By Roy Luarca
Philippine Daily Inquirer
IT WAS SHORT, SWIFT AND MERCILESS, and the end surprised Manny Pacquiao as much as it stunned Ricky Hatton into oblivion.
Finding the opening he had been looking for, Pacquiao threw a thunderous left hook from hell that found Hatton’s jaw with nine seconds left in the second round, sending the Briton flat on his back for several minutes, unconscious.
In just five minutes and 59 seconds, “The Battle of East and West†on Saturday night (Sunday in Manila) was over.
Referee Kenny Bayless did not even bother to count as Pacquiao enhanced his best pound-for-pound-fighter reputation while wresting Hatton’s International Boxing Organization’s light welterweight crown.
Aside from clinching his fifth world title in as many divisions, Pacquiao enshrined himself as the only boxer who fought in four weight classes in four successive fights and won them all.
Pacquiao took away Juan Manuel Marquez’s World Boxing Council 130-pound title, snatched David Diaz’s 135-pound crown, and then stopped Oscar De La Hoya in a 147-pound nontitle duel last year.
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