Quote Originally Posted by Rantcatrat View Post
I think you might have missed my second post. I highlighted it above. Floyd would have beat Ricky Hatton anyway, 140 or not. I also think Ricky Hatton was better at 140. It might have been a more even fight because Floyd would have had to lose another 7 pounds, which might have been difficult for him. Floyd would have had to incorporate losing the 7 pounds into his training schedule and Hatton doing something he was was used to doing. So, we could have seen a closer match-up.

I still think Floyd is for sure a true welterweight. If Floyd wanted to fight at 140, he would fight at 140. He doesn't fight at 140 because he performs better at 147. 7 pounds is a ton of weight to lose in boxing. For a fighter who weighs 150 pounds losing ten pounds is losing 7% of your total body weight. When was the last time Floyd fought below 147? Why did Floyd not fight at 145 when he fought Marquez and was contracted to do so? You didn't answer it so I'll hazard a guess - because it was easier not to. If it was easier not to lose 2 pounds for Marquez, then it was much easier not to lose 7 to face Hatton at his prime weight.

In my opinion, this is a dumb argument because I think Floyd would still have won. He was a more well-rounded fighter.
I'm pretty sure I answered the question: Floyd doesn't like cutting weight. It's not up to me, you or Floyd to decide what a natural WW is. Go and look at the data of what WW's weigh in on the day of the fight and you find me another WW who comes in under 150lb on fight day.

Pick any weight class you want, guys will generally come in 10, 15, even 20+ lbs what they weighed in at. Maidana weighed in at 147 the first PBF fight and came in at damn near 170. Weight cutting is a big part of fight sports. If Floyd was cutting weight like everyone else, he'd be fighting at 140. He doesn't cut weight so he fights at 147. If most other 147lbers didn't cut weight, they'd be fighting at 160 or 168. Floyd is a tiny, tiny WW compared to his peers. I'm not giving you my opinion, I"m just stating facts.

I don't mind people saying they think Ricky would have won 3 years earlier, or if they had a ref that let him do more clinch work, whatever. Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

I just wanted someone to give me a satisfactory answer as to why 147 was a significant advantage for Floyd or a significant disadvantage for Hatton. It's been 7 years and I still never got a good answer, just pseudo-science and weight class voodoo.

The only thing I was ever told that kinda made sense was that if the fight was at 147, Ricky knew he wouldn't have to bust his ass so hard to make the limit and wouldn't train as hard. If that's the case, like I said before, why is it Floyd's problem if Hatton couldn't be bothered to train hard for the biggest fight of his life?