Hitman Looks Ahead to Hatton Pacquiao
April 22, 2009
With Hatton Pacquiao tickets sold out, the war of words is raging off to the side between both camps. Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao’s trainers are currently entwined in a tit-for-tat negative publicity campaign that at least has something of a funny side. Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer recently sent Floyd Mayweather Sr, Hatton’s trainer, a “gift”, wrapped with a ribbon bearing the words, “second place.” Inside the wrapping paper? A t-shirt from Roach with a picture of himself on it, with a bottle of Roach’s weight-loss supplement, intended to infer that Hatton might not make the weigh-in before the “Battle of east and West” on May 2.
“Just another joke from the (Freddie) Roach. But Roach is the joke,” said Hatton’s trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr. “They too late,” added Mayweather. “We’ve been there and done that and we ain’t even done yet. Look at Ricky, he’s got an eight-pack. They don’t want ‘Slick Rick’ to beat up the ‘Pac-Man.’”
Hatton halted his media rope-jumping session to participate in the foolery.
“Does the package say to be gentle?” he asked, with a smile.
The psychological battle has been a long one ahead of this massively important junior welterweight title fight. Much has been made of Pacman’s speed but Hatton shrugged off the idea that Pacquiao would be too fast for him. Hatton’s last fight in which he beat Pauli Malignani saw The Hitman do some damage having trained with a backroom staff he’d only known for 7 weeks. This time, he’ll be even faster, Hatton claims. And as for the baiting between coaches, Hatton loves it, and believes it makes the fight even more exciting.
“It would be a very boring sport if we didn’t have personalities like this,” said Hatton, who is busily honing himself to his ideal fighting weight.
“We’ve got two of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world fighting, and arguably two of the best trainers in the world fighting. They just want to get one over on each other. I wouldn’t read too much into it. They’re both excellent coaches.”
Hatton is quick to acknowledge his admiration for Pacman’s boxing style, in contrast to trainer Mayweather, who is content to completely dismiss Pacquiao as overrated, especially on the evidence of his victory over Oscar de la Hoya. One thing is for sure, Ricky Hatton tickets are selling like crazy, and this is gonna be one of the biggest fights in years!
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