Pacquiao vs. Hatton: Of fighters and swine flu

By Jeff Haney

Friday, May 1, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The promotion for Saturday’s junior welterweight fight between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton took a turn for the kinder and gentler Thursday as the biggest bout of the year to date drew closer.

Various fighters on the deep undercard were hailed by promoters and managers as the hottest prospects in boxing at a news conference at the MGM Grand.

Rival trainers Freddie Roach and Floyd Mayweather Sr., who have been at each other’s throats practically since the fight was announced, each made a valiant effort to compliment the opposing camp.

The most heated words of the day, in fact, came from Bernard Hopkins, in a vicious diatribe against ... pigs.

Hopkins also railed against certain people he described as human parasites, though he did not specifically name anyone in or out of boxing.

Hopkins, who has a stake in Saturday’s fight at the Grand Garden Arena as a partner in Golden Boy Promotions, dismissed any concerns that swine flu, or the H1N1 virus, would affect travelers’ plans to come to Las Vegas for the bout. Both Hatton, of England, and Pacquiao, of the Philippines, have huge international followings.

“People are going to come,” Hopkins said. “They’re going to come no matter what. One thing I’ve learned about human beings is that it’s really hard to discourage someone from doing something that they really want to do. And they really want to come.”

In true Hopkins form, he seized the opportunity to riff on subjects as disparate as the cultural differences in how animals are viewed and the perils of the business side of boxing.

“Swine flu. I know they say it don’t come from the animal, it comes from its surroundings,” Hopkins, a Muslim since the age of 8, said. “But that stuff has always been bad. A pig is poison. I don’t need a flu to tell me that. How can you eat something that eats garbage?”

Someone produced a cell phone photo of a little kid kissing a pig, which further set Hopkins off.

“Black folks, we won’t even kiss our dogs,” Hopkins said. “Y’all will. White folks will let a pig kiss them. It’s a difference in the culture.

“I was at a coffee shop two days ago and a dog came in. Right away, everybody’s coming up to it. ‘Oh, hello, dog!’ I saw two ladies come up to it to try to kiss it. I didn’t see one black person doing that.”

Hopkins, who had an acrimonious and litigious relationship with promoters for much of his career, compared unsavory business characters unfavorably with swine flu.

“My thing is, you got more of a chance of a human being hurting you than catching a flu,” he said. “A lot of germs are on two feet. People can be a germ. I built an immune system for (malarkey), so when (malarkey) comes along I don’t get caught up in it.

“I’m not just talking about boxing people. What about the people outside boxing with an agenda? What about people who say, ‘Bernard, I need $1 million for this business?’ ” They’re a germ. You have to have quick wit, you have to be on your toes, never sleep, and you have to be educated so that you can detect (malarkey) when it’s coming.”

Speaking of which, Mayweather Sr. insisted he has wrapped up a victory in his celebrated battle of wits with Roach. Oh, and those insults he has repeatedly lobbed at Roach? Nothing personal.

“Everybody thinks I’m mad at Freddie,” Mayweather said. “I’m not mad at Freddie. I hugged Freddie. I couldn’t possibly get mad at Freddie. I’m having fun with it.

“I’m doing the right things to get into his head, don’t get me wrong. I know I’m in his head.”

Roach, not surprisingly, did not see it quite the same way.

“I don’t really worry about Floyd that much,” he said. “I try not to think about him. I don’t think he’s the right guy for Ricky’s style, but that doesn’t mean I’m right.”

Although Roach has predicted an early knockout by Pacquiao, he said he considers Hatton a worthy, even formidable, opponent for boxing’s unofficial pound-for-pound champ.

“Hatton’s a world-class fighter, there’s no doubt about it,” Roach said. “He’s a multi-time world champion. He has some good wins. He beat Kostya Tszyu in I think his best fight to date, but that was a long time ago. He beat (Luis) Collazo.

“He has his country behind him, he’s proud, he’s a brave guy, he believes in himself. He has all the attitude a champion is supposed to have.

“I have a lot of confidence in my fighter, but I never said it’s going to be an easy fight. Do I think Manny is going to knock him out? Yes. But up until that point it’s going to be a fight.”