And Now, Pacquiao vs. Mayweather?

Ordinarily fans moan about a big buildup to a fight followed by a quick knockout. Yet no one was complaining on Saturday night about Manny "Pac Man" Pacquiao's second-round stoppage of Ricky "The Hit Man" Hatton.

Boxing enthusiasts appreciate the fact that, in Manny Pacquiao, a fistic supernova has been born, a star who, like Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and Oscar De La Hoya, will be able to command the interest of crossover sports buffs.

The bout, which was accurately promoted as a battle for the title of pound-for-pound best, resembled a World Cup soccer match. An army of 15,000 Brits, many without fight tickets, made the trip to Las Vegas to support their hero, and there were thousands of Filipinos draped in flags and wearing Pac Man T-shirts.

After three national anthems, Mr. Pacquiao bounced down the corridor toward the ring, grinning, tapping hands and sending greetings to fans. Once asked when he, this friendly 5-foot-6½-inch, 138-pound light-welterweight, turns the switch to become a dark destruction machine, Mr. Pacquiao smiled and answered: "Oh, when the bell rings."

And when the bell rang on Saturday night, both combatants came out in a lather. In round one, Mr. Hatton dropped his left and Mr. Pacquiao landed a right hook that had the Hit Man hitting the canvas for one of the few times in his long career. He was dropped again near the end of the round.

At the start of the second stanza, a desperate but still wobbly Mr. Hatton rushed to the attack. Mr. Pacquiao delivered a whiplash looping left that took Mr. Hatton's legs out from under him. The punch exploded on Mr. Hatton's chin, which for boxers is the sweetest of sweet spots, because the chin is a relay switch to the circuitry of the brain. Mr. Hatton was unconscious before he hit the canvas.

As sometimes happens in boxing, there was an immediate hurrah and then hushed moments of concern. After a few minutes, Mr. Hatton was peeled from the canvas and taken to a nearby hospital for observation.

The combination of Mr. Pacquiao's speed, power and precision punching drew adjectives like "perfect" and "amazing" from the normally skeptical boxing writers' guild.

At the postfight press conference, Mr. Pacquiao, who is a highly successful vocalist and was going off to sing with his band, remarked: "This was as big for me as the De La Hoya victory. . . . I was surprised that it was so easy, but I have been training hard since March. He was open for the right hook because I knew he would be looking for my left." And as though the fury of the fight and damage to Mr. Hatton meant that it needed saying, the pacific warrior kept repeating: "It was nothing personal between us. I was just doing my job."

On the morning of the fight and at the same MGM Grand venue, Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced that he was retiring from his 16-month retirement. Mr. Mayweather, the former pound-for-pound king, has signed to meet Juan Manuel Marquez -- a superb fighter who had a draw and later lost a controversial split decision to Mr. Pacquiao. After a long monologue about his accomplishments, Mr. Mayweather, who is bigger, at 5 feet 8 inches, than Mr. Pacquiao, sent his oblique message to the Filipino fighter: "A big, great fighter always beats a small, good fighter."

Afflicted with Parkinson's disease, no doubt brought on by his own many ring wars, Mr. Pacquiao's longtime trainer Freddie Roach has the odd quality of seeming to be unable to lie. He told me that the fight with Mr. Hatton would be an easy one. He also confessed that a return match with Mr. Marquez would be challenging, because "Marquez is so smart and tough and knows how to fight lefties." After the bout, the three-time Trainer of the Year revealed: "Floyd is afraid of Manny. If he had waited 24 hours, we could have made a fight with him right away."

One thing is certain -- world-champion boxers are not in general much afraid of being punched in the nose, especially when it comes to collecting tens of millions of dollars. The pound-for-pound contests such as Pacquiao versus Hatton now own the entertainment muscle that used to belong to heavyweight championship fights. There can be no doubt that the boxing world is on the march toward a Mayweather-Pacquiao Super Bowl-type event.

At the professional level, the sweet science is steered by promoters. Different promoters have different fighters in what was once termed "their stables." Bob Arum, founder and chairman of Top Rank Promotions, has Manny Pacquiao under contract. Because of some squabbles, Mr. Mayweather once vowed that he would never do business again with Mr. Arum. But with the mounds of money at stake there is a sense that Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. will soon retire that sentiment.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124148010011585203.html