On December 6th, 2008 Manny Pacquiao, the man recognized as boxing’s pound-for-pound champion (then and now) stepped into the ring to face Oscar De La Hoya for a superfight that ultimately netted the second largest gate revenue in boxing history. Although De La Hoya was now in the twilight of his career and had clearly lost a step in recent years, it was thought that, having held titles as high as middleweight (160lb), De La Hoya would simply be too big for Pacquiao, who, until his previous fight with David Diaz (at 135lb), had been campaigning at super featherweight (130lb). Therefore, the agreed upon weight of 147lb effectively represented a 17lb, 3-weight-class leap for Manny so most observers figured this would make the difference in the fight and cautiously predicted a De La Hoya victory.
So when Manny Pacquiao dismantled De La Hoya over 8 utterly one-sided rounds (one writer over at maxboxing.com facetiously claimed that he had seen muggings that were more competitive) forcing the former Olympic gold medalist to quit on his stool, the movement to canonize Pacquiao as a boxing god was set in motion. Boxing fans around the globe began to see Pacquiao as the David who conquered boxing’s Goliath and there was no shortage of gushing internet editorials to consecrate this conclusion. But in the weeks that followed as the post-fight hype began to die down, a new picture was starting to emerge. After re-examining the facts on the ground, boxing writers began to realize that things weren’t as they had initially appeared.
The first indication that something was amiss, was the fighters’ weights on fight night. As expected, Manny Pacquiao weighed in at 147 pounds on the night of the fight, which is smaller than what a true welterweight would come in at, but appropriate given the huge jump in weight class this fight represented for Pacquiao. To everyone’s surprise, De La Hoya weighed in at 140lbs just before the fight, a full 7 pounds under the weight limit, which, in boxing is virtually unheard of. This meant De La Hoya would be the smaller man in the ring, thereby nullifying his primary physical advantage. When Pacquiao’s trainer Freddy Roach was asked for his take on De La Hoya’s weight in a pre-fight interview, Roach speculated that the drop in weight had been too big for Oscar and that it had likely taken so much out of him that he became too weak to hold down solid food. Months later Roach also stated that he had seen I.V. marks on De La Hoya’s arm when the two men were standing in the ring prior to the fight. This signaled to Roach that the fighter had to be hydrated intravenously just before entering the ring which basically made him a sitting duck. Roach relayed this information to his fighter and instructed Manny to go for the knock out right away.
In addition to his weight troubles, De La Hoya admitted that his age was a factor in his performance and most commentators agreed. Without taking anything away from Pacquiao’s accomplishment, Oscar implied that he was no longer the fighter that he used be and that he should probably hang ‘em up. Another narrative that has been largely drowned out in the analysis of this fight is the fact that Roach trained De La Hoya for his previous fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr, and based on his experience with De La Hoya, Roach believed that he could no longer “pull the trigger,” essentially conceding that the fight never posed a real threat to Pacquiao.
Nowadays when writers discuss the victory over De La Hoya, the adulation is much more tempered. They see it as one of his lesser accomplishments, an 8-round demolition of a former champ who was way past his prime and was fighting at a fraction of the already-diminished ability he still possessed.
This is why I’m taking last night’s 2-round destruction of Ricky Hatton with a grain salt. The parallels with the De La Hoya fight are plain to see and I believe that when all the excitement fades away, most boxing analysts will place this victory in the same category as the De La Hoya win: a high-profile victory over a low-risk opponent who was supposed to get knocked out anyway. The argument is as follows…
Ricky Hatton’s main claim to fame is an 11 round TKO over 35-year-old Russian-Australian slugger, Kostya Tszyu. At the time Tszyu was the champion at light welterweight and was listed as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in boxing, whereas Hatton was a young up-and-comer, who, while undefeated, had yet to earn a win over any notable opposition. Over 11 rounds, Hatton employed his strategy of smothering, clinching and mauling his opponent eventually forcing Tszyu to quit on his stool after the 11th round. Since then, Hatton hasn’t beat a single lineal champion or anyone who was even worthy of honorable mention on a pound-for-pound list and only two of his wins were against belt holders of any kind. The only standout victory is his 2007 4th round knock out of Jose Luis Castillo, who was once an elite fighter, but was clearly washed-up by the time Hatton got to him.
In addition to his victories, we should also look at Hatton’s losses. He got KTFO’d by Floyd Mayweather in 2008, which under any other circumstances, wouldn’t have been too shabby except for the fact that Mayweather hadn’t scored a knock out in over two years and was going the distance with feather-fisted journeymen like Carlos Baldomir. Furthermore, Hatton struggled against Luis Collazo, who was only the 10th ranked welterweight at the time. Although Hatton was awarded a unanimous decision, I have yet to come across a single boxing writer who doesn’t believe that Collazo was robbed. Hatton was also buzzed twice by Juan Lazcano, an unranked Jr. welterweight, in what was supposed to be an easy comeback fight after being embarrassed by Mayweather.
In a recent Ring Magazine article, which thoroughly debunks the Hatton phenomenon, even the straight-talking Freddie Roach was quoted as saying that Hatton is not a great fighter and Roach appears to be at a loss when asked why a fighter with such a thin resume and obvious lack of skills is going up against the pound-for-pound titlist. The one thing Hatton appeared to have going for him in the Pacquiao fight (and the only thing that made this mismatch even remotely justifiable) was the size advantage, given that just 3 fights ago Pacquiao was fighting at a full two weight classes below Hatton. But in this article from two weeks ago it’s made clear that even this edge goes to the Pacman. Looking at the tale of the tape in the article, in all but 2 of the 14 categories the two fighters are either evenly matched or Pacquiao has the advantage. The only category in which Hatton appears to have to edge is height, but in the official HBO tale of the tape shown during the actual fight broadcast, both men were listed at 5’6”. The only other category in which Hatton is bigger, fist size, actually ends up being better for Pacquiao because the force of his punches is concentrated over a smaller area. So given these facts, it’s useful to revisit the fight that put Hatton on the map and eventually set the stage for last night’s “superfight”.
While Tszyu was still on the pound-for-pound list, he was hovering around the age when even the great fighters start to consider retiring. The fact that he never fought another fight is further evidence that Hatton was not fighting a prime Kostya Tszyu. To put this into perspective, consider that in 2004 Antonio Tarver scored a spectacular 2nd round knock out of then-pound-for-pound king and undefeated (save for a bogus DQ loss which he later avenged) light heavyweight champion, Roy Jones Jr, knocking the champ out cold in an upset that had the boxing world questioning everything they thought they knew about boxing. By all reasonable accounts this was a feat significantly more impressive than Hatton’s TKO win over Tszyu, yet there were no illusions about whether Tarver had proved himself to be an elite fighter. The win was seen for what it was, an anomalous knock out of an all-time great, who had abruptly hit the proverbial wall.
Fortunately for Hatton however, unlike Tarver, he happened to come from the UK, which is home to the most zealous boxing fans on the planet, also home to the most overrated boxers the sport has ever seen. He also happened to be white and from Manchester with a background that, although probably middle-class (his father was a pub owner), could easily be reframed to appear humble and blue-collar. These factors combined to make Hatton a cash cow and the powers that be went to work concocting the well-manufactured façade that was imploded in 6 minutes by Manny Pacquiao last night.
The stoppage of Hatton must be looked at within the context of, not only Hatton’s less-than-stellar resume, but also Manny Pacquiao’s resume since he was crowned boxing’s pound-for-pound king in March 2008 after his split decision victory of Juan Manuel Marquez. Prior that that milestone, Pacman’s last 8 fights included 5 against future hall of famers from his own weight class. After the coronation, there was a sudden and significant drop in the caliber of his competition. Pacquiao first moved up to lightweight to fight 135lb paper champion, David Diaz, who is now beltless and unranked by Ring Magazine. The fight ended in a 9th round knockout. Meanwhile, Pacquiao’s rival from the super featherweight division, Juan Manuel Marquez, followed Manny up to lightweight and annihilated the top two fighters in that division, Juan Diaz and Joel Casamayor, knocking out both men within the distance for what I believe was the first knock out loss of both fighters’ carreers.
I recently compiled a list of all the guys between lightweight and welterweight (the divisions in which Pacquiao’s last three fights took place) who could beat Ricky Hatton and probably put up a better fight against Pacquaio than Hatton would. I came up with no less than 10 fighters for whom it would be uncontroversial to say that they would thrash Ricky Hatton in a 12-round contest, and this was not taking into account Hatton’s most recent loss. The list included Luis Collazo and all welterweights currently ranked above him (one of whom lost his last welterweight fight via 1st round knockout). I also threw in the number 9 welterweight, Zab Judah, who was able to beat then-pound-for-pound king, Floyd Mayweather handily over the first 6 rounds of their fight was on his way to knocking out welterweight champion Miguel Cotto until Cotto intentionally (by his own implied admission) delivered back to back uppercuts to Zab’s crotch. And then of course I threw in the former welterweight title holder Paul Williams who is probably the most dangerous boxer south of 154lb besides Manny Pacquiao himself.
And this was only a conservative list. I could easily throw in the top two junior welterweights and at least three lightweights not including Marquez, although the few remaining Hatton kool-aid drinkers would probably take issue with these smaller fighters being included. But what is not debatable is the fact that Pacquiao is not fighting the best fighters out there for him – especially when there is a fighter calling Manny out who battered him around the ring for the better part of 11 consecutive rounds and fought him to a stalemate in a rematch that many observers thought Pacquiao should have lost - and the Ricky Hatton win did nothing to change that perception, but rather, reinforced it.
I don’t say this to question Pacquiao’s heart or warrior spirit because when we discuss risk-taking in terms of selecting opponents we have to remember that Pacquiao is not calling the shots. Much like his intense religious devotion, Pacquiao puts 100% faith in the judgment of his handlers and will face anybody they put in from of him. So when it comes to bravery, Manny gets an 11 out of 10 in every sense of the word both in terms of who he’s willing to fight, and the tactics he employs once in the ring. But Manny’s handlers are another story altogether. In the eyes of a promoter like Bob Arum, it makes no sense to take more risky fights against guys like Marquez or (god forbid) Shane Mosley, when they could make 5 times the money fighting second-tier boxers and washed-up former greats, especially in a sport where you get a maximum of three chances to cash in per year. From this point on, if they do put Manny in with a fighter who has a legitimate chance of beating him, it better be a fighter who can generate the type of money that would allow the entire island of Mindinao to retire off the purse. Unfortunately, no such fighter existed. That is, until yesterday.
AlexsJenkins
white fighters will always be overrated. from hatton to the klitchko's, to their patron saint, gerry cooney.
but still... while hatton may be overrated, he was still 40-something and 0 at 140. that's gotta count for something.
and at 140, no living person would have done that to Hatton. At 147, only paul williams could have and he's, almost literally, three times the size of manny and twice the size of Hatton.
that punch was the equivalent of the Lebron dunk over KG. and, considering the talents and names associated with the KO, it is one of the best pure physical feats we've seen in boxing in a long time.
sure, perhaps the notch in the win/loss coumn, in a historical context, could be analyzed and argued. but there's no denying the value of how it happened and the worth of that accomplishment.
You guys are correct. And the end of the day, he still took on a lineal champ in a higher weight division and made him look like he had never put on a pair of boxing gloves in his life. The last time that happened to my recollection was Tyson-Spinks. At 147, I think Shane could also make short work of the Hitman (not just P-Will) but I'm not sure anyone would do it like the Pac.
But when we compare to the De La Hoya Victory, I think both victories still fall short of the top 5 as far as Pac's illustrious resume goes (with the De La Hoya victory possibly higher)
In terms of opponent's size (weight not withstanding), opponent's resume, pre-fight expectations, in all these categories, the De La Hoya fighted is more impressive. Everything we're saying about Saturday's fight also applies to De La Hoya. Who has ever pitched a shutout against De La Hoya and made him throw in the towel?
I think your analysis may be a little harsh even though I also predicted a Hatton loss via mid round TKO. You're right that Hatton is overrated and I agree that there were many questionable victories in his career, but he was still in his prime and the undefeated champ of the junior welterweight division. What needs to be noted is the fashion in which Pacquiao beat Hatton: no man in 44 fights was able destroy him in 2 rounds. Fights that end in a close decision are a completely different story from those that begin with two first round knockdowns and end in a 2nd round ktfo. I think the way in which he completely decimated Hatton, beating him up and knocking him out cold in 6 minutes, needs to be factored into your analysis when looking at Pac's status as p4p king.
Not to degrade Marquez's victories, he's a first ballot hall of famer and a genuine bad ass, but last night's version of Pacquiao runs through Casamayor more handily and stops Diaz as well. But I'm glad Floyd is coming out of retirement because it looks plain that Pacquiao will fight the winner of Mayweather's showdown with Marquez.