Quote Originally Posted by ono View Post
I can cerainly see the argument for putting him at number 1.

He'll have beaten 3 top ten fighters in the last 4 years (tszyu #2/3, Castillo was at number 10 when the fight was made, maybe slipped down a few places when the fight took place and Pac is number 1)

The problem with saying he'd be outside the top 3 is the fact that you'd be hard pushed to put 3 fighters ahead of him. Pac would lose stock with a loss, JMM has lost and drawn with Pac, Hopkins has recently lost altho he looked exceptional beating Pavlik and Tarver, Mosely deserves props for his win against Margarito, but has lost to Cotto who lost to Margarito....argh! Vasquez has been inactive, so has Rafael Marquez.

At the minute i think a lot have him anywhere between 7-11 but that's with including 2 inactive fighters in Rafa Marquez and Israel Vasquez.

When i compiled my p4p ratings i ommited Marquez and Vasquez due to inactivity so in turn Hatton moved up a few places. A win over pacman would most likely move him up another 2/3 places.

I'd probably side with Mick who has him at #2 behind Marquez but again i wouldn't argue with anybody having Hatton at #1. Techincally he is probably a level below the guys around him but the fact is he has wins over Tszyu, Castillo, Malignaggi, Urango, Collazo and if he were to win he'd have one over Pacman.
I agree, I see both sides of the argument, most guys in the top 10 have recent losses so it's difficult (if Hatton wins) to keep him out of the top 3 as there aren't that many stand outs. However beating Pac doesn't put him above Pac as he is a much larger guy, beating Pac in December wouldn't have put Oscar in the top 5 so it shouldn't for Ricky.

Neither does it put his achievements above Marquez's, maybe the aging Casa and Juan Diaz weren't truly elite fighters, but they were both top 3 (with Campbell) at lightweight straight after moving up, it would be similar in acheivement if Hatton went up and KO'ed Berto and Clottey, something not even his diehard looney fans would expect.