All Smiles Now, Fist Trading Later
by Troen Gonzales, Boxingbulletin.net
So far, boxing contenders for the top junior welterweight crown Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton have been so respectful and cordial to each other, the contrast will be all too apparent as the fighters will drum up total devastation on Saturday evening, May 2, at the MGM Grand.
Despite media concerns about Pacquiao’s overworking tendencies and his nagging worry about swine flu, the Filipino spitfire claims he is pumped up a 110 percent and is rearing to crack the British slugger’s ironman frame. Pacquiao’s celebrity trainer Freddie Roach thinks so too.
“He’s been the best I’ve ever seen him in training camp,” Freddie remarked. “He was so sharp… [H]e fought like four perfect rounds… [I]t was really good to see, I was so happy. He came back to the corner, I gave him a drink of water and I didn’t even have to say anything to him.”
Pacquiao’s mother, Dionisia, is in town to watch her son fight for the first time. Nanay Dionisia’s presence seems to have wound up Pacman’s spring dial a few notches tighter.
Even the Hitman was in physical, mental, and emotional peaks. “This is the best Ricky Hatton’s ever been… [I] haven’t lost too many rounds at junior welterweight, never mind fights, because I’ve been too strong,” he said.
The Mancunian has been rather too happy to acknowledge that he continues to be the huge underdog for this fight, saying that he had been in these occasions before. “I love it, I love it,” stated Hatton. “The way people are talking about Manny, you’d think he should be fighting Godzilla.“
In the final press conference at the MGM Grand Casino Resort, the two sensational pugilists only had mutual respect for each other, leaving all the trash-talking to their trainers. Roach characteristically harped on how he’d be disappointed if Pacquiao didn’t stop Hatton at round 3. Meanwhile, the Hitman’s sensei-come-poet Floyd Mayweather Sr. rhymed out his fight opinions, although in a more poetic flair.
In the ring, however, the two won’t be so nice to each other. Pacquiao, the pound-for-pound best fighter by consensus, is heavily favored and is expected to use his bread-and-butter superior punching speed and agile footwork for defense. Hatton, undefeated at 140 lbs., will certainly rely on brute strength and his size advantage over Pacman. The Hitman claimed he’ll certainly add more tactical flavoring to his pressuring and strength-based fighting style. He concluded, “They call this the Battle of East and West. And our worlds will collide in the ring on Saturday night.”
“We haven’t come here to tickle each other,” the Hitman said.
