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For a fighter with only one defeat in a 12-year career - against the top fighter in the game - Briton Ricky Hatton is not getting a ton of respect ahead of his highly anticipated fight Saturday against Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines, the first megafight of the year.
Sure, a few boxing writers are picking Hatton to win and most expect him to put up a tremendous struggle in the 140-pound fight at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, but they ultimately think he'll fall short against the current pound-for-pound champ.
Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 knockouts) is also a 2-2.5 to 1 favourite among the oddsmakers.
It shows how bowled over most are with Pacquiao, given that he's technically never fought at the 140 category and Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) has never lost at the class. Hatton's only loss came at 147 pounds against unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr., considered the top fighter in the game until he retired last year.
There's definitely reason to believe the Mancunian can pull off what would be considered at the very least a mild upset.
Hatton's advantage is size and the fact he knows how to use it, wearing his opponents down with relentless pressure and leaning on them in between bursts of activity.
This will legitimately be the first time Pacquiao will be facing a much bigger, highly skilled fighter willing and able to fight a hard 12 rounds.
Just over a year ago, Pacquiao was fighting at 130 pounds. Since then he's fought at 135 against a bigger man (David Diaz) who had little interest in defence and at 145 against a bigger man (Oscar De La Hoya) who gave away his size advantage by shedding too much weight too soon and was a shell of his former self come fight time.
So while Pacquiao looked spectacular offensively in both of those fights, it was also true there was little in the way of truly dangerous offensive firepower and resistance coming back at him. That's decidedly not going to be the case against Hatton.
The wildcard of the fight is if Hatton is able to launch a blistering body attack on the smaller man. Few boxing observers expect that even with the size advantage Hatton can deck Pacquiao with a single shot to the chin, but he is a tremendous bodypuncher who memorably broke down the normally durable Jose Luis Castillo with a liver attack.
Hatton in his first fight with new trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. looked more controlled in his aggression in November against Paulie Malignaggi, remembering that there is such a thing as effective defence.
But Malignaggi can't crack an egg, while the southpaw Pacquiao has hurt just about every opponent he's faced in the last six years.
While Hatton can be described as having a very good chin, he has been shaken in many of his wins, not to mention his loss. Men like Luis Collazo, Juan Urango and Juan Lazcano may be bigger than Pacquiao, but they don't have his combination of speed and power.
Hatton figures to give Pacquiao much misery in the early going but it's extremely hard to see him fighting a disciplined fight for 12 full rounds without taking a lot of hard shots in return. Even if he can walk through Pacquiao's best shots, will his tender skin hold up and can he outland the Filipino to get the approval of the judges on the scorecards?
It's a tall order but just enough of a possibility to make the fight no sure thing.
But Pacquiao figures to emerge by late stoppage or decision in a gruelling, bloody fight.
Whichever way it goes, it's hard to see the bout being boring, which is a good thing considering it is taking place on the heels of the retirement of the sport's most bankable star, De La Hoya.
It's a fitting first big fight post-De La Hoya as increasingly the sport's best are from outside of North America. The fight's being held in the U.S. because that's where the money is, as a fight in England or the Philippines could easily attract over 50,000.
Mayweather Jr., meanwhile, is expected to make an announcement regarding his future this weekend, with the expectation he'll fight in late July.
Benoit Gaudet (20-1, 7 KOs) of Drummondville, Que., will get a chance to shine in the spotlight, as he'll take on Humberto Soto (47-7-2, 30 KOs) on the undercard of the big fight.
While Soto's record doesn't look too imposing, five of his losses came before his 22nd birthday and one of the others was a howlingly unjust disqualification that he later avenged. The Mexican is in the prime of his career and recently destroyed decent contender Antonio Davis.
I wish I could be really positive that the Quebec fighter will follow the successful examples of Lucian Bute and Adrian Diaconu, but this has the makings of the title tries in recent years of Sebastien Demers and Hercules Kyvelos - painfully one-sided.
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