It has been a very exciting year for boxing betting fans already, but it’s about to get better. On May 2^nd at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, international boxing icons will collide as Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton will face the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, Manny Pacquiao.

The Pacquiao vs Hatton odds favor Pacquiao, even though Hatton is naturally the bigger fighter. Pacquiao has dominated every weight class and division he’s joined, and he flashed those same skills when he jumped up another weight class to face Oscar De La Hoya. When Pacquiao faced De La Hoya, there were some real concerns as to how Pacquiao would handle a bigger fighter, or how Pacquiao’s speed would be affected with more weight on his body. But Pacquiao dominated De La Hoya from start to finish, knocking out the Golden Boy.

Boxing betting fans have to realize the implication of the knockout. Not only is Pacquiao fine with the added weight and his speed hasn’t been affected, but he still has the power in higher weight classes. Hatton will be well-aware of this going into the fight after De La Hoya underestimated him.

This will be the second time that Hatton is fighting and all-time great and the last time he did, it didn’t end up so well. Hatton lost to Floyd Mayweather, which is his only blemish on his record, but he may experience the same problems with Pacquiao as he did with Mayweather. Hatton is a good fighter – maybe even one of the best in this generation – but he is an underdog on the Pacquiao vs Hatton odds because there are some serious questions as to whether he can handle that type of speed.

While Mayweather kept Hatton at a distance, and bobbed and weaved his way to an easy win, Pacquiao has the power to knock Hatton back. Also, Hatton will have to deal with a fighter that will come at him versus a fighter that avoided conflict.

Boxing betting fans are picturing another Pacquiao win but regardless of the outcome, it should be noted that this will be one of the biggest fights ever among international boxing stars. Hatton is revered in the United Kingdom while Pacquiao is the most popular man – not only athlete – in the Philippines. The fight will go down in the US but there will be plenty of eyes worldwide paying attention to the outcome of Pacquiao vs Hatton on May 2^nd.