COMPUBOX FACTORS

Consensus pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao is a slightly more than 2-to-1 favorite to dethrone Ring Magazine junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Still, the styles suggest that boxing's first "event" of 2009 could also be a Fight of the Year contender. Several factors - both physical and numerical - will be at play.

by CompuBox

Consensus pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao is a slightly more than 2-to-1 favorite to dethrone Ring Magazine junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Still, the styles suggest that boxing's first "event" of 2009 could also be a Fight of the Year contender.Several factors - both physical and numerical - will be at play.

Weight: Like Paul Williams, Pacquiao is fighting his fourth consecutive bout in a different weight class while all but two of Hatton's 45 fights have taken place at 140 - where Hatton is unbeaten.

Recent Form: After beating Juan Manuel Marquez at 130, Pacquiao has been the embodiment of the "pound for pound" concept as he blew out David Diaz at 135 and Oscar de la Hoya at 147 without giving up speed or power. Pacquiao picked apart the much slower Diaz by out-landing him 230-90 overall and 180-59 in power punches. In the eighth round, Pacquiao out-connected Diaz 36-4 overall and 28-3 in power shots and in the ninth a final left cross put the badly bloodied Diaz face first on the mat.

The technical master class continued against a scrawny De La Hoya, who was actually one pound lighter (147 to 148) in the ring. Pacquiao dished out a brutal beating to the aged "Golden Boy," landing 224 of 585 overall to De La Hoya's 83 of 402, including a 149-30 connect edge in rounds four through eight. Pacquiao never fell below 50 percent accuracy in power shots (195 of 333 to De La Hoya's 51 of 164) and in the savage seventh he connected on a blistering 68 percent of them. The 45 connects in round seven were the most a De La Hoya opponent ever landed in a CompuBox-tracked fight. Because matters didn't improve in the eighth the bout was stopped between rounds.

Hatton is coming off an impressive 11th round dismantling of Paul Malignaggi at the MGM Grand this past November. He made "The Magic Man" disappear by doing three things. He hurt Malignaggi in the second, neutralized the New Yorker's jab (19 attempted jabs per round as opposed to 40.5 in the first Lovemore N'Dou fight) and wore him out with superior upper body strength and power punching (99 of 377 to 25 of 133). And Hatton did this while throwing around 50 punches per round as opposed to Pacquiao's bursts that often top 90.

Style issues: In recent years, taller counter-punchers with good jabs such as Marquez and Erik Morales have troubled Pacquiao. Since Hatton is neither he'll need to impose the "old" style while incorporating Floyd Mayweather Sr.'s defensive techniques while charging in.

Conversely, Luis Collazo - Hatton's last world-class southpaw opponent - puzzled Hatton and nearly had him out in the 12th while the speedy Floyd Mayweather Jr. scored an uncharacteristic one-punch KO. Pacquiao lacks Collazo's height and Mayweather's defense but he does have the lefty stance and the speed.

Prediction: Because Pacquiao is the better all-around fighter he will win by unanimous decision.