Making bold predictions is risky.
Last week I predicted "Hatton in an upset win over Pacquaio." One time, ESPN's fantasy football guru, Matthew Berry, told the world to bench Adrian Peterson against the Chargers because of the Chargers' stiff rushing defense. Peterson went on to rush for an NFL record 296 yards and 3 touchdowns. Aside from that, my Hatton prediction may have been the worst prediction ever. Rarely has a fight between two great fighters been so utterly lopsided. Pacquaio-Hatton was a 140 lb version of Tyson -Spinks.
A couple of thoughts. First, TWO was actually in Las Vegas for the fight. Was TWO at the glitzy MGM Grand watching in person? Absolutely not. TWO was at Treasure Island's somewhat bushleague theater watching on closed circuit with 1,000 screaming, flag-waving Philipinos. Thats how I roll. TWO is a man of the people. Anyway, the night before the fight, while sauntering through the Bellagio, TWO met and spoke with Bert Sugar, arguably the world's most famous boxing columnist. Interestingly, Bert Sugar held the same opinion as TWO that the betting odds against Hatton (paying about +220, Pacquaio was -300) were off, that the fight would be much closer than most anticipated and that Hatton was a much better bet based on the odds. While that shows that TWO has his finger on the pulse of the boxing intelligentsia, it does little to mitigate the overall result of the fight. In addition to being a man of great physical strength, TWO is also a man of great integrity, and will admit that he was wrong.
Second, never has the result of a sporting event stirred such sympathy in TWO for a losing party than this fight. Perhaps it is because Hatton is such a great champion, or because he is such a likeable figure, or perhaps it is because of the fan loyalty and the party atmosphere that had heretofore followed him through 45 wins and just one loss (to the world's best fighter at the time)... but the way he was beaten was so thorough, so quick and so complete that I felt quite sad for him. Being punished and eventually knocked unconscious for five minutes in front of your fiance, parents, thousands of devoted fans and millions of viewers had to be totally humiliating for someone of Hatton's pride. To be clear, TWO is not saying that Hatton SHOULD feel humiliated (losing to two fighters both considered the pound for pound best in the world at the time is nothing to be ashamed of), but you know that Hatton is beside himself over the result of the fight.
In conclusion, TWO is a risk taker.
