Manny Pacquiao insists his best night time as an expert got here towards Ricky Hatton.
The pair squared off again in 2009 in a lineal tremendous light-weight title battle billed as ‘The Battle of East and West’.
Hatton travelled over to Las Vegas along with his military of followers stuffed with the idea that he would spring an upset on boxing’s lone eight-weight world champion.
Nonetheless, he proved no match for Pacquiao, who flattened the Mancunian with a dynamite left hand within the second stanza.
Pacquiao had barely damaged a sweat by the point the clubbing blow landed, and it is for that reason that the Filipino icon remembers it as his most easy battle.
“Best battle? Hatton,” stated Pacquiao when the query was posed to him by boxing broadcaster Dan Canobbio.
“Earlier than the battle, we knew it was going to occur like that.
“I studied time and again day by day.”
Whereas Pacquiao appears to be like again on the battle with pleasure, Hatton does not have a lot reminiscence of the competition in any respect.
‘The Hitman’ informed talkSPORT.com earlier this 12 months that though he does not keep in mind the punch touchdown, it was undoubtedly the toughest he had ever been hit.
“After I fought Manny Pacquiao, I used to be somewhat bit previous my sell-by date,” he stated.
“Pacquiao was knocking everybody out on the time. It was a really brutal KO, so I would most likely say that one [is the hardest punch] regardless that I wasn’t at my finest.
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“The factor is with that Pacquiao punch, I used to be utterly out chilly. So you may’t, in some ways, even actually keep in mind it.
“I’ve had a couple of fights the place I’ve needed to again myself up and chew down and get by way of it.
“However the Pacquiao KO was one of the devastating fights in historical past, so I would need to say that one.”
Quick ahead to 2025, and each boxers, now deep into their forties, are on the verge of respective comebacks.
Pacquiao is about to field Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight title on Saturday night time as he bids to turn out to be the second-oldest world champion in boxing historical past at 46.
In the meantime, Hatton is scheduled to sq. off towards 8-3 professional Eisa Al Dah in Dubai on December 2.
He will likely be 47 by the point he steps between the ropes.