Why Pacquiao Won

My passion for sports, especially on basketball and boxing has always directed me to pursue the profession of a sports analyst. Since this fight will probably go down as one of the most memorable matches ever (and also one of the most devastating one-punch knockouts) witnessed in boxing history, I think I'd like to give my frustrated sports analyst career a shot. Now, I am just a boxing fan and I am definitely not a boxing expert but let me try to list down some of the reasons, in my own opinion, why Pacquiao won the fight.

1) The Hitman underestimated Pacquiao—and he paid for it, dearly. Notice the defensive stance of Hatton as soon as the bell sounded for the first round. Usually boxers place their fists up to the same level of the chin as protection from punches directed to the jaw. Hatton's fists are positioned at a noticeably lower level than his chin. For the few instances his fists are on chin level, they aren’t close enough to the face to protect the head. Hatton’s lack of respect for Pacquiao’s power would continue on to the next (and last) round even after absorbing Manny’s punches in the first round. This implies, to me at least, that either he is a boxing amateur (which is definitely not the case) or he is overconfident to the extent of letting his guard down and think that he can outpunch Pacquiao with little or no defense at all. We can easily call it the latter. This overconfidence led to his early naptime on the canvass in the 2nd round.

2) Pacquiao’s defense on Hatton’s signature clinching and body shots. Manny, before his prime was known for his all-out head-on offense, not so now. Aside from keeping his fists up at a defensive level at most times, he was able to find a solution to Hatton’s clinching and trademark body punches. When Hatton tries to clinch, you would see Manny trying to go under the right arm of the opponent. This position makes it harder for Hatton to use his right hand for close punching; and since we know that his right hand is much more powerful than his left (as usual for any Orthodox-stanced boxer) , there is little damage that his left hand can do. Besides, most of the time his left arm is too busy clinching Pacman. If Manny fails however to go under Hatton’s right arm upon clinching, you would notice Pacquiao effectively protects both his body and head with his left arm. All Hatton can do about this is punch Manny at the back of the head, which doesn’t really inflict much damage, especially for someone like Pacquiao.

3) The power of Manny’s right hand—credit this one to Freddie Roach. For Southpaw boxers (lefty), few are able to develop a strong right hand as well as Pacquiao. You might have heard the bout commentators of how Pacquiao’s coach Freddie Roach focused on improving Manny’s power on his right hand. The result was literally a smashing success. This was evident on the first round where Pacquiao landed a right hook that sent Hatton on his knees. It wasn’t just the power but also the accuracy of his right hand. Most of his connections as you may have observed, came from Pacman’s right hooks.

4) The Pacman’s left-handed power punch. You know what I’m talking about.

I was expecting a 5th round KO win by Pacman, he finished it in two. Six world titles in six different divisions, how’s that for a resume? Gear up Floyd, you’re next.