Ricky Hatton has warned Errol Spence Jr not to underestimate Manny Pacquiao when he defends his WBC and IBF welterweight titles against him on August 21. 

Hatton (45-3, 32 KO's), of Manchester, England, who was knocked out in two rounds by Pacquiao in May 2009, is only too well aware of the dangers Pac Man, 42, brings.

While some consider the Filipino to be another easy tune-up fight for Spence Jr, Hatton insists that Pacquiao still poses a dangerous threat to the unbeaten champion. 

"Manny is absolutely incredible," Hatton wrote in a recent column for The Metro. "Why he wants to be fighting on at 42 against Errol Spence Jr with everything he has achieved I’ll never know! When I met Manny Pacquiao, he seemed to be a very sensible person, very educated. He’s a very clever person.

"Traditionally boxers don’t know when to call it a day. They don’t know when to pick the right time to hang their gloves up but you would like to think he is clever enough to do that and the fact that he is accepting this fight only means he must feel he is still capable of mixing it up at that level.

"The one thing is, he is absolutely going to go down as one of the greatest of all time but we don’t want to see him get hurt. But you have got to put faith in him and the team behind him and assume they are clever enough to know what they are doing."

Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KO's) has not fought since July 2019, when he beat Keith Thurman by split decision at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Many point towards the fact that Spence Jr is a year younger than Thurman and, as such, should be able to comfortably deal with Pacquiao, but Hatton feels those observers are misinformed about his ability, as he refused to write off his former opponent. 

"Compared to Keith Thurman who Pacquiao beat in 2019, Spence is a little bit sharper, a little bit crisper in what he does. You would think that the reflexes might be starting to go a bit on Manny Pacquiao. But every now and again you get the odd freak. Bernard Hopkins went onto become a world champion at 48!

"We can’t point out Manny Pacquiao’s age and say he can’t do it. We always worry about these things happening because no one likes to see fighters who we have so much admiration for go in there and get hurt.

"But if you are still performing at the highest level why not? But he will certainly have to raise his game again against Spence, he is a hell of a fighter."

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