Quote Originally Posted by Steelie
CC, except I'd add that the old, injured Tszyu that Hatton beat wasn't of the prime Tszyu's caliber either. Hatton's never beaten a world class fighter in his prime, just like Cotto. But Cotto's beaten a lot more good, solid, young, up-and-comers than Hatton has. And after watching each of their last 6 fights or so, I don't see any way Hatton lasts more than 6 or 7 rounds with Cotto at 147. And I don't see him lasting 12 at 140 either. Cotto, unlike the Tszyu that Hatton fought, is at his prime. And he hits harder than even a prime Tszyu did--easily. He also--as someone else here pointed out--doesn't need the room to punch that Tszyu needed. And he's bigger and stronger than Hatton and couldn't be pushed around by him--even at 140.
Which 'solid up and comers' has he beaten exactly?
Basically everyone in his last 6 fights minus Branco. Corley, Abdulaev, Torres, Malignaggi and Quintana had a combined record of 101-4-1. They're all better than most of the competition Hatton's faced too. If Corley's too seasoned to be included, take away 3 of those losses and the draw.

Quote Originally Posted by Steelie
I'd love to see it--if only because so many people here are irrationally picking Hatton to win AT 147 (??!!!). Of course we won't ever see it, because Hatton's more realistic than a lot of these posters about his abilities at 147
What's irrational is people starting millions of threads declaring Miguel the next big thing when he's only beat Quintana
Sure, but actually no one is starting a million threads declaring Miguel to be "the next big thing." Someone did start this thread about Miguel being able to beat Hatton at the weight that Collazo beat him at a couple months ago, preceding Hatton's high-tailing it back to 140.

Here's the situation:

Hatton comes to 147, fights a decent, slick, but completely feather-fisted (13 kos) fighter in Collazo. Looks considerably worse than at 140. Nearly gets stopped toward the end of the fight, gets a draw at best, but gets a small gift decision--then runs as fast as he can back to 140, shouting back over his shoulder that "140 is his real weight" and that "he's giving away too many advantages at 147."

Cotto comes to 147, fights a pretty good, undefeated, slick boxer with some KO power (18/23 kos), and destroys him in 5 rounds without getting scratched. Looks better than he did at 147.

And you're telling me that it's not irrational to nonetheless pick Hatton over Cotto at 147. You have a lot of explaining to do. And comparing Hatton's record fighting a past-his-prime Tszyu and a bunch of tomato cans in England at 140 pounds to Cotto's resume at 140 pounds doesn't even begin that conversation. Hatton is not like Floyd, who relies on speed and boxing ability so size doesn't matter all that much. Hatton relies on bullying opponents and running into them head-first, which doesn't work against bigger dudes.