is hatton an elite or not?

[C-Lo]

I guess it depends on how you define "elite". He's definitely not elite anymore, but in his prime Hatton was a very good fighter who was just a notch below the top tier (ie. the Mayweathers', Pacquiao's, Mosley's etc.). I would say that he was a good/great fighter who fell just below the elite level, but I'm sure many people will disagree with me.

Ricky is a GREAT British World champion , he has a good resume , and is one of the finest fighters to come out of Britain since the War.
He lost only to the best p4p of his time , however in the wider picture , he doesnt hold a light to guys like JCC ,Duran , ODLH , PACMAN , Mayweather etc.

At his peak he would give any 140 guy past or present a tough fight, he was a real handfull but he has never been a 'truly elite' fighter. He was never consistent enough to be, one fight he would move well and pick shots and break a guy down and others he walked head on missing shots and eating them in return.

I'm not so sure I would say elite. He beat one elite fighter and his win over Collazo was very controversial. I think Hatton had/has to do more to be considered elite. Take away the Kostya Tsyzu win and is this really a debate? Basically, before the Tsyzu fight he was not even questioned as elite and after the Tsyzu fight he got knocked out by the next two elite fighters he fought. Elite level is a different category. Bradley, Judah, Campbell, Collazo, Mayorga etc are not elite fighters. They are good fighters. Hatton is a good/great fighter who was the ruler of the good fighters but he just wasn't smart enough of a fighter to keep with the elite level.

As someone said what is one's definition of elite? Everyone's definition is different. My definition of elite would be someone with the resume of Floyd, Roy Jones, Oscar, Marvin Hagler, Carlos Monzon, Pernell Whittaker, Julio Cesar Chavez, and even the Pacman has somewhat reached that status in my eyes.


And based on my definition of elite Ricky Hatton doesn't belong, even though he was talented. But I always considered Hatton to be in the groups of guys like Zab Judah, Meldrick Taylor, Naseem hamed, etc. Good but not great, falls short of it.

Each person's comments I bolded are pretty much how I feel about his career. Actually, it's exactly what I think!