BOXING: HATTON TO PUT ON A HURTING?
Britain’s Ricky Hatton returns to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday night, and he’s got a major test on his hands with brash American Paul Malignaggi.
Hatton’s (44-1, 31 KO’s) only loss in his professional career came against Floyd Mayweather Jr. last December in Vegas and ‘The Hitman’ would like to erase the bad memories with a win over the underrated Malignaggi (25-1, 5 KO’s).
The 30 year-old Hatton is a -280 favorite at Sportsbook.com, but the 27 year-old Malignaggi provides a lot of value at +220 for this light welterweight title fight.
The Over/Under in rounds is 11.5 as the American possesses very little knockout power and Hatton only has one knockout in his last five fights.
Hatton’s last fight was a lackluster 12-round decision over Juan Lazcano in May. He has since switched over to a new trainer for this fight, Floyd Mayweather Sr, the father of the only man to beat him.
Mayweather Sr. doesn’t want Hatton to abandon his come-forward style but he wants him to move his head more when he comes in and set up his attacks better.
“I’m going to be jumping all over Paulie but I’m going to be doing it in a manner where I’ll be setting up my attacks, jabbing as I go in, changing the angles, combinations to set up my body shots and my big punching” Hatton said.
Malignaggi has the big quickness and hand speed advantage in this fight and he’ll make Hatton pay if he charges in at the wrong time, but the lack of a knockout punch to truly make Hatton pay in the biggest reason why Hatton is the solid favorite.
Backers of Malignaggi will point towards his fight against the physical Miguel Cotto as a reason for optimism. Cotto won the 2006 fight by a unanimous decision, but it went all 12 rounds and it showed that Malignaggi was not afraid to mix it up and he could go the distance with a top-notch fighter.
For Malignaggi, he’s ready for the bright lights of Vegas and he’s not intimidated by his higher profile opponent.
“If he comes out trying to box me he’s going to look stupid,” he said. “His best bet is to come out and try to take it to me and not give me time to breathe. That’s his best bet. But whatever happens, I’m going to be ready for it.”
This fight means a lot to Hatton going forward as a win might mean a showdown with the Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya winner on December 6th. That would be a very interesting fight and a giant payday for the British boxer.
