How Powerful Is Manny Pacquiao's Left? Ricky Hatton Knows.
Friday, June 8, 2012 at 4:58PM By Ricky Hatton (as told to Richard Fletcher)
Manny Pacquiao, Ricky Hatton - Photo Credit: Will Hart
Manny Pacquiao is obviously a big, big hitter. With people like myself and Miguel Cotto, who move straight down the middle, there's always a chance you can walk on to that left-hand shot, and it was sadly the case with me.
There was always a chance, with my style, that I could have outmuscled him and outpunched him and mauled him, like I did Kostya Tszyu and a few others. I'd always been aggressive, I always went for the knockout--and that proved my downfall, really. He wasn't even looking at me [when he landed the knockout punch in the second round]. I think he just knew where I was, he winged it over and that was that.
His short left is very good. He's had many successes with it. I've always been a little bit reckless, but I got a little bit over-reckless in that fight. You can't do it at that level. With someone with a left hand like Manny Pacquiao's, you can't go in like that. I think a lot of people have learned that with Pacquiao because the fighters who are a little bit more cagey and a little bit more safety-first tend to have fewer troubles. With Manny Pacquiao, there's every chance he can knock you out.
Timothy Bradley can do a little bit of brawling and boxing. He can have a little bit of a fight, but he's a very well-schooled all-rounder. He's a very capable boxer, a very talented fighter. I think he'll come in and fight a cagey fight and I think he'll give Manny a few problems. I don't think he'll win, though. After the third Juan Manuel Marquez fight, Pacquiao will want to come back and destroy somebody. Timothy Bradley might be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
