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There are only 10 days left before Ricky Hatton steps into the ring with Manny Pacquiao, and trepidation over the Englishman's chances mounts with every passing hour.
Hatton may have replaced a limited trainer — Billy Graham — with an excellent one — Floyd Mayweather Sr — but he hasn't altered his lifestyle between bouts and nor, more worryingly, does he appear to have learned to keep his trap shut lest he provide his opponent with the extra motivation that comes with prospect of making a braggart dine out on his own hubris.
"Manny fights the same way all the time," Hatton said about his Filipino opponent this week. "He's effective at what he does but he's not a versatile fighter. He's never met a man as fiery, ferocious or rough as me, and certainly not as big and strong. I don't think Manny is the most elusive. He's there to be hit. And if he gets hit he's going to get hit by the biggest man he's ever faced."
No doubt there was an element of the circus barker in this stream of consciousness but nevertheless Hatton surely overstepped marketing responsibilities and to potentially damaging effect. Pacquiao, as he implies, is one-dimensional all right; he's brilliant, and he is brilliant all the time.
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Willie Mays said hey to him, and a frenzied crowd at AT&T Park couldn't get enough of him. Not a bad night for Manny Pacquiao, even if they did run out of his bobblehead dolls.
Not a bad time for boxing, either. The sport everyone loves to bash just lost its biggest cash cow in Oscar De La Hoya, but the reports of its demise are, shall we say, premature at best.
Good thing, because where else are you going to get lines like this?
"There's going to be another bobblehead night on May 2," said Freddie Roach, who trains Pacquiao. "Only this time we're going to use Ricky Hatton's head."
‘Speedy Gonzales’ is Pacquiao’s new nickname, says sparmate
04/24/2009 | 05:28 PM
For David Rodella, Manny Pacquiao is more than just the “Pacman."
“Speedy Gonzales," the 26-year old Rodella hollered out at the end of their intense, three-round sparring session Thursday at the Wildcard Gym in Hollywood, California.
And why “Speedy Gonzales", the animated cartoon mouse known for his fast ability?
“I can’t see his punches. It’s just too fast," said Pacquiao’s sparmate from Oxnard, California.
“He’s from another planet."
Pacquiao sparred for six rounds as sparring session for his fight with Ricky Hatton entered the final three days as per Freddie Roach’s timetable.
It was fun but at the same time intense as Rodella and Alisher Rahimov learned later.
Rodella went toe-to-toe with the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter for three rounds, each getting his own share of solid blows.
But when the 30-year old Pacquiao poured it on as the sparring was about to end, Rodella found himself on the verge of getting knocked down.
“There’s just so many punches out there," said Rodella, who was dropped by Pacquiao to the canvass a week ago during a similar serious workout.
“I also do the same thing, but he’s just too fast," added the boxer who owns a 12-1 record (six KOs).
With that Rodella rests his case – Pacquiao will beat Hatton hands down.
“Hatton is very strong, very smart and very aggressive, “he said. “But Manny will be too fast for him."
The sparring came a day after Pacquiao skipped Wednesday’s training to take a well-deserved rest following a hectic schedule the day before when he flew to San Francisco for the ceremonial pitch of the San Francisco Giants-San Diego Padres Major League Baseball game.
Pacquiao hardly lost a step when he climbed the ring and sparred with Rahimov for the first three rounds.
"C’mon, punch! punch! punch!," the southpaw from General Santos City would egged on Rahimov while he leans on the ropes and allows his Uzbek sparmate to hit him with several solid blows to the body.
Rodella then followed, after which Pacquiao had six rounds in the mitts with trainer Freddie Roach, did the double end bag, worked on the speed ball, shadow-boxed at the ring and finally, cooled down through the skip rope.
When training was finally over, the General Santos City native asked for another round on the speedball, to which Roach readily obliged.
“That’s Manny," Roach said later. “He just never gets tired."
Last edited by XaduBoxer; 04-24-2009 at 09:33 AM.
More BAD news for Hatton's face:
PACQUIAO SHARP AS A RAZOR
Manny Pacquiao is in the best shape of his life as he prepares to face Ricky Hatton in the fight of the year next weekend.
That was the verdict from trainer Freddie Roach after the pound-for-pound king finished a gruelling workout at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.
Pacquiao and Hatton meet at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and Roach is supremely confident that his man will come out victorious.
He said: "Manny is in the finest shape of his career. It's amazing when you think that this will be his fourth consecutive fight in a different weight class and all against world-class competition. Last year he fought at 130, 135 and 147lbs and next week he moves down to 140. He's incredible.
"Manny is as sharp as a razor and stronger than ever. We are prepared for the best that Ricky Hatton can muster, which is a formidable task."
Pacquiao is coming off an awesome demolition of Oscar De La Hoya last December. Many pundits claim the 'Golden Boy' was weight-drained and shot, but Roach disagrees.
He argued: "Ricky is about to step into quicksand and his only chance of escape will have to come from the referee or his corner.
"He can say Manny beat a washed-up Oscar De la Hoya all he wants. Just remember, Oscar didn't become washed-up until Manny put him through the ringer."
Roach also points to Pacquiao's record when stating the case for another glory night for the Filipino icon.
"I'll put Manny's roster of opponents up against Ricky's any day. Manny has beaten a host of future Hall of Famers including Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez and Oscar. Ricky has been dining on his Kostya Tszyu victory for a long time. That was four years ago and Tszyu was at the end of his career. Who else of note has Ricky defeated?"
Roach ended by again repeating his confident prediction that Hatton won't make it past round three when the action finally starts next Saturday night.
"Manny had his bobble-head night on Tuesday at the Giants-Padres game and in the ring on May 2 he's going to turn Ricky into a human bobble-head, just like he did to Oscar. I told Manny I would be disappointed if this fight goes beyond the third round."
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where do you find this crap?
Pac's camp have made ridiculous statements all build up and not once has someone come out and said they're overstepping marketing responsibilites blah blah. nor are they seen as braggarts.
Hatton comes out with something and bang the huggers are all over it saying he's a braggart and blah blah blah.
The fact you guys read, believe and absord this crap is hysterical.
I also love that anything (and I mean anything) written (by anyone) that is pro pac is considered fact and evidence of a cast-iron pac win. You guys should think back to what was being written pre-odlh and see how much certainty should be taken from all the written articles.
Well this "crap" came from the highly respected British paper "The Guardian"...
link --> "The Guardian is crap"
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