Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton: The Art of Pressure Fighting

Fighters such as Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Joe Frazier, and big George Foreman were famous pressure-style brawlers who came straight at their opponents looking to impose their will.

Of course, like most things in life, this exciting style also has its drawbacks. All four of these great pugilists were beaten by a defensive master named Muhammad Ali.

Another slick defensive boxer named Gene Tunny also had the perfect style to negate the continuous onslaught of the pressure fighter.

With Tunney's intelligent defensive style, he was able to emerge victorious against one of the greatest pressure fighters of all time: Jack Dempsey

Tunney studied Dempsey from the opening bell, and by employing constant lateral movement while boxing behind a good solid left jab, he frustrated, confused, and pummeled the great Dempsey en route to an historic beat down.

On May 2, we boxing fans will be extremely lucky.

When Ricky Hatton meets Manny Pacquiao for their scheduled spring super-fight, we will get a chance to see two of the greatest offensive pressure fighters in recent history go head to head.

In this modern age of Internet technology, I had an excellent opportunity to review matches involving each of these men separately.

I studied Hatton vs. Mayweather and Pacquiao vs. De La Hoya and honestly, I can't see how Pacquiao is going to win this fight.

Hatton is a tenacious brawler who fights with a similar intensity as fellow Brit Joe Calzaghe. He throws hundreds of punches from all different angles and simply overwhelms his opponents.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. was constantly attempting to slow Hatton down with great right hand leads, but failed miserably. Despite possibly being the greatest defensive boxer who has ever lived, he wasn't able to stop the Hatton offensive until the later rounds.

Pacquiao is a south paw who jabs with his right hand and moves in and out, throwing arrow-straight left hand power shots and as a result, De La Hoya became the latest victim of a well-orchestrated game plan.

The legendary "golden boy" was forced to quit on his stool, reduced to a swollen and thoroughly beaten fighter.

So let's face it, this fight has the potential to be an historic war between two miniature boxers with mountain-sized hearts, neither wanting to take a backward step.

However, Hatton's bob-and-weave style head movement, along with his quick, pressure-punching attack will become a huge problem for Pacquiao.

Hatton is much stronger and quicker than Paquiao, and it's my personal opinion that his style is tailor-made for Hatton.

Pacman has never faced a fighter like Hatton, who is definitively his equal in every sense of the word.

This is the brawl for it all, a hard rain's gonna fall, and so is a great Filipino boxer.

 

"Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl, two riders were approaching, and the wind began to howl."

—Bob Dylan, All Along The Watchtower

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Results - Author Poll

WHO DO YOU LIKE?

• PACMAN

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• HATMAN

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• Total votes: 126

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