Hatton’s WBO junior welterweight (140 pound) belt.
Two decades ago, this fight would barely create a ripple. However, in this new age of talent, speed and star-power, a fight between the two best little men in the game now carries the cachet that the heavyweight crown once carried alone.
In fact, with the heavyweight division now dominated by slow, gigantic Russian bears who simply pummel their opponents into submission, a scientific battle between two skilled, fast and tough 140-pounders is enough to get the heart racing. This fight has all the ingredients – athletic skill, two international superstars and two young men who have become heroes in their own lands.
This will be an epic encounter between two small pit-bulls, each with the heart of a lion. The Filipino, Pacquiao, is coming off his “Great Statement,” the demolition of the legend, Oscar De La Hoya. After Manny took Oscar apart in eight rounds back in November, De La Hoya’s career came to an abrupt end. Pacquiao is the only four weight-division champion of Asian descent in the history of the sweet science and what he did to De La Hoya that night was the stuff of boxing legend.
But this time Pacquiao will not be in the ring alone. Across from him, staring him down, will be the biggest British boxing phenom since Joe Calzaghe, and experts will tell you that Hatton is far superior in every way to Calzaghe. When Hatton, the latest fighter to wear “the Hit Man” moniker beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. and filled the MGM Grand Garden in December of 2007, he stepped out of Calzaghe’s shadow and into his own universe. Pound-for-pound, he might be the greatest British fighter of all time.
The Las Vegas oddsmakers clearly see Pacquiao as the better pure boxer, and the tougher fighter In fact, right now, Pacquiao is listed as the odds-on favourite at 2/5. A Hatton victory sits at 7/4, which represents solid value, but shows that the exerts believe he’s outmanned.
But since 2007, Hatton has improved dramatically and, in an amazing turn of events, is now trained by Floyd Mayweather Sr. He’s such a showman — so much fun to watch — that his antics inside the squared-circle often get in the way of his brilliant technical skills. But make no mistake, even though Hatton’s reach is two inches shorter (despite the fact he’s an inch taller than Pacquiao) than his opponent’s, he is a world champion for a reason. He has speed, excellent skills and a big heart.
And Pacquiao knows it.
“I expect Ricky to be coming forward and to fight me toe-to-toe,” Pacquiao said during last week’s international conference call from Manila. “I like that. I’m not looking for a knockout. I don’t want thoughts of a knockout distracting me from the job at hand. I tell you I don’t want any distractions in my mind.”
Pacquiao told the international media that he expected Hatton to “walk into my punches because of his aggressive, come-forward style.”
Not surprisingly, Hatton guarantees that he will be aggressive.
“Both of us refuse to go backwards and that is the key to the fight,” Hatton told The Mirror. “Whoever ends up going backwards is going to lose. Manny fights toe-to-toe and so do I. But I punch harder and have more technical ability. My superior technical ability is going to shock Manny more than the size and power aspect.”
On May 2, live on HD pay-per-view at the new Upper Deck Sports Bar at McPhillips Street Station (on that spectacular 16-footX9-foot HD screen), two of the greatest boxers alive today will meet up in what should be one of the greatest fight of this, or maybe any other decade.
Tickets are on-sale now at McPhillips Street Station Casino. It would be a shame to miss this one for this one will be memorable.