Champ: Ricky Hatton (RING) Top 10 (in my opinion) 1 Timothy Bradley (WBC) 2 Kendall Holt (WBO) 3 Andreas Kotelnik (WBA) 4 Paulie Malignaggi 5 Ricardo Torres 6 Junior Witter 7 Herman Ngoudjo (fighting for IBF) 8 Juan Urango (fighting for IBF) 9 Gavin Rees 10 Demetrius Hopkins Prospects: Victor Ortiz Dimitriy Salita Devon Alexander Mike Alvarado Kenny Galarza Danny Garcia Lamont Peterson Frankie Figueroa Marcos Maidana Other: Soulmayne M'baye Randall Bailey Lovemore N'dou Vivian Harris Gianluco Branco Demarcus Corley Juan Lazcano Jose Luis Castillo X Factor: Manny Pacquiao Zab Judah Besides from a Ricky hatton and a solid group in the top 10, the light welterweight division is the best and deepest. There are more prospects than i named and more older fighters/fading ex-titlests that the talent is deep. Add to this the #1 P4P Manny Pacquiao and the always dangerous Zab Judah to the mix and you the potential for the best fights. Also it is sandwiched in between deep divisions at 135 and 147 so this is where it is at. We already have 4 fights schedled for 09: Kotelnik v Maidana Feb 2 Ngoudjo v Urango Jan 30 ESPN Bradley v Holt April 4 SHOWTIME Hatton v Pacquiao May 2 HBO PPV In 2009, what fights do you want to be made? Im looking forward to the return of the Magic Man I hope he has a big year and hope that one of the prospects make a jump to the top 10.
You forgot the biggest prospect at 140- "Vicious" Victor Ortiz. That guy will be the man at 140 after Hatton retires.
140 might be the deepest division but I can't say it's the best because of the quality level of the fighters at 147 (Margarito, Cotto, Cintron, Berto, Mayweather, Williams, Clottey, Mosley), and a few others that I'm definitely forgetting as well as some great prospects. So yes 140 might be deeper, but 147's top ten is higher quality in my opinion.
I wouldn't go that far. Hatton is of course still a very good fighter, Bradley is looking good...but I don't see too much below that. Holt has a china chin, Kotelnik is pretty ordinary, Torres is exciting but wild as ****. Ortiz is a good prospect. Judah looked awful last time out, but maybe he's a wildcard with his power. It's okay, I wouldn't go much further than that because I don't think you'll see Hatton or Pacquiao doing anything relevant to the division beyond fighting each other. Really think they are going to fight Tim Bradley? My ass.
Devon Alexander/Timothy Bradley will be happening next year... But yeah, there are soo many prospects at 140 from all over its crazy... Don't forget about Mike Arnaoutis, Patrick Lopez, Darnell Jiles and Hank Lundy... A couple of ESPN guys.... Either way, this division is pretty deep.....
140 is a nice division but not the best. The good thing about it is there are about 15 guys who are on about the same level. Mix and match them anyway you want and you get an even match-up. I don't think Hatton and Pacquaio will figure too much in the division, I can't see them fighting the other 140 contneders. But there are a number of guys who could move up from lightweight and add excitement as well. A good division with a ton of good match ups but there is no one fighter or no one match that I would consider great coming out of 140 at the moment.
