Absolutely Ready: HBO's Harold Lederman remembers the electricity of Pacquiao-Hatton

Pacquiao vs.Hatton (Photo: AP)

During his time as an official and ‘unofficial’ judge in the world of boxing, Harold Lederman has gotten to experience quite the ride. From traveling the world over, meeting people from all walks of life, and staying connected to the sport he loves most, Lederman has gotten to take in a wide array of situations that would have normally never presented themselves if it wasn’t for his profession.
 

As HBO’s ‘unofficial ringside scorer’, Lederman has been present for some of the sport’s biggest events in recent years and reads like an open book when talking about his life and times with HBO Sports. One thing Lederman has always reflected on with great fondness is all of the places he has gotten to travel and all of the venues he has gotten to enter as a judge. When talking particularly about all of the settings that he has been a part of, Lederman can go on for days but he recently opened up to me about one fight in particular that stood out in his mind.
 

On May 2nd of this year Lederman was ringside as Manny Pacquiao locked horns with former champion Ricky Hatton at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and he can’t recall a more dynamic atmosphere. Packed full of British fans who flew overseas to support Hatton, Pacquiao faithful, as well as the typical Vegas mix of people, Lederman says that aura in the building was unlike anything he’d experienced. 
 

As Pacquiao is getting ready to face off with Miguel Cotto this November 14th, Lederman took some time to reflect back on one of the Filipino’s finer performances in the ring. In his own words this is what Harold Lederman remembers best about everything concerning Pacquiao-Hatton, from the fans, the atmosphere, and the aftermath as well…

Loving Ricky Hatton…
“What stood out to me about Ricky Hatton up until that point was his unbelievable upset over a guy who I didn’t think he was going to get beat, Kostya Tszyu. Ricky had been a very good fighter up until the Pacquiao fight. He’s the kind of guy who was very strong at 140 pounds and very aggressive. He was always very fan-friendly. People seemed to just love the way he fought and loved his lifestyle. He always made good fights. The only time when he didn’t have a great performance was when he fought Floyd Mayweather and Pacquiao. But I just loved Ricky Hatton’s big heart and aggressive style. Ricky made for good television and he just came to fight. There was nothing dull about the guy, from his fights to his personality, and that’s why he was able to fill up arenas all the time in Manchester.”

The Hatton Following…
“What stood out to me about all of the pre fight activities was the Ricky Hatton crowd. I could have swore I would have gone crazy if I had to listen to that ‘There’s only one Ricky Hatton’ song any more times. He had at least 10,000 fans fly over for that fight and they created a completely different atmosphere. I felt that half of the United Kingdom was in Las Vegas. They were also having a really good time when they were there and it’s just amazing the kind of following that he has. It’s not a cheap trip going from the UK to Vegas, especially when you consider food expenses, hotel, and a ticket to the fight. Yet at the same time these people weren’t wealthy people, they were just working people who came over to show their support. It’s really incredible. Pacquiao has a great following too but I have a feeling that a lot of his fans are from the United States.”

An Electric Atmosphere…
“I always get to the arena before most of the fans get their. I try to get their very early because I love watching the preliminary fights. I’m always in the arena before the first fight starts. I was there before the first fight and I got to see all the Hatton fans fill the arena. Ricky has an interesting habit of having his brother fight on all of his undercards and maybe that added to the crowd’s interest. His fans started coming in early and there was just an electric atmosphere all the way up until the main event. Most of these boxing matches creates just a very electric atmosphere. Maybe it’s because people have money bet on the fight or for whatever reasons but the fans just really react to a boxing event. Big fights like Pacquiao-Hatton draw a lot of interest from everybody and you’ll often see a lot of celebrities at the events. It’s just something that you want to be a part of.”

Absolutely Ready…
“I thought Ricky Hatton was going to give him a much better fight than he did. There were a lot of people who felt that Ricky Hatton’s aggression was going to be enough to overcome Manny Pacquiao but boy were they wrong about that. It was just over quickly and to tell you the truth it was over by the first round, not the second. Ricky just seemed to walk into a lot of great shots. Manny was very sharp that night and it was like he couldn’t miss a punch. It was amazing how absolutely ready he was for that fight. It was tremendous tribute to Freddie Roach that he was able to get Manny prepared in the way that he did. They seemed to know everything to expect in that fight. It’s not that Ricky Hatton fought a bad fight but Manny was just so good. It just goes to show you how good Manny Pacquiao was when he’s at the top of his game. It was a very one-sided fight. Ricky tried to rush in and do what he usually does but I don’t think he was doing much damage to Manny at all. It’s almost as if he was setting up Hatton for the second round. Once he landed that straight left hand it was all over.”

Taking Everything in Stride…
“After the fight Hatton was sent to the hospital so he never made it to the post fight press conference. Manny didn’t have too much to say at the press conference because he’s just a humble guy. Manny is just Manny. He’s soft spoken and he still has a little bit of a problem with the English language so he’s never going to be a type of fighter to ramble on or call any other fighters out. He doesn’t rant or rave. He just seemed to take everything in stride and he was all smiles. He’s a terrific guy to be around and of course he was even more so after the Hatton fight.”
 

Chris Robinson is a freelance journalist based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He tries to remain objective as possible in all of his articles, putting any personal agendas or bias off to the side. He can be reached at AceFreitas2001@yahoo.com and www.FaceBook.com/CRHarmony. More of his articles can also be found below...

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