As the countdown for the much awaited Pacquiao-Hatton bout nears, many people especially Filifinos still doesn’t have any clue about this Ricky Hatton. Some of them have not heard of him until the time it was announced that he will be the next opponent of the Pac Man. What are his achievements or is he dangerous for Manny?

Ricky Hatton also known as the “The Hit Man” is a two-time IBF and IBO Light welterweight champion. A former WBA Welterweight Champion. Hatton is also the former WBU, WBA Light Welterweight Champion and WBC, WBA, WBO Inter-Continental Light Welterweight Champion, and current Ring Magazine Junior Welterweight Champion. He had a professional record of 45 wins of which 32 is by KO and a loss ( by Floyd Mayweather). He is also undefeated in Light Welterweight (the weight which pacquiao will fight him). He was widely regarded as one the greatest boxer ever produced by Britain. Hatton is also one of the most popular British athlete ever, having a very huge fan base.

He entered his professional carreer in September 1997 againts Colin McAuley where he won the bout by a first round knockout. He then went on to win his next 38 bouts and coming out undefeated. But it was his win againts Kostya Tszyu, then widely regarded as one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the world that gave him the recognition and attention and being heralded as one of boxing’s elite. Before the fight, the majority of boxing critics had given Hatton little or no chance and this victory was referred as one of the best victories by an English boxer in the last 2 decades. On November 2005 he defeated Carlos Maussa and by the year end, he was named the 2005 Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year.

Hatton moved up weight to Welterweight where he relinquished his light welterweight crown in the process. He defeated Luis Collazo in a tough fight that send Collazo to the canvass in the early seconds of the first round but continue to be a hard fought battle for the remaining rounds. He then went back to Light Welterweight to fight Juan Urango to take the unified IBF and IBO Light welterweight belts. Hatton is also the first man to send Jose Luis Castillo, a fighter who nearly defeated Floyd Mayweather, to the canvass during their bout on June 23 2007.

Then on December 8 2007, he agreed for a welterweight fight againts the then pound for pound king and undefeated Floyd Mayweather. It was considered the best welterweight event since the De la Hoya- Trinidad match of 1998. The event was dubbed the “Undefeated” since they are both undefeated coming to the fight. It was the highest PPV in history reaching more than 2.4 million buys and breaking existing records in the process. Hatton was defeated by an 10th round KO.

After the loss he return to the ring and went down to Light Welterweight again defeating Juan Lazcano on May 24 2008 and then Paulie Malignaggi on Nov 22 2008 for the IBO Light Welterweight title and Ring Magazine Light welterweight title.

Now the question is..Is Ricky Hatton ready for Manny Pacquiao? or maybe the real question is .. Is Manny Pacquiao ready for Ricky Hatton?