INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines—Floyd Mayweather Sr. fired the first warning shot at Filipino hero Manny Pacquiao, who is set to take on his ward, Ricky Hatton, in a mega-buck light welterweight showdown on May 2 in Las Vegas.

The smooth-talking veteran trainer expressed confidence that Hatton will beat Pacquiao, who is coming off a sensational eighth-round technical knockout of Oscar De La Hoya last month that confirmed his status as the world’s top pound-for-pound boxer.

“Everyone is building up Pacquiao to be the next great thing but Ricky will handle him,” Mayweather Sr., whose son, Floyd Jr., looms as the next opponent of the winner of the Hatton-Pacquiao match, told fightnews.com writer Lee Bates.

“I know Pacquiao is fast, but Ricky has extremely fast footwork and he’s strong,” he said. “Believe me when I tell you we have a solid game plan for that fight.”

Mayweather Sr. was in Hatton’s corner when the British slugger hammered out an 11th-round knockout of American Paul Malignaggi to keep his IBO light welterweight crown last November.

Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, earlier said Hatton will be a tough customer for the Filipino star, but believes the Gen. Santos City lefty’s footwork will be the key to winning the bout.

The fight, which is expected to give Pacquiao his biggest payday yet, will not only be a battle between two fighters with aggressive styles, but between Mayweather Sr. and Roach, who have actually been feuding for the past two years.

Mayweather Sr. threw verbal jabs at Roach when the California-based trainer handled his De La Hoya, his friend and former ward, for his fight against Floyd Jr. in May 2007.

De La Hoya had cut Mayweather Sr. from his corner, after they failed to agree over financial terms and replaced him with Roach.

Although the fight has yet to be signed, a media tour hyping up the Pacquiao-Hatton duel has been tentatively set to start before the end of the month with New York, California and England as probable locations, Internet reports said.

Two British newspapers have reported that the two superstars will divide a $58.2 million fight purse, although Pacquiao’s camp has yet to announce how much he will be receiving for the fight.

In the De La Hoya fight, Pacquiao earned about $15 million, including his share from the pay-per-view revenues.