Quote Originally Posted by SaddoBoxer View Post
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"Throwing punches, not baseballs, is preoccupying Pacquiao. A little less than five months removed from his big victory over Oscar De La Hoya, Pacquiao is scheduled to fight Ricky Hatton for the IBO and Ring Magazine World Junior Welterweight titles in Las Vegas on May 2.

"He's definitely 100 percent ready to fight right now. We're just maintaining," said Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach.

Roach also noted Pacquiao has had seven "clones" of Hatton as sparring partners and has knocked out four of them. This thrilled the unabashedly pro-Pacquiao gathering at the news conference."


To be fair neither fighter will have exact clones of the other man. I was quite impressed with Hatton's choice of Lara as sparring partner, as he looks very good from the few videos I have seen. He can throw a hundred punches a round from an awkward southpaw stance. But let's face it, nothing quite matches up to what either man will face come fight night. And let's not forget that all this sparring is done with headgear. Hattons head is tough enough, Manny hasn't shown us yet what he can take upstairs, and I'm not convinced that any of his sparring partners can hit to the body as hard as Hatton either.