HATTON/MALIGNAGGI PREDICTION
Last December when Ricky Hatton battled Floyd Mayweather Jr., Hatton had his way with the clever Mayweather for the first 5 to 6 rounds. In those first rounds, Hatton found Mayweather quite easy on fast lower body movement and on pure aggression. It wasn’t until about the sixth round or so that Hatton became frustrated with not being allowed to fight on the inside by Joe Cortez, once reality kicked in that Cortez was not going to have Hatton mug Mayweather. It was then and there that Hatton was forced to fight from a further distance thus forcing himself to throw wider shots which resulted in Mayweather being able to now land straight rights at will.
Clearly against Mayweather, Hatton had no plan b. However, now with Mayweather Sr. in Hatton’s corner that may now have changed. Tonight we shall see just how much Hatton was able to take in from Mayweather Sr, and also if Hatton is able to apply what he has just learned when he faces Paulie Malignaggi. Paulie is a slick fast moving boxer with very rapid footwork, the only flaw in Paulie is that he has no pop in his punches. Paulie, however has probably the best left jab in the biz and when his left jab is on point you will be peppered with it all night long. I feel that if Hatton is allowed to fight his fight on the inside and bang the body to slow down the legs of Paulie, well then Paulie will have alot of soul searching to do.
With Paulie’s slick style however, can Hatton find his body enough to slow him down? My guess is NO. I feel that Paulie will stick his lovely left jab in Hatton’s grill all night and Paulie’s footwork will allow him to pick his spots. Paulie is the type of fighter that will always trouble Hatton. Before this fight the toughest fights for Hatton were against Luis Collazo and Money May, 2 slick fast fighters like Paulie that can make you change your gameplan.
Only way I see Hatton stopping Paulie is if Paulie hurts his hand or hands. If Paulie does hurt his hands, then one could see the British Bulldog knocking out Paulie, and if and when Oscar knocks out Pacquiao in 2 weeks, Watch out!!! De La Hoya/Hatton will be in full swing. In my opinion I am willing to bet that in fighting Paulie the ghosts of Collazo and Money May will re-surface and make Hatton fight 2 fights, the one in the ring and the one in his head. I am predicting that Paulie Malignaggi will get the close call in this one.
MALIGNAGGI BY SD!