Could Whitaker have stopped Hatton the way Floyd did?

Leaky defense, easily cut, lack of strength at 147 lbs, massive gap in skills between he and Whitaker.

 

If Joe Cortez is the ref then Whitaker very well may stop him. I am a big Hatton fan and the fight with Tszyu pulled me back into boxing after a hiatus.

I am one of the few (or at least of those who will admit it) that picked him to beat Floyd at the time. In hindsight I was wrong (obviously), but not for the reasons some will say. I think Hatton was doing ok, but not allowed to press the action and keep it inside. If he was allowed to fight his fight I think it would have gone to the cards where he would lose a decision. But the constant separations left him open to getting hit solidly every time on the way in. Had he been allowed to fight inside where he thrived we may have gotten a different fight. By this I mean if pea fought him with similar breakups every time Ricky gets inside than he would likely use precision punching as Ricky came forward and stop him in similar fashion.