In just two rounds of absolute mayhem the battle between east and west was over. Ricky Hatton laid frighteningly prostrate on the canvas covering the star in Rockstar while Manny looks at him on the way to his corner where cornerman and childhood friend Buboy Fernandez swooped him up into the air.

The match that many pundits believed would be Manny Pacquiao’s hardest ended before the chorus to the cheeky Hatton Wonderland. Half-finished cups of beer grasped in stunned British fans hands were sad reminders that Britain’s brightest light has been put out.

I could only imagine the silence that permeated every British boxing fan’s homes after that knockout while the raucousness inside Pinoys living in England knows no bounds. Such is boxing. It may be a sport but underneath it all it is a polarizing and demoralizing one. Nobody wants to bow down and expect somebody is better than themselves. But here, where you watch the winner being raised to the roof while you lie supine in the canvass, it’s enough to make a grown man cry. And cry Ricky Hatton did.

Opposite Paths

In the aftermath of the Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao fight, many would exhort Ricky to retire, saying that a fighter who suffers the kind of devastating loss that he did will never be the same again. Wise words were thrown into the fray. Freddie Roach, Pacman’s sculptor, said Ricky should retire and not follow his example. Roach is suffering from Parkinsons as a result of too many matches on top of the ring. Roach said he should have heeded other people’s call when he asked him to retire, instead he fought 5 more, losing four of them. Roach now has some sort of a speech impediment courtesy of his Parkinson’s disease.

Manny Pacquiao on the other hand has reached heights no Filipino athlete ever has. He has become so big that even the country’s Health Department couldn’t stop him from returning to the country despite admonitions on swine flu related safety measures. He has returned home to his country and was even feted by Malacanang, putting the Department of Health to fume silently in the darkness of their meeting rooms.

Manny is now so big that any comparison would seem to pale when mentioned in the same breath as the Pacman.

What’s Next

Personally I believe Ricky Hatton will not retire. He will go on and have another fight. Tim Bradley comes to mind and the Wembley Stadium looms in the horizon. It is going to be a double edged fight. If Ricky loses, there’ll be nothing left to discuss. He retires. But if he wins and he puts up a good showing, there’s nobody who can stop him from fighting again.

Manny Pacquiao will most certainly have a fight before he meets the winner of the Marquez and Mayweather match scheduled on July 18. Inactivity will be his worst enemy at this point. Bob Arum will probably have some beatable opponent (Valero perhaps?) lined up and of course it’s going to be in Pay-per-view. Getting a few million dollars while prepping himself for a potential showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr shouldn’t hurt.

In the meantime, I think both warriors deserve a much needed R&R after the rigorous training that they went through. Manny may be mapping out his plans for his political future, while Hatton ponders what he does next.