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If not, who was? DLH was past his prime. Maybe Castillo in their first fight I guess. Judah, probably not.
Has Mayweather actually faced anybody as highly regarded and at their peak with several titles in the bag? I know this is going to be Hatton's toughest fight, but the more I think about it, the more I realise it will also be Mayweather's.
Any other suggestions?
Oscar is better at things that would give Floyd a difficult time at this point of his career than he was in his prime, sure he was a little faster, but he wouldn't blocked half the shots he did with the defence he had in his prime, Oscar applied the right pressure, might have not used his jab enough but I think its because he wasn't landing it very often and Floyd was countering it with hard right hands. Regardless I think Oscar is still better than Hatton, and win or lose its probably his next opponent so we will see.
I'll answer this two ways:
In terms of PFP ranking, then Hatton is probably tied with Diego Corrales as far as having the highest PFP ranking of any Floyd opponent. Corrales was undefeated and considered a top 7 or 8 PFP fighter when he fought Floyd, much like Hatton is now. (It's easy to forget now that a TON of people picked Corrales to beat Floyd). I'd have to put Hatton above Corrales because Hatton is in great shape and is focused for this fight, whereas Corrales was weight-drained at 130 and facing legal trouble at the time.
In terms of toughest matchup, I'd have to rank DLH as Floyd's toughest opponent, even if he wasn't ranked as high PFP as Ricky is right now. Oscar had the one weapon (a good jab) that could really bother Floyd, and he had a big weight advantage, which Ricky won't have.
Oscar De La Hoya, Diego Corrales and a Lightweight Jose Luis Castillo were better. I do consider Hatton to better than Shramba Mitchell and Henry Brussles
Hahaha ;DQuote:
Originally Posted by Violent Demise
I agree with the notion that De La Hoya was his toughest fight (Not only calibre of opponent but all the other disadvantages too). A focused Judah might have proved more of a challenge to Floyd than Hatton will but we'll have to see how their styles mesh. Corrales on paper was probably on par with Hatton as well at the time, it's just that Floyd made him look so silly people forget how highly regarded Coralles was.
Hatton is a good fighter but not the best Mayweather has fought but Mayweather is the best fighter Hatton will of ever faced. 1 thing is for sure..... Dec 8 will be a mutherfuker 8)
look at Hattons record and that will answer the question !
I have to go with De La Hoya being his toughest opponent, Oscar was bigger, stronger, and the champion, he was not too far out of his prime considering he was the best at 154, and for Floyd to be a small WW and still move up to SW just to go up and beat the champion and come back down was very impressive to me
This subject is highly debatable. In my mind Ricky is indeed the best fighter that Floyd has faced, but i must consider this subject p4p.
May 5th saw DLH use the size differentail to the best of his abilities against Floyd. Were it not for this size differential and natural physical advantage De La Hoya would not have been as succesful as he was nor would Floyd have been forced to resort to the tactics he did. Ricky (lacking the size of DLH,) will probably extend Floyd as much as oscar did. So in my mind that places Rick above Oscar in terms of difficulty. This is 50% opinion (in terms of may 5th) and 50% predictive (in terms of Dec 8th) so we will be able to answer this question more accurately after the fight is logged into the archives.
However, Floyd faced a wealth of talent at lightweight and indeed super feather so it is debatable really and very objective. Some might even suggest it was Jesus Chavez or Jose Luis Castillo whom Floyd completely outboxed (granted v Castillo it took a second fight.) Like i said it is objective but i feel the general consensus is that Ricky is one of the best if not the best.
I feel a bit embarressed not mentioning Diego in my opening post. On paper he was every bit as respectable as Hatton is now. That's the thing with oscar. At his peak I actually think he had the beating of Floyd, but at the point he fought him, his lack of stamina was what beat him more than anything else and that was due to age.
Is Hatton Mayweathers best opponent yet?
No.
Best? No, toughest? possibly
:coolclick: Good answer ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Memphis
When the hell did i pass 4000 ???
Fuk sake, i always do this >:mad
LOL CC for cracking the 4k barrierQuote:
Originally Posted by JimBoogie
Hatton is ONE of the best he has faced for sure, it's impossible to choose THE best.