_74.jpg)
Former two division world champion Ricky Hatton is very familiar with the abilities of Manny Pacquiao.
Back in May of 2009, Pacquiao scored a brutal one-punch knockout of Hatton in two rounds.
More than a decade later and the 42-year-old Pacquiao is still competing at the highest level.
Back in 2019, Pacquiao dropped and decisioned unbeaten Keith Thurman to capture the WBA welterweight title.
Now after two years of inactivity, the eight division world champion will challenge WBC, IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence on August 21 in Las Vegas.
While most experts are backing Spence to win in impressive fashion – Hatton is not ruling out the possibility of a big upset by the Filipino superstar.
“Manny is absolutely incredible. Why he wants to be fighting on at 42 against Errol Spence Jr with everything he has achieved I’ll never know! When I met Manny Pacquaio, he seemed to be a very sensible person, very educated,” Hatton told metro.co.uk.
“He’s a very clever person. Traditionally boxers don’t know when to call it a day. They don’t know when to pick the right time to hang their gloves up but you would like to think he is clever enough to do that and the fact that he is accepting this fight only means he must feel he is still capable of mixing it up at that level.
“The one thing is, he is absolutely going to go down as one of the greatest of all time but we don’t want to see him get hurt. But you have got to put faith in him and the team behind him and assume they are clever enough to know what they are doing.
“Compared to Keith Thurman who Pacquiao beat in 2019, Spence is a little bit sharper, a little bit crisper in what he does. You would think that the reflexes might be starting to go a bit on Manny Pacquiao. But every now and again you get the odd freak. Bernard Hopkins went onto become a world champion at 48!
“We can’t point out Manny Pacquiao’s age and say he can’t do it. We always worry about these things happening because no one likes to see fighters who we have so much admiration for go in there and get hurt. But if you are still performing at the highest level then why not? But he will certainly have to raise his game again against Spence, he is a hell of a fighter.”