LAS VEGAS — At the end of the day, it wasn’t that Floyd Mayweather Jr. failed to do what it appeared he’d done earlier Saturday, which was steal the thunder from the first big pay-per-view boxing event of the year by announcing his much-rumored return to the ring from a 17-month respite. Mayweather’s Saturday afternoon press conference did, indeed, overshadow the junior-welterweight championship bout scheduled Saturday night between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton.
But something transpired Saturday evening that even Mayweather couldn’t have anticipated. Pacquiao snatched back everyone’s attention, stealing back his own thunder, with a second-round knockout of Hatton that was so devastating it left some observers temporarily in fear for Hatton’s well-being. It was nothing sort of Tyson-esque
Pacquiao landed a perfect left hook on Hatton’s chin just before the bell sounded. It turned off Hatton’s senses and left him lying on his back as if about to be wheeled away on a gurney. It was several minutes before he was revived and brought to his feet. He was later whisked to a hospital for examination.
“I told Ricky don’t get discouraged by this because there’s nobody out there who can beat this little Filipino,” Bob Arum boasted when it was all over. “Oscar de la Hoya on his best night couldn’t beat Manny Pacquiao.”
It wasn’t just Pacquiao’s final punch, however, that made everyone take notice. It was his utter domination of Hatton in the five minutes and 59 seconds that Hatton lasted with him between the ropes.
Hatton never had a chance. Hatton didn’t even look like he belonged. He looked like the glorified club fighter some boxing lifers suggested he was all along.
If it wasn’t for the record of 45-1 with 32 KOs that Hatton brought into the ring, Pacquiao would stand to be criticized after this spectacle for having taken on a bum of the month. That is how completely he dismantled Hatton.
“Manny makes me look good,” Freddie Roach said. “I’m the best trainer in the world because I have the best fighter in the world. He listens. He’s getting better all the time. Anybody in the world, he can beat them all.”
Hatton tried to bully the smaller Pacquiao when the fight started, and it didn’t work. He tried to trade punches with Pacquiao, and it didn’t work. He came forward and got knocked back and got knocked down, twice in the first round. He was out of options by the second round. Pacquiao’s KO punch was a humanitarian gesture. It spared Hatton further damage in a third round.
Hatton couldn’t throw a punch without being hit, which was something his trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., said he tried to teach Hatton to do. If Pacquiao made Roach look like the best trainer in the world, Hatton did the opposite for Mayweather.
There hasn’t been such a lopsided championship fight between two highly regarded champions in many a year.
“I hope you enjoyed the show,” Pacquiao told the media and his fans afterward, looking as fresh as when he entered the ring.
“Nothing personal,” he said of his vanquished opponent.
The undisputed best pound-for-pound fighter in the world then said he was headed to a club for an evening of singing.
I’m more interested in the song Mayweather will sing now in the wake of the human tsunami’s latest leveling of humankind. Anything short of accepting the challenge put down by Pacquiao on Saturday night will be a sour note.
Pacquiao left Mayweather without excuse. Mayweather can’t say there is a bigger money fight for him as he said when so many wanted to see him fight Antonio Margarito. There isn’t. Oscar de la Hoya reiterated to me on Saturday at Mayweather’s press conference that he has no desire to resume his career between the ropes.
Mayweather can’t say there is some other title he’d rather pursue because the 140s is where all the credibility is at. De La Hoya compared the 140s now to its last heyday back in the ’80s when Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns were all trading leather, wins, losses and knockouts.
The bottom line is that Mayweather, who announced Saturday that he would return to the ring July 18 against Juan Manuel Marquez, needs to make a date with Pacquiao. Before Pacquiao destroyed Hatton, I would have suggested September as a perfect date. With Hatton being examined in a hospital, I’d understand if Mayweather wanted to get another fight under his belt and hold off till November. Any later and I’ll start to wonder.
Pacquiao isn’t ready to rest.
“If [Miguel] Cotto wants to come down a few pounds, we can make that happen,” Roach declared. “If Shane Mosley wants to come down, we can make that happen.”
Mosley was seated a few chairs away on the stage in the pressroom when Roach invited his participation. Mosley didn’t flinch but he didn’t jump to sign a contract, either.
“I can fight anybody,” Pacquiao assured.
He was being modest. Pacquiao can beat anyone. We can only hope Mayweather steps up to prove him wrong or steal back the thunder that was once his.
