By Ronnie Nathanielsz

MANNY Pacquiao?s trainer Freddie Roach is convinced that if the Filipino ring icon fights a smart fight in his showdown against Britain?s Ricky Hatton at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 2, he should win easily.

In a wide-ranging conversation with www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports, Roach said Pacquiao needs to train soon.

?He needs to get back to the gym and to where we were for the Oscar de la Hoya fight,? said Roach, referring to the top physical condition Pacquiao had during his Dec. 6 fight, where he pulverized the Golden Boy to win by an eighth-round TKO.

Roach cautioned Pacquiao that Hatton is a very durable guy. ?But if Manny fights the correct fight, fights a smart fight, I think he?ll win and win easily.?

The trainer, who has crafted the career of Pacquiao through the years and turned him into the world?s no. 1 pound-for-pound fighter and the most exciting fighter in boxing today, admitted that the International Boxing Organization light welterweight champion punches with power. ?His body punches are his best. He is a very good body puncher.?

But Roach was confident that Pacquiao, who trains relentlessly once he steps into the Wild Card gym, will prove too much in the end for the game Briton and should eventually take him out in the late rounds.

Hatton, who returns to England in the middle of February after a vacation cruise with his family, will join Pacquiao in a kickoff promotional stop in London and his hometown of Manchester in the last week of this month.

Hatton?s father, Ray Hatton, told Standard Today, he would start training in Britain for a couple of weeks before leaving for an eight-week training stint before the fight in Las Vegas. Hatton himself said he was driven by a desire to dislodge Pacquiao as the no. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

The Daily Telegraph quoted Hatton as saying: ?I?ve challenged once for it. I?m focused, I?ve got my eye on the prize. I?m convinced, I will beat Manny.?

Hatton also maintained that nobody in the world could beat him at 140 pounds. But as Roach has said in the past, there?s always a first time.