Hatton "I'd have to beat Marquez as well to be No 1#"

hatton said on skysports last night that the old ricky hatton of using his size and strenght will come into play so expect a lot of hitting and grabbing against the pacman fellas

 

i bet he is really worried what you think

 

That uis a great question? The fact you ask means it is not clear that he is. Do we actually know that he can beat the best fighters at 140 pounds such as Kendall Holt, Torres, Ajose Olusegun, Timothy Bradley, Junior Witter, Devon Alexander? We know he can beat Malignaggi, Ndou and Urango.

A cynic might say he want to fight Pacman ad Marquez because they are names and because he feels he is naturally bigger and stronger than them. However they are both better technical fighters than him.

 

I'm not one for defending Ricky Hatton, but here's a thought:

After the fall from grace of Roy Jones, and before the rise of Floyd Mayweather to supremacy, I'm pretty sure Bernard Hopkins was for a time P-4-P No.1.

And of course Bernard had not accomplished squat outside of the MW division at this point, and had built his reputation (and subsequently gained the No.1 spot) largely off the back of two wins against naturally smaller division hoppers in De la Hoya and Trinidad.

So, depending on the manner of victory, I don't see any reason why Hatton couldn't get the number 1 spot by beating two naturally smaller guys, especially since those fighters are currently 1 and 2 in the world.

 

I dont actually thinking Hopkins was ever pound for pound number 1. However the key difference between him and Hatton is that he had taken care of all the contenders as Middleweight champion over a long reign some Hatton clearly has not done. Hatton cannot be considered pound for pound after his performances at Welterweight.

 

Well it's just that he doesn't seem to fight them regularily,although i believe he beats all of them you have listed,none of them are outstanding.

 

Just checked out an old Ring Magazine from October 2004. They had Hopkins at No.1.

As for taking care of all the contenders at MW, lets admit that the division wasn't exactly stacked with world class competitors. De la Hoya and Trinidad were Hopkins' two big wins at this point, by far his two biggest wins. And it was these victories, over naturally smaller men, that got him the No.1 spot; that and Roy Jones' KO defeats to Tarver and Johnson.

 

Roy Jones
James Toney
Gerlad McCllellan
Michael Nunn
Chris Eubank
Nigel Benn
Julian Jackson

when these guys were ruling the division Hopkins was just a fighter down the pecking order

Hopkins made his name when these guys ventured into higher waters

Hopkins picked up the pieces and dominated more forgetable champions such as Keith Holmes

Did Hopkins fight Quincey Taylor?

 

Take my guy aside I am not actually sure that he beats all these guys. Some of them yes others not convinced.

 

pacman and marquez are much betetr fighters than anyon else in hattons division, the only name in hattons division worth fighting is bradley if he beats holt other than that they are well belwo hatton.

 

They were big big wins in terms of profile, PPV etc however the fact Hopkins had cleaned out the division before these fights added to his legacy. Hatton's career I don't think can be com[pared at all certainly not at this stage and probably never.

 

Actually cannot remember. I think Quincy might have been done by this stage. I think the creation of the Super Middleweight division diluted the quality of both Middleweight and Super Middleweight. Don't believe Hopkins and Calzaghe would have reigned as long as they did had the division being what it was traditionally.

 

i agree with this,wasnt hopkins recognised as p4p #1 before moving upto face tarver,after beating smaller fighters moving up?

edit;just read the above posts

 

He went from number ten to number two in The Ring pound for pound rankings after beating Trinidad (who had been number three previously), then inherited number one spot when Jones lost to Tarver. Hopkins held that until losing to Taylor.