Ricky Hatton: Forget Pacquiao, Amir Khan can beat Mayweather

Ricky Hatton, with the sort of comic timing that punctuates his best stand-up routines, has singled out Amir Khan as one of few fighters capable of beating Floyd Mayweather, who might yet grant the Bolton boxer an audience if he gets past Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on May 2.

“I think Floyd would run a mile from Amir Khan,” Hatton said, “not from a fear factor, obviously, but styles make fights.

“Lately, Amir’s a lot more disciplined, boxing in and out, not getting involved. That style will cause Floyd massive problems. Someone who’s going to beat Floyd has to have fast hands, fast feet. He would give Floyd fits.

“But, when you’re the best, pound-for-pound, like Floyd Mayweather – and Amir’s as big a name as is out there, he’s beaten pretty much everyone – he might be forced to fight Amir Khan. He might be running out of opponents. I say this all the time, and everybody laughs at me: I think he’s got a good chance of beating him.”

And Hatton does not criticise Khan for rejecting £5 million to challenge Kell Brook for his IBF version of the welterweight title in a mega-fight at Wembley this summer, although he appreciates the obvious temptation.

“We’ll see what happens after this fight. Whoever wins is the best pound-for-pound, and Amir has never shied away from a challenge; he’ll want to challenge the best. Let’s not forget, you’re looking at the best payday of your life if you can get Manny or Floyd in there. If Kell was in that position, he’d probably do the same, really.

“They want to earn and they want to challenge the biggest names in boxing. But, if for some reason, a fight with Manny or Floyd doesn’t come off, that is the fight Amir should be looking at. That’s the biggest one out there.

“We saw what George Groves and Carl Froch did at Wembley, with 80,000 fans, you can’t tell me that Amir and Kell couldn’t do the same.”

Hatton is one of five fighters to have faced both Mayweather and Pacquiao, losing each time, so when he says the American will beat the Filipino, he speaks through experience more hard-earned than that of any professional critic.

The Mancunian was unbeaten, a two-weight world champion, when Mayweather knocked him out in the 10th round of their world welterweight title fight in December 2007. And he was pretty much spent at the highest level when Pacquiao flattened him so dramatically in the second round of their fight at the same weight in May 2009, a defeat that sent Hatton into a spiral of despair that brought him close to suicide. Nevertheless, he has fought hard to rebuild his life after boxing and was eloquent and incisive on the biggest fight in boxing probalby since Sugar Ray Leonard fought Marvin Hagler.

“Although I think Manny’s got the style to beat him, I’m still going to go with Mayweather,” Hatton said.

“He always finds a way to win. He’s a very, very clever fighter, Manny, but you’d have to say the cleverest fighter in boxing is Mayweather. He adapts his style against whatever opponent he faces. I think he’ll do the same to Manny. I can’t for the life of me think Freddie Roach has told [Manny] to jump all over him, because everyone’s tried that, me included, and everyone’s failed. It’s going to take someone of similar speed – which Pacquiao has got – and someone who’s got fast feet, able to get in and out.

“The one [opponent] he fought where he had to be the hunter, if you like, was Zab Judah [outpoined in 2006]. He struggled against him. I’d be inclined to choose my moment to have it out with him but generally box off the back foot, in and out, like Oscar De la Hoya [who pushed him close in 2007].

“Manny shuffles in and out very well, but he needs to throw a lot of punches because Floyd’s workrate is not massive. He chooses his moments, when to raise it, when to drop it. If Manny gets a high tempo but doesn’t jump down the pipe [early on], uses his in-and-out fast hands, straight punches, he has the style to beat him, no doubt. But if he tries to just sit on his chest and punch away like we’ve all done, I think that plays into Floyd’s hands.”

Hatton offers one caveat: Floyd’s trainer and father, Floyd Sr, who was in his camp when he lost to Pacquiao, one of the most disastrous campaigns by a British boxer in Las Vegas since Frank Bruno lost to Mike Tyson in 1995.

Floyd Sr, a world-class fighter in his day, did the British challenger no favours in that fight, and Hatton has not easily forgotten it.

“When I fought [left-handed] Pacquiao, [Floyd Sr] couldn’t do southpaw pads – so it’s interesting to see what they will be doing from that point of view. I think that is a massive, absolutely massive thing. Floyd Sr was a very good trainer, but for Pacquiao I definitely should have had someone who could do southpaw pads. I’m flabbergasted. That should have been a warning sign for me, and it wasn’t.”

Hatton agrees the build-up has been strangely low-key, given the extraordinary importance of the fight, and the hundreds of millions of dollars involved. And he’s not sure why.

“I thought the build-up would have been bigger than what it is. I don’t believe Manny’s been looking sensational in the gym, and Floyd’s not been doing that much bad-mouthing. Whether or not that’s because he’s nervous…

“He normally likes to get under people’s skin. He says he doesn’t need to bad-mouth [Pacquiao] because the fight sells itself, which is a very good point.

“But Floyd normally likes to do that, pissing opponents off, if the truth be known. Yet he’s not decided to do it. He could be nervous, it could be the respect he has for Manny; he’s taking it a little bit more seriously. I don’t know. I just don’t think anyone’s got the edge in the build-up. Having said that, they’ve both been in so many big super-fights, does there need to be any talking? They’ve seen it all before.”

And they might see it all again. Hatton agrees that if the fight is close, a rematch in September is the obvious next move, scuppering any thoughts Khan or anyone else might have of getting either of them in the ring before well into 2016, reports The Guardian.

“You won’t believe how many people have said to me it could be a draw – and they are very evenly matched. But it all depends on how good a fight it is.

“If it’s a fantastic fight, there’ll be massive amounts of money on the table to have the rematch. Floyd would love to ease into the fight and do what he does best. It could be a real anti-climax, to be honest with you.

“They both have so much respect for each other, it might be a bit of a cagey one.

“It all depends on what Manny Pacquiao’s tactics are. If he wants to go for it, then obviously it could be a great fight. I think Manny makes it an exciting fight, not necessarily Floyd. So, if it is a barnstormer, the clamour for a rematch will be massive.”

Except, maybe, from Amir Khan.