Its blasmephemy to even consider Hatton as a Hall Of Famer He was a toy champion for a long time then the one stand out win of his career was Tsyzu - but then he had everything in his favour in Manchester - thanks to Warren coughing up the big $$$$$$$$ He was outclassed by Luis Collazo And when he fought a modern great in Floyd lets remeber he didnt just lose he was laid out on his back He also ducked Witter Hatton desrves to go down as one of the most popular fighters of his generation but in terms of judging him on boxing merit he is a also ran Champion WBU Chump IBF Champ - good win but everything in his favour WBA Champ - Gifted win over Collazo Witter was better than Hatton -
Lol, quite true but someone might argue that is was just a blown up version of Pac. It'll be up to the people who vote to see if it's a valid win that helps his case for the HOF.
Blown up version or not - Pac is a legend, and lets be honest, if (and its a big if in my opinion) Hatton does beat him, he can only beat what is put in front of him.
Not really. He can also seek bigger challenges not just what is served up to him on a plate. he could have accepted one of the 1,200,985,354,211 challenges that Witter issued. He could have accepted DLH's offer, he could have fought Cotto, tried to make something of himself at 147. these are the kind of things that hall of famers do, they don't just fight whoever is put in front of them, they seek out the bigger challenges.
I see what you're saying, but Hatton just doesn't carry the power up to 147 - we have seen this in action. I just don't see why being the man at 140 isn't enough - he beat Paulie & Torres for me - but Oscar is just too big. I know money speaks volumes - but he would more than likely be hammered. Witter on the other hand just didn't bring any money at all, bottom line.
Hatton would've seriously been better off pulling the route many great 140 pounders have by not even bothering with 147. In the future, people would've still been intrigued by the goose egg record, and the thought of his potential at 147 would've gotten him more credit than actually making the move itself. There's a number of HOF caliber 140 pounders who didn't even give welterweight a shot. How many view Hatton now probably shows why- if they move up and struggle, all the sudden nobody remembers they were standouts at 140 and the focus is on the issues at WW. That's why I think he needs to clean out 140 a little bit before he fights Pacman. That's where his chance at building a legacy is and where people would match him up historically, and that should be his focus for now.
IMO and I admit it's just an opinion, an HOF worthy fighter should have the skill to carry him at least one weight class higher not just rely on being able to crash down in wieght in order to pound on smaller guys. If you are going to count on jus tone weight class to get you in then your accomplishments at said weight class have to be extremly impressive and span over a very long period of time. Cuevas with his 14 defenses of his welterweight title, Hopkins with 20 defenses of his middleweight title, Lopez with over 20 defenses. these are all guys whose accomplishments for the most part rely on just one class but they showed longevity and in the case of hopkins and Lopez, they didn't hit a wall when they tried to put on a few pounds. For hatton to get in based on just his 140 accomplishments he would need to have a stronghold on the division for several more years IMO.
Maybe your right, maybe not - we will just have to leave it at that, good to have some informed convo anyway. Cheers chaps - night
I think yes he is a hall of famer He is more of a exceptional fighter than Hatton I started a thread called: Calzaghe.....Greedy Like All The Rest So people are under the impression I hate Calzaghe - but I dont really I supported him all through his career and think despite a clearly padded out record full of WBO title defences against bums like Rick Thornberry that was more wasted potential than him being a paper champion Even when he was just only WBO Champion he was still probaly the best Super Middleweight in the World He is the only Super Middleweight to ever win all four major belts - and he is the second best super middleweight of all time behind Roy Jones So yes I say give Calzaghe the nod for the hall of fame - he is a geniune pound for pound fighter of his era - a level above Ricky Hatton. The only negative about Calzaghe and Hatton - alot of people critisize the likes of Sven Ottke for being a paper champion and staying in Germany and making all them easy defences but thats what these two have done too Calzaghe - Cardiff Hatton - Manchester Joe Calzaghe did not fight in Las Vegas until he was about 35/36 years old against a 43 yr old - he missed out on so many big fights during that time - he might not be undefeated now - but he would have probaly have a greater legacy Compare that to his fellow Welshman Colin Jones - who was just 23 years old when he fought in Las Vegas for the WBC Welterweight Title.