1.5.09

Pacquiao vs. Hatton: Live Weigh-In

The show is on at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Mario Lopez is the master of ceremonies. He opens the show to pump up the crowd and now hands the mic over to Michael Buffer. Buffer is doing well. He makes some jokes about the swine flu. The crowd is really pumped up. It sounds like they are mostly there for Ricky Hatton.

They start the weigh-in with the the first undercard fight between two young super middleweights. Buffer hands the mic back over to Lopez. He says there are three more to go before the main event weight-in. The second undercard fight that weighs in has the first stare-down. Lopez now hands the mic over to Richard Schaefer and Bob Arum. Arum says something in Tagalog and receives a lot of boos from the pro-Hatton crowd. Schaefer says "There's only one Ricky Hatton!"

They now use some footage from Hatton and Pacquiao's training and press conferences for filler. The footage has ended and Lopez says that Bernard Hopkins, Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley will be on the stage momentarily. Here's some more banter from Arum and Schaefer. Arum says that all Mexican fighters will be rooting for Manny Pacquiao. Schaefer says that that's enough from Bob.

Sugar Shane comes on the stage first. He says the weigh-in is an impressive show of fandom. It sounded like a pretty pro-Mosley crowd.

They jump from Mosley right into the weigh-in of Michael Walker vs. Daniel Jacobs at middleweight. Jacobs looks to be in great shape. The crowd is pretty quiet now. Jacobs is a few inches taller than Walker.

Right into some more filler of Freddie Roach and Floyd Mayweather Sr. from a press conference.

Hopkins is on the stage now. Wow, the crowd is a seriously hating on B-Hop. They let him have it with a loud chorus of boos. He looks a little bigger than usual, not fat, but mostly muscle. Bernard says he's picking Hatton because "he's with us," meaning Golden Boy. He doesn't sound too convinced with his decision.

It's now time for the Humberto Soto vs. Benoit Gaudet weigh-in. They both make weight and look to be in good shape.

Juan Manuel Marquez and De La Hoya take the stage now. They both get a lot of cheers. Oscar put on a lot of weight. He's certainly not in boxing shape, but I guess he doesn't need to be. The British fans start a Ricky Hatton song. Amir Khan follows De La Hoya on the stage. Khan says that it's going to be a great fight. Juan Diaz, the Baby Bull, is in attendance. They show the crowd and it is truly amazing - thousands and thousands of fans.

Now it's time for the main event weigh-in. Buffer introduces Manny first. Hatton's British band is really going nuts. Hatton comes on now. The crowd goes crazy as expected. Manny is going to take the scale first. Manny looks to be in amazing shape.

Manny weighs in at 138 pounds.

Hatton follows and also looks to be in stellar shape. He looks a little thinner than Pac-Man.

Hatton weighs in at 140 pounds.

Manny and Hatton are all smiles. They pose for some pictures. Now it's time for the stare-down. It looks like there is no height difference between them. They both look like they trained hard, but Manny looks like he has more muscle on him.

Hatton says he kept in shape and he has never had a problem making weight. He sounds confident. It sounds like his game plan is to counter punch, which will be interesting to see. Manny is on the mic now. He says he feels strong and hungry to fight. Roach says that Hatton's game plan will play right into Manny's hands and they will pick Hatton apart once he reverts to his old ways.

Hatton and Manny close the show and thanks all of the fans for traveling such a long distance to see the fight. Manny does the same and says that nobody knows what's going to happen, except God.

That's it. The weigh-in has me excited for tomorrow night. One more day!

Posted by spartan117

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