Ricky Hatton Fans in Masks

As promised, here is a short (5 min) audio clip with DJ, our resident boxing fan. He discusses the reaction Batista got at Saturday’s fight, his impressions of the appearance and answers the all too pressing question, “What did those pants really look like?”. You can hit play on the flash player below to listen or try the direct link to the .mp3 file if that works better. Enjoy!

Direct Link: Live Batista Pacquiao Fight Recap

Batista escorting Manny Pacquiao

I wonder how many new fans Manny Pacquiao picked up because of Batista’s involvement and vice-versa?  I know I wasn’t all that familiar with Pacquiao or Hatton but ended up taking a crash course on them as I followed the fight coverage.

The fight was a start-studded event featuring Puff Daddy, Jay-Z, Jack Nicholson, Tom Jones, Mariah Carrey, Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and more.

Name checks: Batista got mentioned in the Sports Illustrated fight blog coverage. He also got ink on the FightHype site and on The Sweet Science.com During the televised broadcast none of the HBO announcers mentioned Batista but he was very much a part of the story during the Filipino network  GMA broadcast.

Posted some quick photos of Batista as part of the entourage escorting Manny Pacquiao to the ring for Pacman’s 2nd round knock out of Ricky Hatton.  WWE.com has posted pics. Visit the thread in the forum for additional links.

WWE star Batista will lead Manny Pacquiao to the ring on Saturday night.

The Animal, who is a big fan of Pacquiao’s, cannot wait to be at ringside when the Filipino defends his pound-for-pound crown against Ricky Hatton.

He said: “I love Ricky but Manny is in a league of his own — he is off the charts.  I am thrilled to be there to support him before the bout.”

Check out the UK Sun link if only for the gorgeous picture they have posted! BatistaWeb.com does have a boxing fan on staff and we plan to have some live thoughts Saturday night. Full coverage will follow with the HBO replay.

Fil-American Dave Batista, the great heavyweight champion of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), believes Manny Pacquiao is now in the league of his own and can easily stop Ricky Hatton in their megabuck fight on May 2.

In a roundtable talk with sportswriters Monday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ortigas, the wrestling star said it will be very hard for the British Hatton to beat Pacquiao simply because the Filipino’s speed and ring generalship will be too much for him.

“I am also a fan of Ricky, but Manny will kill him,” the husky 6-foot-6 Batista said.

“This is not because I have a Filipino blood, but Manny is very fast and his unorthodox style can take anybody,” said Batista, 40, whose father David is a Filipino. “Manny is in the league of his own. Nobody can touch him.”

So confident that the Filipino slugger will win the fight that Batista even went on to saying: “Not even Floyd Mayweather Jr. can touch him.”

Batista, who is in the country to promote the Smackdown show this July, said he has never missed watching a Pacquiao fight.

“I was in Iraq during the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight, but I still watched it,” said Batista, who plans to join the Pacquiao’s entourage on May 2.

“I think two other wrestlers have joined Pacquiao’s entourage in the past and I missed it. I should have joined him, for one, I’m a Fil-Am,” said Batista, referring to The Undertaker and Christian Cage who marched with Pacquiao during his clash with Mexican Hector Velasquez in 2005.

Over in London, Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach said Hatton’s insistence he will fight a different way than he used to would be fruitless.

“It will be a great fight in the first half but Manny will get to him in the later rounds and will knock him out at some point,” Roach said.

Read it from the source at: http://mb.com.ph/node/197627

An executive for WWE reportedly emailed the information to a boxing reporter, indicating Batista was en route to Las Vegas. Batista is scheduled to carry one of Pacquiao’s title belts to the ring prior to the fight.

Batista and Pacquiao are linked by their Filipino heritage. Batista is half-Filipino and Pacquiao was born in the Phillipines.

Read more at: http://philboxing.com/news/story-23934.html