Ricky Hatton's Dream Fight: Manny Pacquiao's Fifth Division Title Fight

This is a sigh of relief to those who are closely monitoring and following the round by round happenings in the negotiation. As one of those, I was glad and at the same time learned something about Negotiating 101.

I must admit that the decisions made during that period made me realize that the fight is considered 50 percent won by the fighters as it is signed but 100 percent won by fans like me.

By just knowing that the fight will happen brings excitement, expectation, and hope or as Larry Merchant borrowed from President Barack Obama, the Audacity of Hope.

What then is the hope I am looking forward to? Well as we all know, most boxing purist consider this match as the true Dream Match because disparity in size is almost nonexistent. They are evenly matched as one can see below:

Name                     Manny Pacquiao                                 Ricky Hatton

Age                                   30                                                        30

Birthday                     12/17/1978                                          10/6/1978

Height                             5’6 ½”                                               5’7 1/2”

                                          169cm                                                171cm

Reach                                67”                                                    65”

                                          170cm                                                165cm

No. of fights                       53                                                       46

Won                                    48                                                       45

KO                                      36                                                       32

LOST                                   3                                                         1

KO                                        2                                                         1

DRAWN                              2                                                         0

Rounds boxed                    291                                                     274

KO%                                  67.92%                                              69.57%

Last 6 fights –                  won all                                         won 5 lost 1

It is interesting also analyze their past six fights which will have a factor to determine their strength and weaknesses:

             Manny Pacquiao                                                       Ricky Hatton

Name/fight date/division/ last 6 fight/ MP result     Name/fight date/division/ last 6 fight/RH result 

De La Hoya(35)/12-06-08 /147 / 3W-3L/W TKO 8    Malignaggi(28)/11-22-08/140 /5W 1L /W TKO 11

Diaz (32)    / 6-28-08 / 135 / 5W 1D / W TKO 9       Lazcano (33) / 5-24-08   / 140 / 4W 2L / W UD

Marquez (35) / 3-15-08 / 130 / 5W 1L / W SD         Mayweather Jr. (30)/12-8-07/147/ 6W 0L/ L TKO 10

Barrera(33) /10-6-07 / 130 / 5W 1L / W UD            Castillo (34) / 6-23-07   / 140  /  5W 1L / W KO 4

Solis   (28)  / 3-14-07 / 130 / 6W 0L / W KO 8          Urango(27) / 1-20-07   /   140 / 5W 1D / W UD

Morales (30) / 11-18-06/ 130 / 3W 3L / W KO 3      Collazo (25) / 5-13-06 /   147 / 6W 0L /  W UD

            ANALYSIS

·        Please note that Manny Pacquiao in the last six fights has fought four times in 130 lbs and once each in 135 and 147 lbs while Ricky Hatton is a legitimate 140 pounder and has fought 2 times at 147 lbs. With reference to these we can say that Ricky has the edge.

·        Manny has won all his fights with four TKO’s, one UD, and one SD while Hatton has lost one on TKO and won three by UD, one by KO, and one by TKO. Manny has the edge

·        Manny has fought five title fights and one non-title fight with popular De La Hoya while Ricky has fought six title fights but lost one with pound-for-pound king Mayweather Jr. Manny has slight edge.

·        Manny has fought all his fight with fighters aged 30 above except for one which is Solis aged 28 years old while Ricky has fought three fighters below 30 and three fighters 30 and above. Ricky has the edge.

·        Manny has won over fighters with combined wins of 27 fights while Ricky has won over fighters with combined wins of 25 fights. So Manny has the edge.

·        Manny has fought only 52 rounds in six fights to average 8.6 rounds per fight while Ricky fought 61 rounds to average 10.2 rounds per fight. Manny has the edge.

·        All of their past six fights were fought in the USA so both have no distinct advantage with regards to crowd support.

·        Height – Ricky; Reach – Manny; Age – Even; Speed – Manny; Power – Ricky; Chin – Even; Style – Manny; Body Strength – Even; Hunger – Ricky.

After tallying the above criteria we have a result:

            Manny Pacquiao                                     Ricky Hatton

                Seven points                                         Five points

So, from the data above the possibility of Manny winning the fight is seven out of 15, which is 47 percent, while Ricky has five out of 15, which is 33 percent, and the chance of a draw is three out 15 with a percentage of 20 percent.

It is therefore safe to say that Manny Pacquiao has the upper hand on this coming fight with Ricky Hatton. Coming May 2, the Fifth Division Belt will be in Manny's hand.