It’s been touted as, “The Battle of East and West”, but this Saturday night, May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV I think you will be seeing a battle of speed vs strength as the Philippino sensation Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao takes on hard hitting Ricky Hatton in a junior welterweight title match. Fresh off the beatdown handed to the just recently retired Oscar De La Hoya, Pacman is now moving up in weight class yet again to further his reign as the best pound for pound fighter in the world. Below are the current betting odds on the fight as well as a breakdown of both fighters:
Junior Welterweight Title Fight
Ricky Hatton +195 (risk $100 to win $195)
Manny Pacquiao -255 (risk $255 to win $100)
My Pick: Pacman has made his name by beating up lightweight Mexicans…What? It’s true. Anyways, while I am not trying to take away anything he has accomplished you have to take a look at his past fights to get an idea of how this is going to go. He used his speed and technique to wear his opponents down and then go in for the kill in the later rounds. Very rarely does he knockout an opponent in early rounds because of the lack of power punching. It is not a bad thing, but if he continues to move up in weight class he better figure out a finishing combo because someone the likes of Ricky Hatton is not going to be wore down easily. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Pacman, hes fast, he has great technique, a great trainer in Freddy Roach and more importantly he is not one of these pre-madonnas that thinks the boxing world owes him one. I’m just not sure if he has enough in the tank to hurt a solid rock like Hatton. Some could say that Hatton is not very fast, but I think he is fast enough and there is no doubt that he hits hard enough. I think for Hatton it is going to be a very control style fight for him, he needs to get Pacman on the retreat and not allow him to dictate the tempo or he could find himself behind in rounds for the mere fact that Pacman is dancing around him. If Hatton can keep Manny disrupted and out of rythem then I think a few well placed hooks could buckle the knees of the Phillipino. I think that the line at -255 is waay too high and is probably going to scare away some action and with a hard hitter like Hatton there is certainly no value in it. At almost 2 to 1 on your money with Hatton it is much more attractive and I know what your thinking, if Hatton can’t catch him, how is he going to hit him? As with any hand to hand combat sport it only takes one well placed shot to drop even the toughest of fighters and I think the smart money should be on Hatton…
***Updated April 30th
The big day is almost here and finally the prop bets have been released. I almost swalloed my tongue when I saw some of these odds, its as if the bookies WANT to give money away. Check out some of these:
Manny Pacquiao wins by KO, TKO, or DQ +110
Manny Pacquiao wins by Decision +230
Ricky Hatton wins by KO, TKO, or DQ +320
Ricky Hatton wins by Decision +580
Analysis: Pacman by Decision is by far the safest bet on the board and at more than 2 to 1 on your money it is almost impossible not to get down on it. I have been talking to a few skeptics who seem to think that there is going to be a KO one way or the other, but I really don’t see it. GamblersPalace.com is also offering round by round prop betting on each fighter so if your feeling particulary Nostradamasy (not a word, but whatever) then you can get some fantastic value! Check them out by clicking here.
Click here for Live Pacquiao vs Hatton Betting Lines
Click here for Live Pacquiao vs Hatton Prop Betting
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