Pacquiao beating Hatton...I just don't see it

[Gandalf]

I consider PAC having the speed advantage (both handspeed and footspeed) over Hatton... Granting Hatton is just as fast as Manny on his feet then Hatton will NOT catch and bully Manny at all... You need to be faster than Manny and also having an excellent timing in order to catch and bully him...

Hatton does have excellent timing though and his handspeed isn't too shabby. Malignaggi is no slouch and Hatton hit him whenever he wanted to. Malignaggi became the huggy man in that fight and I wonder if Manny might need to resort to the same kind of behaviour once his chin is checked.

Hatton WILL catch Manny and he will hit him hard. Repeatedly. Manny probably won't get stuck on the ropes as much as Hatton would like, but Hatton doesn't rely on that. He will use his movement and extremely good footwork to close the gap and land. I look at fights like the Malignaggi one and see a fight fought mainly in the centre of the ring, Hatton gets the job done there as well.

You can't compare Pacquiao's speed to that of Maligfaggi...

Statement: Ricky Hatton was asked repeatedly how he could expect to cope with Pacquiao’s now-legendary speed and each time he had the same answer: “They said the same thing about Paulie Malignaggi, how he was too quick for me and how he was going to outbox me. And look what happened in that fight.”

Where he went wrong: Many experts did favor Malignaggi in their November fight, in which Hatton won by 11th-round TKO. Hatton’s mistake is equating Malignaggi in any way to Pacquiao. Malignaggi is a fairly quick-handed, capable fighter. However, one thing opponents often say after fighting Pacquiao for the first time is they underestimated his amazing hand speed, not to mention his foot speed. And Pacquaio’s not just a capable fighter; he’s a great fighter, perhaps one of the best ever. Like so many before him, Hatton might be very surprised on May 2.

You are right in that Malignaggi is just one fighter and Manny is a different beast. One who can punch hard and fast, with both hands too. Pac has excellent hand speed and footwork. But let's not forget that it was only a year ago that Marquez was giving Manny all he could handle and that was at 130.

Pac has risen a lot in this past year and though the Oscar win was a surprise, it was abundantly clear that all was not well with Oscar. The Forbes fight also showed obvious signs of decay. Don't underestimate Ricky Hatton. He surprises people with his speed and power too. Looking at footage of him training, I am very impressed with how things are looking. It isn't about burning down for once, he is working on those skills, getting that head moving and the combinations flowing. Hatton's skills are underrated IMO, and that has been partly because he himself has sometimes forgotten to apply the method. The method is right back at the heart of things again now, and I like what I'm seeing. I'm optimistic.