RICKY Hatton suffered his most devastating career loss at the hands of Manny Pacquiao, but he doesn’t appear to be sold out on the Filipino ring icon blowing past Floyd Mayweather Jr. when the two tangle in the ring two months from now.
The Englishman stressed Mayweather has proven time and again how smart a fighter he is by readily adjusting to the style of his opponent, which he thinks the unbeaten American will do the same against Pacquiao, a noted southpaw.
“Floyd always finds a way to win, no matter the style. And that’s the reason that I make him a slight favorite over Manny,” said Hatton in an interview with the Ring Magazine Online.
Now retired, the 36-year-old Hatton both faced Mayweather and Pacquiao in a stellar boxing career.
The British boxer lost by technical knockout against Mayweather in their 2007 title fight.
Two years after, Pacquiao inflicted Hatton one of the most savage knockouts ever seen in boxing history when he sent the Englishman into dream land with a solid left in the second round of their 12-round championship match.
Hatton admitted undergoing depression following the embarrassing loss and briefly retired from the ring.
He staged a comeback in 2012 but lost by a ninth-round knockout to Vyacheslav Senchenko to hang up his gloves for good.
Haton considers Mayweather one of the best counter-punchers in the business, of which Pacquiao always has a hard time dealing with.
Take the case of Mexican rival Juan Manuel Marquez, who knocked out Pacquiao cold in the final second of the fateful sixth round of their 2012 welterweight fight at the MGM Grand.
“Manny is a great fighter, but when you look at the trouble he had with the counter-punching style of Juan Manuel Marquez, he could be in serious trouble with Floyd Mayweather,” said Hatton (45-3, 32 KOs).
Still, the former light-welterweight champion of the world is not counting out Pacquiao in his May 2 showdown with Mayweather.
“Manny is always on top of you and his hand and foot speed are very hard to read. He’s very herky-jerky and extremely dangerous when he gets into punching range. Floyd will have his work cut out for him, that’s for sure,” he said.
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