Pacquiao demolises Hatton

Manny Pacquiao made light work of World Junior Welterweight Champion Ricky Hatton, scoring a stunning second round knockout to end Hatton’s four year reign. Hatton was aggressive in the first minute, but once Pacquiao found his range he began to score frequently with a lightning fast lead right hook that ‘The Hitman’ had no answer for. Towards the end of the first round one of these hooks, a counter to a wild Hatton left hook, put Hatton down face first. The punch was so quick it was hard to pick up in real time and although Hatton beat the count, he was clearly hurt. A further barrage from Pacquiao put the wobbly Hatton down again at the end of the round but time ran out before Pacquiao could move in for the kill.

Hatton seemed to recover a bit between rounds but was still on rubber legs. He continued to press the fight until Pacquiao began to score at which point Hatton was backed up for maybe the first time in his career. Pacquiao’s hand speed and timing were too much for Hatton, who seemed to have adjusted to the power although he was taking plenty of shots. Then in the final moments of the 2nd round, Pacquiao lowered the boom and landed an overhand left over Hatton’s right hand right on the button knocking Hatton unconscious before he hit the canvas. The referee stopped the count early as it was clear Hatton was not going to beat the count, and he didn’t rise for another few minutes.

With the victory, Pacquiao adds the Ring 140lb Championship to his Ring 130 and 126lb Championships as well as the WBC 112lb and 135lb belts and the IBF 122lb belt. Not only does he do that, but in my opinion anyway he moves past Floyd Mayweather jnr as the best fighter of the modern era (in that, I’m saying roughly the last 20-25 years). Pacquiao’s resume is unbelievable and unlike Mayweather he’s cleaned out divisions and sought the best fighters time and time again and with the exception of Marquez, dominated all of them. With the news of Mayweather returning to fight Marquez at 143lbs (this will save me an extra post, I think Floyd is being his typical self by throwing that much money at Marquez that he has no choice but to come up the extra weight. Let’s be realistic, Marquez would still be champion at 126lbs if there was anyone for him to fight there, he’s a big name and Floyd’s using that name and making him fight at his weight class to put himself back in the picture. I’d much rather have seen him take on Cotto or Mosley, but there’s risk in those fights and the reward isn’t that great so he’s picking on the Featherweight) it’s likely that we’ll see the blockbuster between Pacquiao and Mayweather at the end of this year. Then again, Mayweather might reconsider coming back after seeing that.

Boxing Breakdown: Ricky Hatton vs Manny Pacquiao

I really wanted to do a few posts on this fight, but I’ve been reduced to one because of time constraints. This fight is the biggest fight of the year and will be hard to top unless Pacquiao wins and fights Mayweather later in the year. Here you have the pound for pound number one fighting the dominant four year reigning champion at a weight higher then he’s competed for a title at. Both men have balls for taking this fight and it’s one of those fights that you can sit back and enjoy (unless your Phillipino or British).

Pacquiao is currently riding an incredible (incredible in terms of who he’s beaten, not the number of wins) nine fight winning streak that has included wins over Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera and two stoppage wins over Erik Morales. Last year alone he captured two world titles in two different weight divisions and then dominated and stopped Oscar De La Hoya to cap off what was an amazing year. Prior to the titles he won at Junior Lightweight and Lightweight last year, Pacquiao has held the Linear Featherweight title (Pacquiao beat Barrera who beat Hamed who held all four belts at some stage during his reign), the IBF Junior Featherweight title and the WBC Flyweight title. This win would make him a legitimate three weight Linear Champion (140, 130, 126) (maybe even four as some claim he was the Linear Flyweight champion) and a six weight world title holder putting him basically in a league of his own unless you’re a De La Hoya fanboy who counts his WBO Middleweight and Junior Lightweight titles.

Pacquiao’s offensive capabilities are almost second to none. He punches with a ferocity that ranks along some of the all-time greats combining a monsterous workrate with explosive speed and devastating power. Lately Pacquiao has added solid defensive skills to his arsenal over the course of his recent five or six fights making him as dangerous a puncher as they come. Pacquiao has shown a weakness to good counter punchers like Marquez (and Barrera in the rematch for a short period) and guys who can control the range and punish him when he lunges in like Erik Morales. Hatton isn’t really either of those so you would think that he’d be able to dominate Hatton with his offense and punish Hatton’s sometimes lack of defence. However, Hatton’s in-fighting combined with his size is something we’ve yet to see Pacquiao have to deal with.

Ricky Hatton was often criticised on his way up for fighting over the hill fighters and soft touches while building up his record, but his 11th round stoppage over long time Junior Welterweight king Kostya Tszyu in 2005 will go down in British boxing history alongside great wins by British fighters like Turpin-Robinson I and Honeyghan-Curry. Hatton then moved up and won the WBA Welterweight title, before vacating it to make now six defences of his Light Welterweight crown. Jose Luis Castillo is the big name on his record since the Tszyu win, with Hatton stopping the Lightweight powerhouse with a body shot in the 4th round. The lone loss on his record came in a 2007 super fight with Floyd Mayweather Jnr when Hatton moved up to Welterweight to challenge the pound for pound king. Mayweather outboxed the Mancurian, stopping him in the 10th round.

Hatton’s style is overwhelming. While he takes punches early in the fight his aggression and physical strength especially at 140lbs are very hard to match without an impregnable defence. While Hatton has slowed down in recent fights, he always rises for the big fights as he showed in the Tszyu and Castillo wins as well as glimpses of in the Mayweather fight. Hatton’s big weapon is his foot speed as he cuts the danger zone for getting caught down rapidly allowing him to work on the inside and smother his opponents offence with his physical strength. Two things that could get Hatton in trouble are his tendancy to cut and his face first style which could spell badly if Pacquiao starts well and scores with some solid shots early on.

I’m really on the fence with this one, but I’m going for the upset and picking Hatton to win by late stoppage. I think his physical strength and body punching (should he use it) will hurt Manny in the late rounds and he physicality of the fight will be too much for the smaller Pacquiao. Hatton in my opinion has to start well to win this fight as he did against both Castillo and Tszyu. If Pacquiao starts strongly and builds a lead on the cards or causes some serious early damage on Hatton I believe he’ll ride that confidence to a one sided victory. One thing I’ve noticed with Pacquiao is that he isn’t a big fan of being hit in the body and thats going to have to be a key part of Hatton’s gameplan if he wants to win. Still, the combination of size and aggression that Hatton brings to this fight I think will cancel out Pacquiao’s speed and power and he’ll wear Pacquiao down and stop him late. Ricky Hatton by 10th round knockout.

Lightweight Lightning Results

First of all, this was one of the best all-round boxing cards I’d watched in a long while. All four fights were good matchups and produced memorable fights. This reminded me of a UFC card that lacked a proven name but had a card full of good fights on it. I’d really like to see more of this in the future and with the competition MMA provides boxing these days I think there’s a good chance of it.

Edwin Valero KO2 Antonio Pitalua
Valero made his lightweight debut a successful one, but really did it tell us anything about him we didn’t already know? Fair enough, Pitalua was a solid contender and to knock him out in the 2nd round is a good performance, but I’m not completely sold on Valero yet. We know he can hit hard, but what happens when he can’t land his shots like he’s used to? What happens when he takes a good one on the chin in return? Joan Guzman is the guy I’d like to see Valero in the ring with to answer some of these questions (thats if Guzman can make 135lbs).

Michael Katsidis TKO7 Jesus Chavez
I was sort of right about Chavez, except he had a bit more early on then I anticipated. Katsidis showed little if any improvement and will still struggle against someone who can either box well or go 12 rounds at a good pace. Chavez likely would have beaten Katsidis if he was four years younger and he likely would have won easily. Katsidis needs to ditch his trainer and find a good US trainer if he wants to take it to the next level and he has the potential to do that, but most of the Australian trainers are too far behind the US trainers plus the lack of quality sparring down here will make it hard to Katsidis to be able to beat the Juan Diaz’s or Casamayor’s of the division.

Vicente Escobedo W10 Carlos Hernandez
This fight was certainly a sleeper and I don’t think anyone had any idea it would turn out to be the scrap it was. Even in his advanced boxing age, Hernandez is a game son of a bitch and despite the early knockdowns (that did have him hurt badly) he continued to press forward and deliver hard shots. I really thought the scorecards should have been closer then what they were, but Escobedo was the rightful winner. Hernandez should retire as he’ll likely end up a punching bag for up and comers if he continues on and the mans had a solid career. He’s fought some of the best fighters of the last 20 years like Mayweather, Morales and Genaro Hernandez. I’m not sure what to make of Escobedo. I doubt he stands up to some of the better punchers in the division. Him vs Katsidis might make a good co main event for a big PPV later in the year.

Rolando Reyes KO5 Julio Diaz
Not sure what happened for Diaz but this could end his career as a top 10 contender in this division. Reyes shocked everyone but himself with that 5th round as he was getting beaten comfortably until the stoppage. I’m not sure if Diaz had an off night or didn’t prepare or just simply got caught (I’m assuming the later) but with the talent in this division, a loss like that hurts him a lot.

Other Results from the weekend
Timothey Bradley unified the WBC and WBO titles after surviving two knockdowns (one in the first, one in the last rounds) against Kendall Holt to win a close 12 round decision. Neither guy impressed me too much mainly because Bradley looked shaky when under fire and Holt rarely fired enough to win the fight. I had Bradley winning by two points (114-112) but I haven’t got a scorecard handy to post up. If I was Bradley, I’d be staying away from the likes or Urango, Torres let alone Hatton or Pacquiao as he’s just not ready to handle big punchers like them. Librado Andrade won easily by 12 round decision over Vitali Tsypko on the undercard.
Alexander Povetkin won his tuneup with Jason Estrada and is set to take on Wladimir Klitschko (should he beat David Haye in June) at the end of the year. I haven’t seen the fight but apparently he didn’t look capable of beating Wlad at this stage. I think another fight for him in the meantime would be a good idea as the end of the year is a while off and a guy a bit above Estrada’s level would be ideal to give him some more solid rounds to keep him sharp for Klitschko.

Marquez KOs Diaz in war

In a fight that stands head and shoulders above the rest of the field for 2009 fight of the year, World Lightweight Champion Juan Manuel Marquez made his 1st defence a successful one with a 9th round KO win over Juan Diaz. Diaz attacked with his trademark relentless aggression from the bell and continualy backed Marquez against the ropes. Marquez used his excellent counter punches to keep Diaz honest, but it was the former WBA/WBO/IBF champion Diaz who was in control early. Midway through the 2nd round Diaz rocked the champion with a peach of a left hook that would have dropped lesser men and then followed it up with a four punch combination that landed flush on Marquez’s head. Marquez showed the chin and determination of a ring legend and fired straight back, ending the round on even terms. Still, Diaz was in front in a fight that had both men firing away with nearly (sometimes over) 100 punches a round each!

Marquez started to find his range more frequently in the 3rd and 4th rounds. Using a left uppercut to follow his cross, Marquez found his mark whenever Diaz was on the outside. Diaz still had plenty of success by backing up Marquez but the champion seemed to be landing the harder blows. Marquez appeared to either slow down or just take the round off in the 5th, as Diaz outworked the older man. Marquez fought well off the ropes, but was struggling to match the pace of the 23 year old challenger. Diaz cut Marquez over his troublesome right eye in the 6th round and continued to launch a two fisted assault against the champion on the ropes but Marquez never looked in trouble or weakened by the younger mans assault and continued to land heavily with his own right crosses and left uppercuts.

With the scorecards getting wider in favour of Diaz, Marquez stepped up a gear in the 7th and began catching Diaz with incrediblly accurate combinations in the 7th round. Countering Diaz’s jab with his right hand, Marquez used the punch to set up three and four punch combinations that were catching ‘the Baby Bull’ more and more. In the 8th round, Marquez opened a cut on Diaz’s right cheek before rocking Diaz with a blistering right hand towards the end of the round. With Diaz hurt for the first time in the fight, Marquez jumped on him and let his hands go, scoring with combinations to the head and (sometimes) body. Diaz survived the round, but the momentum was with Marquez heading into the late rounds.

Marquez didn’t give Diaz a chance to recover and jumped on him early in the 9th. A counter right hand midway through the round off a Diaz jab again rocked the challenger. Marquez threw and landed a five punch combination which forced Diaz to the deck for the first knockdown of the night. Diaz beat the count but his legs didn’t appear there and Marquez was ready to finish him. Two combinations, the second ending with a flush uppercut put Diaz down and out. The referee didn’t bother with the count and crowned Marquez at 2:40 of the 9th round. With the win, Marquez adds the WBA and WBO titles to his Ring Magazine belt (Casamayor previously held the WBC title but was robbed of it, the man he beat, Diego Corrales, previously held the WBO title as well and the man he beat, Jose Luis Castillo, previously held the IBF belt as well) after former titlist Nate Campbell lost the titles at the scales.

The win also puts Marquez in strong contention for the number one pound for pound spot. While I don’t agree with the ranking, I think it’s definately plausible as I thought Marquez won the fight against Pacquiao as well as his solid competition since the split decision loss to the Phillipino last March. Still, I feel you have to count the fight on the basis of the judges decision, plus Pacquiao had a solid resume’ before Marquez which seems to be forgotten by a lot of his haters. Should Pacquiao dethrone Hatton I don’t think there’ll be any question as to who the top fighter is. Still, a third fight between the two makes huge sense at this point. Can anyone remember anytime where the top two pound for pound fighters in the sport fought one another?

I’m yet to watch the Chris John-Ricardo Juarez fight. It may not happen for a while but when it does I’ll put up my scorecard as I hear it was quite a debatable decision.

2009 looking good for Boxing fans

A number of good fights are currently in negotiations for later in 2009 to add to the already impressive lineup of quality boxing matches we’ve got on so far this year. Pound for Pound king Manny Pacquiao will indeed face Ricky Hatton for the Brit’s legitimate claim to being the World Champion at the Junior Welterweight limit. The fight will take place on May 2nd in Las Vegas after earlier talks of the fight taking place in Dubai were squashed. It really would have been interesting to see what sort of an appearance Hatton’s fans would have made if they had to travel to Dubai.

Another quality fight that is in the works is the return of former undisputed Junior Middleweight Champion Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright who will return to the ring for the first time since July 2007 to face pound for pound ranked fighter and current WBO interim Junior Middleweight Champion Paul Williams. The fight is set to take place on April 11th at the Middleweight limit. Wright really has his work cut out for him facing someone as dangerous as Williams in his first fight for nearly two years but with his impregnable defence he could frustrate Williams and outbox him if he can fight near his best.

The other good fight I’m hearing about is Kendall Holt vs Timothey Bradley for the WBC and WBO Junior Welterweight titles. This is a great fight between two youngish fighters and will likely determine who the next legitimate challenger is for Ricky Hatton (that’s if Hatton gets by Pacquiao). This fight is currently set to take place in April, probably the 4th although I haven’t heard whether or not this fight has been officially signed. All three of these fights are quality matchups, and so far the boxing lineup looks good through til early May with quality fights happening every other weekend:

17th January- Andre Berto vs Luis Collazo (WBC 147lbs)
24th January- Antonio Margarito vs Shane Mosley (WBA 147lbs)
7th February- Vic Darchinyan vs Jorge Arce (WBA-WBC-IBF 115lbs)
14th February- Nate Campbell vs Ali Funeka (WBA-IBF-WBO 135lbs)
21st February- Pavlik v Rubio/Cotto v Jennings (Ring 160lbs/WBO 147lbs)
28th February- Juan Diaz vs Juan Manuel Marquez (Ring 135lbs)
14th March- Chad Dawson vs Antonio Tarver (okay, not all of them are good)
15th March- Fernando Montiel vs Nonito Donaire (WBO 115lbs)
4th April- Timothey Bradley vs Kendall Holt (WBC-WBO 140lbs)
11th April- Paul Williams vs Winky Wright
2nd May- Ricky Hatton vs Manny Pacquiao (Ring 140lbs)

So basically there’s boxing every week from January 17th right through until March 15th minus two weekends (Jan 31st and March 7th). The good thing about those two weekends is that there’s UFC PPV cards on those dates and one of those weekends is BJ Penn vs Georges St Pierre. Throw in the odd K-1 event and DREAM card plus the odd not so major boxing match and I might have to change my name to Aroused Fight Fan.