When it is all over on Saturday, May 2, 2009 (U.S. time), who will be left standing?
Boxing buffs in America, as I am told by my fellow staffers in Tribune U.S.A., have their own predictions about the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton encounter at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. Boxing aficionados in the Philippines also have their forecasts. Excitement all over is electric!
Record and greatness always are factors. But pugilism is a world of surprises. There is the lucky punch. The daunting hype from each camp “paralyzes”, says a U.S. media friend. Anything can happen inside the ring.
The encounter is for 12 rounds. At stake is Hatton’s Ring Magazine and IBO junior welterweight title, at 140 pounds. Filipino ring icon Pacquiao, the Pacman, will gun for the belt. British ring star and champ Hatton, the Hitman, will certainly not just let his title go.
Hatton is 45-1, with 32 knockouts. His only loss was in the hands of undefeated Floyd Mayweather, Jr. For the May 2 fight—call it a slugfest or brawlfest, by whatever prediction you have the way you know these prizefighters—Hatton says he will shock Pacquiao with power, speed and tactical moves. The British fighter’s trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., proclaims that Pacquiao “[is] gonna run”.
Wild Card Gym guru and Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach, as well as the Filipino ring warrior himself, says, on the other hand, that Hatton is in for “a quicksand” in agreeing to a battle with Pacquiao. Some pro-Pacquiao analysts says it is likely the encounter will be over in three rounds.
Typical word war rages. Both camps foresee an abbreviated card in the early rounds. Hatton is good at this—he is known to come out swinging and most dangerous in the early leg of a combat. Pacquiao, for his part, is reputed “to grow stronger and deadlier” as the encounter goes on, his left and right combinations working even better in the later “stanzas”.
Pacquiao is 48-3 (36 KOs; 2 draw). Just as Hatton has beaten top world-caliber boxers for international crowns, Pacquiao has pummeled to defeat legendary combatants the likes of Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, David Diaz, and “Golden Boy” Oscar de la Hoya. The Pacman has held four world titles, has fought in several weight classes, and at 30, seems to be getting more invincible. Several fighters who lost to the Pacman have been forced to retirement; from the arena, two were taken to a Las Vegas hospital as a “medical precaution”.
For May 2, bets are high and frenzied in Las Vegas, the boxing, casino, hotel, and pleasure capital of the world. And celebrities arrive daily, filling the town to the seams.
Among those expected on fight night are Manila connoisseurs of boxing and fans of Pacquiao (including VIP government officials). In recent days and weeks, Philippine followers of “the sweet science” and “the cauliflower world”—two descriptions of boxing—have been streaming in, into Vegas, especially now that there are PAL flights to Vegas from Manila via Vancouver, the return flight simply the reverse route.
Two mega warriors clash on May 2. The initial, incomplete report in the U.S. indicated $12 million each guaranteed for each fighter. The bonanza will be more, much more, if we factor in subsequent amounts, including earnings from HBO pay-per-view (PPV) receipts. “Forecasts are just tough to make here,” comments Tribune U.S.A. editor-in-chief Max Gelera Alvarez who, from his Las Vegas base, has covered live, close to ringside, six world-category Vegas exploits of the boxing star from General Santos City, Cotabato, Philippines. Concludes Alvarez: “It will be historic just for everyone to be there when the multimillion-dollar skirmish unfolds—yes, for pugilism to see who between Pacquiao and Hatton will be left standing when it is all over. As often said, it is not over until it is over. Shortened or the full 12 rounds, Pacquiao-Hatton, the Battle of the East versus West, will be one helluva clash.”
[Angeles City (Pampanga)-based Benjie A. Gunio is the Central Luzon Bureau Chief of Tribune U.S.A., a multiregion U.S. Filipino-American weekly with headquarters in Las Vegas (Nevada) and Glendale (California). He writes the following piece as a special report for “Punto! Central Luzon”.]
Boxing buffs in America, as I am told by my fellow staffers in Tribune U.S.A., have their own predictions about the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton encounter at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. Boxing aficionados in the Philippines also have their forecasts. Excitement all over is electric!
Record and greatness always are factors. But pugilism is a world of surprises. There is the lucky punch. The daunting hype from each camp “paralyzes”, says a U.S. media friend. Anything can happen inside the ring.
The encounter is for 12 rounds. At stake is Hatton’s Ring Magazine and IBO junior welterweight title, at 140 pounds. Filipino ring icon Pacquiao, the Pacman, will gun for the belt. British ring star and champ Hatton, the Hitman, will certainly not just let his title go.
Hatton is 45-1, with 32 knockouts. His only loss was in the hands of undefeated Floyd Mayweather, Jr. For the May 2 fight—call it a slugfest or brawlfest, by whatever prediction you have the way you know these prizefighters—Hatton says he will shock Pacquiao with power, speed and tactical moves. The British fighter’s trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., proclaims that Pacquiao “[is] gonna run”.
Wild Card Gym guru and Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach, as well as the Filipino ring warrior himself, says, on the other hand, that Hatton is in for “a quicksand” in agreeing to a battle with Pacquiao. Some pro-Pacquiao analysts says it is likely the encounter will be over in three rounds.
Typical word war rages. Both camps foresee an abbreviated card in the early rounds. Hatton is good at this—he is known to come out swinging and most dangerous in the early leg of a combat. Pacquiao, for his part, is reputed “to grow stronger and deadlier” as the encounter goes on, his left and right combinations working even better in the later “stanzas”.
Pacquiao is 48-3 (36 KOs; 2 draw). Just as Hatton has beaten top world-caliber boxers for international crowns, Pacquiao has pummeled to defeat legendary combatants the likes of Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, David Diaz, and “Golden Boy” Oscar de la Hoya. The Pacman has held four world titles, has fought in several weight classes, and at 30, seems to be getting more invincible. Several fighters who lost to the Pacman have been forced to retirement; from the arena, two were taken to a Las Vegas hospital as a “medical precaution”.
For May 2, bets are high and frenzied in Las Vegas, the boxing, casino, hotel, and pleasure capital of the world. And celebrities arrive daily, filling the town to the seams.
Among those expected on fight night are Manila connoisseurs of boxing and fans of Pacquiao (including VIP government officials). In recent days and weeks, Philippine followers of “the sweet science” and “the cauliflower world”—two descriptions of boxing—have been streaming in, into Vegas, especially now that there are PAL flights to Vegas from Manila via Vancouver, the return flight simply the reverse route.
Two mega warriors clash on May 2. The initial, incomplete report in the U.S. indicated $12 million each guaranteed for each fighter. The bonanza will be more, much more, if we factor in subsequent amounts, including earnings from HBO pay-per-view (PPV) receipts. “Forecasts are just tough to make here,” comments Tribune U.S.A. editor-in-chief Max Gelera Alvarez who, from his Las Vegas base, has covered live, close to ringside, six world-category Vegas exploits of the boxing star from General Santos City, Cotabato, Philippines. Concludes Alvarez: “It will be historic just for everyone to be there when the multimillion-dollar skirmish unfolds—yes, for pugilism to see who between Pacquiao and Hatton will be left standing when it is all over. As often said, it is not over until it is over. Shortened or the full 12 rounds, Pacquiao-Hatton, the Battle of the East versus West, will be one helluva clash.”
[Angeles City (Pampanga)-based Benjie A. Gunio is the Central Luzon Bureau Chief of Tribune U.S.A., a multiregion U.S. Filipino-American weekly with headquarters in Las Vegas (Nevada) and Glendale (California). He writes the following piece as a special report for “Punto! Central Luzon”.]
