Just watchin him on the telly now and I just really look back at all his great fights and how he got me into boxing. He has only ever lost to Pac-Man and Mayweather (and I thought he nearly had PBF down). Fair enough he is open and easy to hit but he was only ever exposed at the very top level and if you look at his past six fights or so they have all been against world championship opposition. I think he rightfully deserves a place amongst the H.O.F. even if he isn't an ATG.
When guys like Barry McGuigan are in there, by that standard yes. By my own standards I'd have to say no. He came up a long way short against the best fighters. A long long way.
Mcguigan shouldn't be there I agree, but p4p he's better than Hatton. No Hatton is not a HOF fighter.
But he is a two weight world champion and he beat two ring Legends and had an almost unrivaled fan base. I really don't like all these armchair warriors dissing him. He may not be the best of his generation but I think he fought fantastic competition and only came up short against the best. I have no regrets in following his career.
I was just about to post the exact same thing. By the Barry McGuigan standard, he should have been a lock after the Kostya win and a couple defenses. By my standards, Hatton's still pretty close to being a HOF resuume-wise, linear champion for a number of years, alphabet belts at 2 different weight classes, unified 2 belts at 140, and 2-2 against future HOFers.
Like someone alreday said, by the standards of the Boxing Hall of Fame it's likely that he gets in, but he's definitely not an all-time great by any means. Not even close.