Sunday, May 3, 2009

Ricky Hatton v. Manny Pacquiao

That was quite a ring entry, Ricky. Got your own song, “never seen a salad, that’s why he’s so fat! . . . he eats pasties and pies! and a couple of pints of Guinness!” Got “Big Man” tattooed on his back. Tries real hard to look like a tough guy. I never saw him work before, I hear he has a good record, forty-six fights and now two losses. That’s pretty good. I don’t know who he was fighting.

Nobody like Manny Pacquiao, that’s a good bet. Manny came in to an old AC/DC song about thunder and lightning, which beat pasties and pies every time, somebody should have told Hatton. Manny has a great smile, and he makes no big macho show. After all the hype, the fight was very one sided, all on Manny’s side, like seventy two punches landed to eighteen.

Ricky tried to come straight at Manny and push him around, but the Flip wasn’t having any of it. Hatton cocked his hand before every punch, and Manny would either spin away, jump in close, or punch him. Manny is a lefty who sets up square and at this point in his career he doesn’t seem to favor either hand. Right jab? It’s more like a straight punch, or sometimes a hook.

Twice in the first round Manny put Ricky down with those right hand jab-hooks, and besides that he was otherwise pushing him around the ring like a sweeper. About half way through the second round, Ricky dropped his right hand at just the wrong time and Manny spun his torso clockwise and put a left hook that was as solid as a rock into the Englishman’s head, that was all she wrote. Ricky went down in the pole-axed manner and stayed unconscious for twenty seconds.

Manny seems like a sweet man. After the fight a big-shot was singing his praises and Manny cut in to say, “not to forget God.” Maybe God was distracted by the fight: at about the same time there were a lot of flood deaths in the Philippines.

One thing’s for sure, Manny is a great fighter.

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