Malignaggi-Hatton close, Paulie praises Hatton and calls him a "Great champion".

[CFH]

Paulie just may have the 2 things that can beat Hatton. A decent jab, and good speed. He has also fought atleast two other pressure fighters recently in Cotto, and to a lesser extent Ndou. This will aid in him doing well against Ricky.

I'd pick Hatton at the moment but it'd be good to see how he looks in the Lazcano fight.

I think the best comparison for how Paulie will fare vs. Hatton is the Cotto fight. Paulie gave a decent account of himself, but still came up well short. Not that Hatton and Cotto are all together that similar, they're just the only top-tier opposition Paulie has/will face. I think if Malignaggi had any sort of decent power this fight would be a nightmare for Hatton, but I think Hatton's footwork/footspeed will go a long way towards negating the few advantages that Paulie possess.

I get what you are saying about Cotto and Hatton, but i think Cotto has more boxing ability and more power than Hatton. He has shown that speed does not worry him too much (Judah, Mosely, Malignaggi) whereas slick fighters have given Hatton some trouble (mayweather, Collazo).

I think Cotto would beat Hatton by as much as he beat Paulie.

Fair enough, it's hard to disagree with anything you said there. I definately think Cotto is better than Hatton, and Cotto would absolutely savage Hatton if they fought. Like I said, the main similarity between them is that they're both top-level fighters and Malignaggi has yet to show he is capable of beating top-tier opposition (though admittedly he has only had one chance so far).