By Dean Parr – On the 2nd May, Manny Pacquiao clinically finished Ricky Hatton inside two rounds. While the ‘Pac Man’ was on top form, what can’t be denied is that we saw a below par Ricky Hatton in the ring that night. I will now look at the possible reasons why Ricky didn’t turn up in top form, as in the weeks after the fight, new information was revealed which could be crucial in working out why he lost in such devastating fashion..
Firstly, I would like to say that from my point of view, regardless of whether there had been disputes within Team Hatton or not, Floyd Mayweather Sr. was the wrong man to train Ricky Hatton. The phrase ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ is particularly poignant here, and while the idea of ‘the Hitman’ having a credible defence is mouth-watering, it was never going to happen. Ricky Hatton had for twenty years not tried to slip and weave punches in the fashion Mayweather told him to as that was just not his style. In addition, when you watched the padwork sessions between Hatton and Mayweather, why did Floyd Sr. have Hatton throwing twenty punch combinations when Hatton really should have looked for openings, and thrown single, harder shots, gradually wearing Pacquiao down? This was bound to leave Hatton vulnerable to counters, as Manny is very quick and agile (as he has moved up from lighter weights) so Hatton would have been better off without the huge combinations, which left him wide open for Manny to hit him at will.
It has been revealed since the fight that Hatton didn’t follow the plan and that Hatton may use the services of Floyd Sr. again. However, Mayweather has to take some of the blame for this. He consistently turned up late to sparring sessions, and on the night he was only forty five minutes early for the fight. While Hatton did work with Lee Beard (the assistant coach) extensively, as the principal coach of Ricky, Floyd should have been there with him every step of the way, drilling in the plan at all times.
Hatton wasn’t even mentally strong for the fight. If your trainers are bickering and you yourself are arguing with a trainer, this isn’t going to help your confidence or build up the trust that is so vital in a fighter/trainer relationship. Getting pasted in sparring doesn’t help either (see later in the article) and if your trainer is rarely there to give you advice, this can’t have helped the mental strengthening of Hatton. In an interview just a couple of hours before the fight, the man from Stockport, England seemed very tentative and was speaking as if he was trying to convince himself he could beat his opponent, as he didn’t have the self belief required. This could explain the almost journeyman like approach Hatton took in the fight itself, as all the way through, the end seemed inevitable, and it looked like he wanted to just get it over with.
One thing that I am personally certain of is that Billy Graham (the ex-trainer of Hatton) would have never let Hatton go out without a plan and unconfident. Graham, if nothing else was a fantastic motivator for Hatton, and he was like a father to Ricky. The respect in this way was mutual, but in contrast, with Mayweather, it could be said that there was too much of a clash in personalities and they were never going to get on well. Plus, Billy Graham wouldn’t have tried to change Hatton in his twilight years, and what we are seeing now is a Hatton with all the defensive frailties of the old Hatton combined with a new, cautious approach which sees him use less offence than before. We now have the worst of both worlds! Whoever trains Ricky now (if he does decide to carry on) won’t be able to do any better than Billy Graham, even if it’s Freddie Roach because this stint with Mayweather has made Hatton a worse fighter all round.
Back to the matter at hand though, it should also be said that the wrong type of sparring had been brought in for Hatton. It has been strongly rumoured that Cuban light middleweight prospect Erislandy Lara (6-0 4KOs) had given Hatton real trouble in sparring and their bout had to be stopped to stop the Cuban inflicting more damage. Regardless of whether or not Lara did have Hatton on the brink, why was Lara brought in in the first place? For starters, he is two weights heavier than Hatton, and he doesn’t have a style that remotely resembles that of his Philippine foe. Maybe if Hatton had better sparring (styles wise) he would have been able to deal with Pacquiao better.
However, what also mustn’t be overlooked is the brilliance of Manny Pacquiao and the genius of his trainer Freddie Roach. Roach had worked out the entirety of Hatton’s game, and had even predicted a third round stoppage in the weeks leading up to the fight. The right hook that the ‘Pac Man’ used to so much success was the brainchild of Roach, and he definitely won the battle of the trainers in this particular fight. Also, everyone expected Hatton to be bigger than Pacquiao on fight night, and while he was, it was only by 2lbs. Despite being the top pound for pound fighter in the world at that time, many people (possibly including Hatton) overlooked Pacquiao, and expected Ricky to bully him around, but that was far from the case, and Ricky even looked hurt after Pacquiao’s jab. One thing is for sure – the ‘Pac Man’ can fight at light welterweight without a problem, and if he defeats Shane Mosley at a catch weight later this year, he could possibly even move up to welterweight next year.
In conclusion, when you analyse it, the writing was already on the wall that this could happen to Hatton. He had an awful training camp, during which he was sparring with the wrong people and fell out with his trainer and the spark and the fire of the old Hatton wasn’t even there in the Malignaggi fight. However, while fallings out in the camp certainly didn’t help, the fate of Hatton was probably sealed anyway – he was beaten by a better fighter, who has better technique and has an impeccable strategist behind him in the form of Freddie Roach. I wouldn’t put your money on Manny Pacquiao ever being overlooked for any reason (even if it is size) again in his career if I were you, as he now has the chance to establish himself as an all time great.