Manny Pacquiao's Top 5 Greatest Fights: The Hatton Fight

Top 5 of nManny's ai-great matches Pacquiao: The battle with Hatton

The Battle of East and West with Ricky Hatton

Manny Pacquiao is celebrated as one of the most successful boxers of the current century. The Philippine-born competitor is known for his uncompromising victories and is even considered by some to be one of the greatest of all time. His fights are some of the most memorable in his category, and the unconventional boxer from Asia also impresses with his reverse guard, which makes it difficult for many of his opponents. In five parts, we'll look back at the most important and standout bouts that made him one of the biggest names in boxing, even though 'PacMan', as he's nicknamed, isn't a heavyweight boxer.

The first fight, which we put at number five, is called "The Battle of East and West" and pits Pacquiao against the British competitor Ricky Hatton. With 45 wins and just 1 loss in his career, Hatton is set to defend the IBO welterweight title as well as the Ring magazine light welterweight belt against the Ring world number one and 4 world champion titles in various divisions. The match is on neutral ground, namely in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States and takes place on May 2, 2009. According to statistics, 1,750,000 subscribers paid to watch the match on television using the "Pay per view" system. The match is awaited with great interest and definitely did not disappoint.

Already during the negotiations for the money from television rights, there was a misunderstanding between the two. After his victory over Oscar De La Oya, Pacquiao wanted a slightly larger share of the amount the two boxers initially agreed to split, and ended up securing $12 million to the Brit's $11.

On match day, the Las Vegas venue holds just over 16,000 in the stands, a large number supporting defending champions Hatton. With the first gong, however, Pacquiao delivered three quick straights to the head of his opponent. Shortly after, the Manchester-born boxer was down after a powerful right hook, still only two minutes into the bout. The champion gets to his feet just after the referee has counted to 8, but another knockdown follows, this time with just 9 seconds left in the first round. This time the boxer from the Philippines lands an excellent combination, ending with a beautiful left hook.

In the second round, Pacquiao lands two quick rights followed by a left, right, left combination and Hatton is badly shaken again. It's only a matter of time before the match ends with knockout number 37 in PacMan's career. In the middle part, Hatton tries to clinch, and the challenger waits patiently for his moment. It comes a second before the three minute mark when a left hook takes the Brit down for another and final time. Replays showed Hatton knocked unconscious before he hit the ground, and after the match, referee Kenny Bayless said it was clear to him that he wouldn't even have to count. It even took a few minutes for Hatton to stand up, after which he was taken to hospital and had a brain scan.

Through just two rounds, Pacquiao has landed 73 of his 127 attempts, including 65 considered extremely powerful, while Hatton has managed to land just 18 of his 78 attempts in the opponent's head, of which only two hooks are relatively threatening.

With another impressive victory, Manny Pacquiao became only the second, after Oscar De La Oya, to win six world titles in six different divisions. He will later set a real record, but we will tell you about him in our next articles about the top five matches of the Filipino.