Morales puts money on Hatton

Once again, Mexican boxing hero Erik Morales is putting his name, his reputation or even his friendship with Manny Pacquiao on the line.

After missing out on his prediction that Pacquiao will have no chance against Oscar dela Hoya, the pride of Tijuana is now saying that the Filipino megastar will fall short against Ricky Hatton.

“Hatton has a good punch and he’s fast,” Morales, who fought three classic fights against Pacquiao in 2005 and 2006, was quoted by Mexican paper Esto as saying.

Morales beat Pacquiao the first time they met, a bloody 12-round decision, at the MGM Grand, but lost the next two fights by knockout at the Thomas and Mack Center.

He thinks he knows Pacquiao too well that this early, the last boxer to beat the current pound-for-pound champion is putting his money on Hatton.

“I can bet you that he wins,” said Morales, an excellent tactical fighter and future Hall of Famer, said of Hatton, the pride of Manchester.

Hatton and Pacquiao are all set to figure in a big showdown on May 2 with the British slugger putting his 140-pound IBO crown on the line.

Pacquiao, on the other hand, stakes his pound-for-pound title, a nine-match winning streak and his reputation as the greatest, most exciting fighter today on the line.

Morales, who became friends with Pacquiao after the Mexican did a series of commercials in the Philippines, is not with him this time.

Morales wasn’t on Pacquiao’s side, too, when the 30-year-old Filipino fought Dela Hoya exactly a month ago in Las Vegas.

“Pacquiao would get tired after six or seven rounds and will have nothing more left in him,” Morales told the press heading to the Pacquiao-Dela Hoya match that drew 1.4 million pay-per-view hits.

But Pacquiao proved him, and the other non-believers, wrong when he forced Dela Hoya into submission after eight brutal rounds of their 147-pound contest.

Another former champion, welterweight Carlos Palomino, now 59, has issued an early forecast, and like Morales is betting on Hatton.

“At 140 pounds, I think Hatton is too strong for Manny. He’d put too much pressure on Manny,” said Palomino, who lost his welterweight crown to Wilfred Benitez via a 15-round decision in 1979.