Don't play into Hatton's hands, Pacquiao told

HOLLYWOOD – There’s only one way Manny Pacquiao could lose this fight, and Bob Arum, the master promoter, knows how.

“I’m not saying he would lose but he could lose,” said the chief of Top Rank Promotions, who went on to say how Pacquiao, boxing’s pound-for-pound champion, could end up as boxing’s ex-pound-for-pound champion.

“What is Manny’s strength? Speed. So if he fights the fight capitalizing on his strength there’s no way that Hatton can beat him,” said Arum.

“However, if he does what the other elite fighters do, like Sugar Ray Leonard when he fought (Roberto) Duran,” said Arum as he recalled the 1980 showdown between the two legends at the Olympic Stadium in Quebec, Canada.

Leonard, the faster one, fought Duran’s fight and lost a 15-round unanimous decision. Learning from his mistakes, Leonard went on to beat Duran twice in the next few years.

“It’s like if Pacquiao says that Ricky Hatton is stronger than him so he’ll show him that he’s stronger. And he gets into that kind of a fight then that’s a fight he could lose,” Arum said.

But Arum said Pacquiao and his chief trainer, Freddie Roach, won’t fall into that trap.

“I think Manny is very very clever in the ring,” the promoter of even greater fights than this one coming up in Las Vegas added. – Abac Cordero

Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=461938&publicationSubCategoryId=69

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