Hatton's game plan in Saturday's fight will presumably be to use a hard jab to keep Pacquiao at a distance, throw a lot of body shots to slow him down, and wrestle with him on the inside. If he executes it perfectly, he has a chance to pull off an upset, but I just don't see it working. A jab alone isn't going to be enough to keep Pacquiao at bay. Furthermore, I don't think Hatton's going to be able to wrap Pacquiao up very easily, and when he does, I don't see his strength on the inside being that much of an advantage.
The fighters who have done the best against Pacquiao (Morales over their first 16 rounds and Márquez over their last 23) have done two things exceptionally well: they have answered Pacquiao's combinations with flurries of their own, so as not to hand over all the momentum to the Filipino; and they have turned him and used angles from in close. Neither of those, especially the first, is a particular skill of Hatton's. The guys who looked to dodge or simply weather Pacquio's flurries, and were unable to answer with more than one or two shots (David Diaz, Marco Antonio Barrera, Oscar De la Hoya) have been steamrolled. I don't think Hatton will be steamrolled quite like De la Hoya was, but I think he'll be wide open for that straight left all night, and he won't be able to keep up with the pace Pacquiao sets. Pacquiao by late stoppage.
On the undercard, Humberto Soto (back in the ring already?!) will defend his title with a knockout of Benoit Gaudet, and on Friday, Urbano Antillón will knock out Tyrone Harris as well.
Gancho boxing is 37-14 on the year.
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