Feb 26 2009
WBC to recognise Pacman - if he defeats Hatton!
Should Manny Pacquiao defeat Ricky Hatton when they meet in Las Vegas May 2nd, he will become the number 1 contender for WBC Light Welterweight crown, according to WBC president Jose Sulaiman.
Sulaiman stated
“Let me tell you if he beats Ricky Hatton, he will be number one and official challenger of the WBC for the title of the super-lightweight division.”
“I think Ricky Hatton is a great fighter. He can beat anybody of his weight. But I believe the same thing about Manny Pacquiao. Manny is a great fighter, and he can defeat boxers of different divisions. As simple as that! He’s a type of Henry Armstrong!”
Any comparison to Henry Armstrong is high praise indeed and this will be an added incentive to Pacman to continue his assault on multiple weight divisions.
Hatton, unbeaten at Light Welterweight, is only currently ranked at number 3 by the WBC, who rank Junior Witter at 2, with Timothy Bradley current champion, the man who defeated Witter for the title last year.
I’ll keep you posted!
At the risk of looking foolish with my predictions… I dont think the WBC will need to sweat too much on Pac’s rating after he is beaten by Hatton.
Now dont get me wrong, Manny is an awesome fighter. His fights with Marquez are modern classics and he’s a tremendous flagship for the sport and for the P4P #1 spot.
But he is yet to fight a live opponent above 128lbs. Diaz was good. But pretty much made for Pac. Diaz’s footwork is slow, he hits hard but he’s pretty laboured. Oscar was a shell of his former self.
On May 2nd, Manny will be facing an animal at 140lbs. Hatton’s optimum working weight. Hatton will be rejuvenated, confident and most important of all, hungry. There wont be a backward step and you can bet that Hatton will be throwing punches rather than waiting for a gap like Oscar did.
I have the greatest respect for Manny, and win, lose or draw he’ll still be P4P #1 after this fight. But Hatton will beat him, convincingly!