In terms of legacy I'd say they are very close. Hatton's P4P ranking (been top 10 for a couple of years) and the fact he only lost to the P4P no.1 at the time (ven though, in his prime Benn lost to very good fighters) mean I rank him one place above Benn. If Hatton were to retire today that is, I think he might fight Katsidis as a farewell.
Benn just for me Hatton has a higher class CV I think But Benn improved as a fighter and broadened his scope, that edges it for me
Realistically, I can't see how Benns career comes close to topping Rickys. People are just down on Hatton. Hatton never got ko'd by a jab!!! Hattons wins over Tszyu and Castillo surely trump anything Benn has. Benn has quite a few losses and Hatton has lost to fighters who should already be considered great.
You have to give it to Benn as he delivered against McClellan against the odds whereas Hatton failed at the highest level. He get big kudo's for retiring Kostya Tyzu. Ultimately Benn proved to be a bit more adaptable whereas Hatton was a one trick pony and the manner of the loss to Pacman who less we forget was former flyweight world champion damages his legacy.
No matter who you go for you have to give Benn a "freebie" for his last 3 fights, he'd just gone to the well too many times and those fights shouldn't detract from his career. I'd go for Benn, mainly because his record as a little more depth that Hattons.
Its quite tricky.... Some of Benns opposition was horrible. I'd say there is nothing on his record to suggest he could beat the super middle equivilant of Tszyu. McLellon is somewhat over-rated these days. He had lost to two club fighters early in his career and though he beat Jackson and Mugabi etc he was more of a phenom then a proven champion. The high p4p rating was based almost entirely on theory and he is more comparable to Jeff Lacy then Tszyu. That said the manner in which Benn beat him was mightily impressive as was his 'wins' over Eubank, Wharton, Barkley, De Witt etc. I think Hatton operated at a level above Benn throughout the tail end of his career. Malinaggi, Urango, Castillo, Tszyu etc....... There is no fighter of supreme skill on Benns ledger and for that reason I place Hatton slightly higher. H2H Benn circa 1995 was an altogether more complete fighter then Rick. Its worth noting that the way the sport is run in this era is entirely different to back then when you would be lucky to hear any talk of unification etc...
Hatton disgracing himself twice has not helped. There was no shame in losing to two greats but to get embarrassed twice is unacceptable.
I agree Gaz. this should be measured purely on prime. Remember Chris Eubank is given the benefit of the doubt in his last fights due to the Watson situation. Nigel should be afforded the same after what he had to endure with McClellan.