“He’s coming off a huge win but that could be his undoing. With the greatest respect to my promoter and friend, Oscar De La Hoya, Manny fought a shell of a man. Most decent fighters would’ve beaten Oscar because he was so weight-drained he could do nothing. And so Manny looked sensational and that’s given a false impression. I also think Manny and [his trainer] Freddie Roach are watching too many tapes of the old Ricky Hatton. They’re seeing the Ricky Hatton of a few years ago, the slugger and brawler, rather than the Ricky Hatton of today who uses hand speed, defence, combinations and head movement.”

Hatton still makes much of his common touch, stressing earnestly how much it matters to him that his thousands of fans descending on Vegas this week regard him “as an ordinary bloke – and their mate”. But it is telling that, as his career draws to its close, the otherwise amiable Mancunian has become hopelessly seduced by that celebrity sportsman’s fatal flaw of referring to himself in the third person. Does Ricky Hatton know that his constant references to “Ricky Hatton” are the most likely precursor to a night of painful hubris against Pacquiao’s blazing fists?

“I’m just pointing out the differences between me as a fighter now compared to a few years ago,” Hatton insists. “I’m much better now and Floyd has a lot to do with that – he’s brought me to a higher level by calming me and making me focus on skills and movement rather than raw aggression. I needed that change.”

He didn’t even watch a video of his Pacquiao fight until December, six months later.
“It was the night before Pacquiao and De La Hoya,” he says, “and I finally put it in and watched. I couldn’t watch it until then.
“Then I watched Pacquiao and Oscar and was picking Oscar to win that one.
“Then I saw it again. Pacquiao’s speed. I’m not gonna lie. It’s the best I’ve ever seen. If he gets past Hatton, and I believe he will, he could be one of the best ever.”
Diaz has three boys, ages 4, 2 and 2 months. He said he came out of the Atlanta Olympics without a medal, but with a plan — or, more accurately stated, a delusion of grandeur.
“I figured I’d fight till I’m 27 or 28, be a millionaire and retire,” he says.
That plan derailed, he now wants to take another run at the 135-pound title he held before Pacquiao pummeled it away from him.
“I’ve got a good life,” Diaz says. “And my friends make me feel good when they tell me I fought a good fight against Pacquiao. They even say I did better against him than Oscar did.
“That’s something.”

But this is what Manny will have in front of him when he faces Ricky Hatton — a young, strong, relentless fighter. Kind of like himself, right? The difference is that Hatton is naturally bigger. I expect to see two guys going toe-to-toe in this fight. Two guys who have always been crowd-pleasing fighters. After you wash away all the talk from their respective trainers about how much better their defense has gotten and how much better they’ve become at the art of boxing, they are still the same fighters. When the bell rings, they will fight and they will fight hard. They throw caution to the wind. It’s like Hatton has said, “Me and Manny don’t exactly tip-toe around the ring.”

“If you’re going to be successful on pay-per-view, you can’t just count on fight fans. You have to have fighters that interest the casual fans. And I can’t think of any casual fight fans that give a damn about Ricky Hatton anymore,” said Schuyler. “I think Hatton’s the big problem here. I could see American and Mexican-American fans being interested in Manny Pacquiao. I mean, Pacquiao-Mayweather, now we’re talking a fight. But Hatton? I know a lot of writers in England, and they’re not even very excited about it. It just doesn’t look like a competitive fight. I think it ends when Pacquiao decides it ends.”

That may well be, but a lot of people assumed De La Hoya-Pacquiao would end when “The Golden Boy” chose to end it (which, come to think of it, is kind of how it turned out), and the fight still sold 1.25-million PPVs domestically despite mismatch predictions. So apparently consumers are willing to pay money to watch a fight for which they think they know the outcome, as long as they care about the fighters involved.

The main case for those that believe Hatton will win has been the argument that Floyd Mayweather Sr., has had success at ironing out some of Hatton’s technical flaws which were the reason for of his downfall against Floyd Sr.’s son. They point out the relative -sided nature of Hatton’s fight with champion Paulie Malignaggi. While Hatton appeared to have ironed out some of the weaknesses he showed against Mayweather and Lazcano, you could argue that it was more to do with the opponent in front of him rather than an actual improvement by Hatton. I’m under the impression that Malignaggi built up a reputation that mostly undeserving and was the right opponent for Hatton to look impressive. Malignaggi received a great amount of praise for his bout against Miguel Cotto. However, in that fight Malignaggi showed more guts and courage than actual technical prowess. He followed it up with an admittedly great performance against then champion Lovemore N’dou, but after that he had a rough performance against Herman Ngoudjo (another fighter whose reputation was earned for the most part in a losing performance to the faded Jose Luis Castillo) and followed that bout up with a controversial victory over N’dou and just this past weekend in his first comeback bout fought a lackluster fight with journeyman Chris Fernandez.

HOLLYWOOD — WHILE WINDING DOWN his training on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), Manny Pacquiao took off his sweaty red shirt to flaunt his well-chiseled body and bulging muscles.
Then, while doing abdominal strengthening exercises, he blurted out: “Am I small at 140?”
Pacquiao actually doesn’t look like somebody who can readily be …

This is a fight that is as much about the egos and strategies of their respective high-profile cornermen as the combatants themselves. Roach, 48, is known in the business as The Professor and is now bracketed among the world’s greatest trainers, alongside Angelo Dundee and the late Eddie Futch. Though battling Parkinson’s, Roach has been named trainer of the year for an unprecedented third time after helping Pacquiao overcome De La Hoya. Just as Mayweather seems to have transformed Hatton, Roach has reconstructed the career of Amir Khan and has also worked with Mike Tyson. Mayweather, according to Roach, “is a legend in his own mind. I know he is trying to deprogramme Ricky from being a one-dimensional puncher, but it’s too late. The fact is Floyd couldn’t programme a VCR.”

However, Mayweather seems to have managed to call time on Hatton’s famed between-bouts binge drinking. “I don’t think me cutting out the booze totally will happen,” says Hatton, “But I’ve tried to meet him halfway. I am what I am and that’s what makes me. It’s like Roy Keane or Wayne Rooney. If you took away the fire in their belly, they would not be the same on the football pitch. I have done it like that my whole career and I am sick of hearing my lifestyle will catch up with me. How many fights do you want me to have? I’ve had 46 and been a pro 12 years. When is it going to catch up with me? When I’ve had 62 fights?

Froch, a betting underdog even at the bookie shops in his native Nottingham, retained his WBC super-middleweight title with the dramatic, come-from-behind victory at Foxwoods’ MGM Theatre, and will return from his successful invasion of America as he arrived – an undefeated champion, albeit one with one more significant notch on his gun, and with the respect he had arrived on these shores in search of.

He had never expected that it would come easily, and it didn’t. Surprised by Taylor’s counterpunching ability, he had dug himself into a big early hole against the former undisputed 160-pound king. Taylor got Froch’s attention early in the first round when he sent him spinning with a right-hand lead, and gotten the judges’ in the third, when he hurt him with a straight right, landed another, and then speared him with a laser-like left that caught the Englishman squarely on the chin and sent him sprawling.

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Fighting for the first time since last November’s lopsided loss to Ricky Hatton, former IBF 140-pound champion Paulie Malignaggi (26-2) won a unanimous decision over Chris Fernandez (16-7-1) of Salt Lake City in an off-TV eight-rounder. Malignaggi took the biggest shot of the night when Fernandez nearly put him down with a good left hand at the end of the sixth, but otherwise dominated. Don Trella, Glenn Feldman, and George Smith all scored it 79-73.

“He’s very sharp, really sharp,” said Ariza of Pacquiao, who seems to look fresh after the nearly three-hour workout with the mitts, speed bag, shadow boxing and his calisthenics. “Believe me, Manny’s ready to go, and Hatton will be in trouble come fight night.”

Buboy Fernandez, who worked the mitts for Pacquiao for almost 12 rounds, told a small group of Filipino newsmen that he could feel the extra power in Manny’s punches.

Fernandez, Pacquiao’s long-time trainer and friend, said the reason for the added strength is not only the emphasis on power in this training camp, but also the fact that he is more comfortable at junior welterweight (140 pounds).

“This is Manny’s natural weight, that’s why he is stronger and sharper,” Fernandez said in Filipino. “He was strong for the De la Hoya fight, but Manny is even stronger now. I can really feel the power of his punches.”

“That’s gonna be the least of Manny’s worries,” said Alex Ariza, the conditioning coach whose main task is to make sure that Pacquiao is in tip-top shape during training and on fight night.

“I’m rating him at a hundred percent. And numbers don’t lie,” he said after watching Pacquiao train for three hours at the gym under Buboy Fernandez, Nonoy Neri and ex-heavyweight champ Michael Moorer.

Freddie Roach and Floyd Mayweather Jr. — the respective trainers of Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton — held a conference call with the media this week. Mayweather proclaimed a Hatton victory, saying:

“We’re gonna win the fight and whatever’s needed that’s what we’re going to do. If he has to box, he can box. If we want to brawl, we are gonna brawl. Whatever he wants to do. Because whatever it is that we do we can do better than Manny anyway. We can box better than Manny. He can box better than Manny. He definitely is stronger than Manny on the aggressive tip. Ricky is definitely going to back him up…Soon as Ricky touch him with one good shot, if he’s able to run, that’s what he’s gonna do the rest of the fight. So, he’ll run the rest of the fight. That’s what he’s going to do.”

The fact Juan Manuel Lopez beat Daniel Ponce DeLeon didn’t cause a stir within the boxing world; the WBO 122-pound beltholder was tough and heavy handed but at best a crude slugger. It was the way the Puerto Rican prodigy dismantled the proud Mexican veteran.

Lopez annihilated DeLeon in one round to earn his first world title and establish himself as a bona fide junior featherweight contender. Nobody had ever come close to knocking out DeLeon before Lopez zapped him last June.

Not Celestino Caballero, THE RING’s No. 2-rated junior featherweight and No. 9 fighter pound for pound.

And not Gerry Penalosa, THE RING’s No. 6-rated bantamweight, who will challenge Lopez in the main event from Bayamon, Puerto Rico this Saturday on HBO.

Caballero handed DeLeon his first loss in a rousing 12 rounder back in 2005. Penalosa dropped a controversial decision to the awkward banger in 2007.

However neither veteran separated DeLeon from his senses the way Lopez, a technically sharp and deadly accurate southpaw puncher, did.

Though betting odds are heavily stacked in his favor at minus 285 – meaning a $285 bet wins just $100 if he prevails, Pacquiao refuses to be complacent.

“I’m already in top condition, but we can’t really tell until the fight is over,” he said. “Hatton is just as fast, he’s also good, strong and a champion.”

Pacquiao even prefers to consider himself as the underdog.

“Let’s not presume that this is going to be an easy fight, that I have the advantage” the General Santos lefty told Manila-based sportswriters over lunch at Nat’s Thai Restaurant, which is just a few steps away from the gym.

And on Friday the final of 24/7 and they will stack up all four episodes as well. And then on Saturday May 2, day of the fight, you’re going to see, again, the replay of De La Hoya/Pacquiao and Hatton/Malignaggi leading into the fight at twelve noon and at 2:30 the 24/7 finally is going to be on HBO as well against stacked up with all four episodes. So, this really has been a great promotion so far. We’re all excited to go into fight week now and to see that great showdown between the two best fighters, the two most exciting fighters–the Pound-for-Pound King, Manny Pacquiao against our hero from England, Ricky Hatton. Bob, any finally comments?

Bob Arum: Just that I thought this was a very interesting conversation. As you say it will continue next week. It should be a terrific fight week and we’re all pumped up and the one thing I really regret is that all of your writers were not in San Francisco last night. Because I have never ever seen a reception like Manny Pacquiao got from the San Francisco baseball fans.
Forty-two thousand people went absolutely nuts. And it’s very, very hard to describe if you weren’t there. But this fight week is going to be something memorable. I think the people will be writing not only about the fight but about the weigh-in which will have the fans from both Ricky and Manny with bands and…It’s going to be something really special. A real true Superbowl in boxing.

Hatton says he displayed newfound skill and speed in an 11th-round TKO of Malignaggi. Maybe, although it’s almost as hard to judge his performance against Malignaggi as it is to get a true evaluation of Pacquiao’s stunner over Oscar De La Hoya, who was either weakened by dehydration, or time, or both. More on that next week.

But the Malignaggi fight is significant because it represents a test drive. It was the first for Hatton with Mayweather as his trainer. Two guys from different cultures and with very different accents got to know each other during a seven-week training camp.

“To tell you the truth, I couldn’t understand a flipping word Floyd was saying during those seven weeks,” said Hatton, who now seems to understand a lot more than most people.

“I accept that Pacquiao has improved his technique over the years, especially since he began working with Freddie Roach as his trainer, but he’s as easy to hit now as he’s always been and he’s been shaken up several times and stopped twice by body shots.

“If a couple of flyweights have been able to stop him, what do you think I’ll be able to do, the biggest man he will ever have faced outside of Oscar? I hear people talking about his speed but these guys shook him up caught him and I don’t know if he can improve the punch resistance in his chin and body.

“I genuinely believe I’ll be too big and too powerful for him and my boxing ability, which has always been there, Floyd is bringing out in me more.”

Floyd Mayweather Sr became Hatton’s trainer within eight months of the Mancunian’s defeat by Mayweather’s son.

Mayweather and Roach, who trains the Filipino boxer, have been verbally sparring since the bout was announced and, while Hatton says he has more important things on his mind, he says that Roach’s uncharacteristic boasting could be a sign that the Pacquiao camp is rattled.

“I don’t pay much attention to it and I’m not really bothered by it,” said the Mancunian. “Little things I do pay attention to. Floyd is a talker, Freddie not so much. Seems like Freddie has done more talking in this fight that any other. Maybe when you start acting a little bit out of character. Maybe he’s not quite as confident as he says.

Ricky Hatton is arguably facing his toughest test on May 2nd when he squares off with Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao is coming fresh off his victory over Mexican legend Oscar De la Hoya up at 147 pounds. The fight was for the ever prestigious pound for pound title, something that Hatton desperately craves for..

The fight hasn’t generated as much interest as the Mancunian’s meeting with Mr Floyd Mayweather but will have the same intensity as that night in Vegas.

What challenges does Hatton pose that Oscar doesn’t?
I think Hatton is more physical, and when he puts you on the ropes he uses his shoulders and forearms, so we have to be careful, we can’t go against the ropes too often.

Is 140 pounds a good weight for Manny?
It’s his best weight, for sure. He’s gotten used to 140 pounds. I’ve had him in with 140-pound sparring partners, and he’s gone through seven sparring partners, the most we’ve ever had. Manny’s a compassionate guy, he doesn’t want to hurt people — if he hurts a sparring partner he backs off, of course. But he’s very physical and strong at 140. I know (Hatton’s trainer) Floyd Mayweather Sr. thinks he has the stronger fighter, but I don’t think so.

HBO’s 24/7 cameras caught the visit from the Hollywood A-listers, which was shown on the second episode last Saturday, but they didn’t show the rounds Pacquiao went with Alvarado, Antillon and Serrano. The producers of the acclaimed documentary-style boxing series showed a clip of Pacquiao dropping a sparring partner with a body shot after a ringside shot of Bale and Wahlberg, but that wasn’t the sparring session they watched.

The sparring partner who hit the deck was David Rodela; and the session took place last Monday, on April 13, six days and three sessions after the movie stars were present.

“I’ve come up my whole career with people thinking well, I was just an exciting kid, I was just a brawler, I put too much weight on in between my fights, my lifestyle’s going to catch up with me, you know,” Hatton said. “And Kostya Tszyu is going to flatten me. I know my first two fights in America, against Collazo and Urango didn’t exactly set the world on fire. It seems like I spent my whole career with (critics) and even with this fight nobody’s given me a prayer as well. And it’s those (critics) that I want to knock them on their ass May 2. … My whole career has been about great records. Forty-five and 1, I think, four world titles. Kostya Tszyu was No. 2 pound-for-pound. I fought Mayweather. I fought welterweight for the pound-and-pound title. I’m fighting Manny Pacquiao again for the pound-for-pound title. I’ve been a world champion in two weight divisions and all I seem to do is get knocked and — but that’s my inspiration.

The bout would become more likely if Khan beats Kotelnik and Hatton loses to Manny Pacquiao, whom he faces in Las Vegas on May 2. Like Pacquiao, Khan is trained in Los Angeles by Freddie Roach. Khan flies to the United States tomorrow and revealed that he will be in Las Vegas next week training alongside Pacquiao.

By HARRY TALBOT

AMIR KHAN has warned Ricky Hatton to beware of Manny Pacquiao’s speed ahead of their Las Vegas showdown.

Khan aims to join the 10st big league by beating WBA light-welterweight holder Andreas Kotelnik at London’s O2 Arena on June 27.

But he will not take sides for his pals’ world pound-for-pound decider on May 2.

Khan, a good friend of the Hitman, now spars with Pacquiao at trainer Freddie Roach’s gym in Hollywood.

Bolton-born Khan, 22, said: “It’s going to be hard watching. If Ricky doesn’t let Manny settle he could take it but Manny’s the fastest guy I’ve ever been in the ring with and being southpaw makes it more awkward.”

It has been argued by fans, many of them on this very web site, that Hatton will NOT automatically be placed at #1 in the illustrious top-ten if he manages to upset “Pac-Man.” And these fans have made many good points as to why Hatton shouldn’t be put at the top of the pile. Shouldn’t Juan Manuel Marquez, the man most experts have at #2 right now, go to the top if Pacquiao is beaten? The Mexican star is a better fighter than Hatton, right? At least pound-for-pound he is. Or how about Shane Mosley, or Paul Williams? Begging Hatton’s pardon, but right now these fighters, and a few others, reside higher than he does in the P-4-P lists, and even if Hatton does manage to pull off one awesome win over the Filipino legend he will not have done enough to deserve to be ranked higher than these men.