By Leo Reyes.
Ricky Hatton of England will most likely face Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines in a boxing match that is destined to become one of the most popular boxing event of 2009.
The much talked-about Pacquiao-Hatton match “has been virtually green lighted” according to Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, a company owned by Oscar de la Hoya that handles the promotional fights of Ricky Hatton.
“My guy is on board” said Bob Arum of Top Rank who is promoting the Pacquiao fights. I think Ricky is on board and I am very upbeat”, Steve Kim of Seconds Out.com said the match is a “done deal”
The fight will most likely take place at the Thomas and Mack Center of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on May 2, 2009 according to a report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer. But nothing has been finalized on the venue.
Recently the camp of Floyd Mayweather announced that Floyd is interested to fight Pacquiao and said that he may come out of retirement and make himself available for the match up.
At this point, it seems that the camp of Mayweather is waiting for the Pacquaio-Hatton negotiation to bog down in order to give momentum to a possible Pacquiao-Mayweather match-up.
If the momentum continues in favor of Pacquiao-Hatton match, Mayweather will just have to wait for a possible match with Pacquiao towards the end of 2009. If Pacquiao wins over Hatton, the Mayweather-Pacquiao match will certainly become the biggest boxing event of 2009.
Manny Pacquiao is the reigning WBC Lightweight Champion. He became very popular all over the world for his sensational victory over the world-famous boxer Oscar de la Hoya.
In that recent fight which was staged at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas last December 6, 2008, Pacquiao was the underdog and many boxing fans from all over the world called it a “mismatch” because of Oscar de la Hoya’s superior physical advantage over the much smaller Pacquiao. I turned out that it was indeed a mismatch but it was Pacquiao who appeared superior by knocking out de la Hoya in the eighth round.
Like Manny Pacquiao, Hatton is also a popular boxer from England. He is currently the IBO Junior Welterweight Champion. He was undefeated in his professional boxing career until Floyd Mayweather beat him to submission in the 10th round of their most recent fight. Hatton made an impressive come back by beating Paul Malignaggi last month in Las Vegas.
