Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino boxer roundly declared the best pound-for-pound pugilist on the face of the planet, beat the living shit out of challenger Ricky Hatton, putting him on the mat for good in two short rounds. It was an exciting – though short – bout that lived up to everyone’s expectations. Hatton came on strong in the first round, but was unable to do much more than grapple and take cheap shots at the back of Pacquiao’s head. By the end of the first round it was pretty clear Hatton was a dead man walking as Pacquiao knocked him flat just before the sound of the first bell.

Round two went much like the first, with Pacquiao delivering a crazy chin tap that had everyone fearing for Hatton’s life. Needless to say, Pacquiao won the fight. I actually called it…somewhat in jest…before the fight. Where my brother predicted an 8th round TKO, I ventured that it would be a 2-round KO. Smirk.

I also joked that the fight was short enough to be contained in a YouTube clip, and so it is…

(Note: The copyright dorks over at HBO keep nixing videos of the fight from YouTube, so I’ll keep re-posting this with new versions of the video as I find them…)

Pacquiao – Hatton Fight from ARNEL FILIPINAS on Vimeo.

Here’s what the rest of the intarwebs are saying about the fight:

Hatton thrashed by slick Pacquiao

Hatton came into the fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena as a big underdog, although few could have predicted the calamitous nature of the defeat.

Pacquiao, also 30, was fighting in his fourth weight division in as many fights, but his power was far too much for his rival, despite Hatton claiming beforehand that Pacquiao would be outmuscled.

The Filipino landed 73 blows to Hatton’s 18, 65 of them power punches, while Hatton only landed with two jabs.

World’s best boxer? Pacquiao destroys Hatton

Pacaquiao needed less than half a round to figure out the onrushing Hatton, hitting him with a flurry of punches midway through the first round before putting him down for the first time with a right hook to the head. Hatton got up at the count of eight but Pacquiao landed another flurry and dropped him again just before the end of the round.

Hatton attempted to carry the fight to Pacquiao in the second round but was mostly ineffective as Pacquiao sized him up for a big punch. It finally came at the end of the round when he landed a left cross that flattened the English fighter.

Pacquiao punches place into history

In stunningly disposing of Hatton in ruthless fashion, Pacquiao matched Oscar De La Hoya’s record of winning titles in six weight divisions. But more important, by adding Hatton’s lineal junior welterweight championship to his growing collection, Pacquiao added a fourth lineal title, the first fighter to do that in boxing history. (Granted, there are more divisions now than there were back in the era of fighters such as Sugar Ray Robinson.)

In plain terms, PacMan has been “the man” in four divisions, the clear champion in a morass of titleholders at flyweight, featherweight, junior lightweight and now junior welterweight. Toss in belts at junior featherweight and lightweight — and wins against elite opponents — and you have a great fighter.

Pacquiao stops Hatton in second round

In the second round, Pacquiao, obviously the much quicker and more-talented of the two, outscored Hatton. However, the punch that ended it seemed to come out of nowhere.

Pacquiao simply saw an opening, his left hand flew through the air, landed on Hatton’s chin and that was that.

Hatton, out before he hit the ground, landed flat on his back and didn’t move for several minutes.

Pacquiao has now won 10 consecutive fights against some of the best fighters in the world.