BoxRec

The world rankings I have done will be changed after Gatti vs Mayweather. The winner will move to #1 and the loser will move behind Tszyu.

Phoenix wrote:1 - Ricky Hatton
2 - Kostya Tszyu
3 - Floyd Mayweather
4 - Miguel Cotto
5 - Sharmba Mitchell
6 - Arturo Gatti
7 - Vivian Harris
8 - Junior Witter
9 - Lovemore N'dou
10 - Demarcus Corley

I would agree but would place Harris above Mitchell

I would probably drop Tszyu down a bit more than 1 place due to the manner of the loss. Hatton and Cotto look like the two top men to me now.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I would probably drop Tszyu down a bit more than 1 place due to the manner of the loss. Hatton and Cotto look like the two top men to me now.

I can't see how Cotto could be justified as being one of the top men. He's still a prospect in my book until he beats a top 5 fighter. Sure he looks like he has the potential to do well but at the moment he has only beaten N'Dou and Witter also managed that (plus he almost stopped him early). I think Harris has to be the number 2 man right now.

stujones wrote:The world rankings I have done will be changed after Gatti vs Mayweather. The winner will move to #1 and the loser will move behind Tszyu.

Hatton beat the undisputed though so why move the winner of that fight to 1? They'd have to beat Hattton since Hatton Beat Tszyu and he was 1 until Hatton since no one beat him since Phillips.

Max Molyneux wrote:

stujones wrote:The world rankings I have done will be changed after Gatti vs Mayweather. The winner will move to #1 and the loser will move behind Tszyu.

Hatton beat the undisputed though so why move the winner of that fight to 1? They'd have to beat Hattton since Hatton Beat Tszyu and he was 1 until Hatton since no one beat him since Phillips.

He (Tszyu) was the #1 at the time, but I think there is some dispute about that given the fact he has hardly fought in 3 years.

Gatti's beaten the likes of Leija and Mayweather was a star at Lightweight and Super Feather and already beaten Corely. I just think the winner of that mega fight moves above Hatton because I didn't see Saturday's fight as an undisputed championship. Cotto, Gatti and Harries will dispute that.

There are a lot of problems on the horizon.

If you talk about top-10 well...Tsyzu will retire or move up IMO.

Mitchell is now a welter.

Cotto is likely to go to welter very soon IMO, due to his weight problems.

Harris doesnt understand the word "negotiate" and could remain marginalized. Apart from his WBA Belt the risk v. reward factor is heavily weighted in "risk" category.

Gatti is likely to lose to Mayweather, though possibly could be matched by the networks afterwards in order to make an exciting fight.

Which IMO could leave Hatton and Mayweather vying for numero uno.

There's always Witter as well...

And Corley and N'dou are destined to be top-10 gatekeepers for the rest of their careers.

stujones wrote:

Max Molyneux wrote:

stujones wrote:The world rankings I have done will be changed after Gatti vs Mayweather. The winner will move to #1 and the loser will move behind Tszyu.

Hatton beat the undisputed though so why move the winner of that fight to 1? They'd have to beat Hattton since Hatton Beat Tszyu and he was 1 until Hatton since no one beat him since Phillips.

He (Tszyu) was the #1 at the time, but I think there is some dispute about that given the fact he has hardly fought in 3 years.

Gatti's beaten the likes of Leija and Mayweather was a star at Lightweight and Super Feather and already beaten Corely. I just think the winner of that mega fight moves above Hatton because I didn't see Saturday's fight as an undisputed championship. Cotto, Gatti and Harries will dispute that.

The BELTS ARE MEANINGLESS.

Harris beat Hurtado (who Tsyzu already beat) and Gatti beat Branco. Both got their belts from...Tsyzu.

i dont get this t sharp guy. i think mayweather is one of, if not the, best P4P boxer in the world and undoubtedly is the most skilled fighter at light welter. but this thread is about ranking the division and PBF is unproven at 140 while hatton just beat tszyu.

you want to get things into perspective lets do that. i reckon less then 5% of posters, fans, experts etc picked hatton for that fight. almost no one gave him a hope. even people who thought hatton would win were mostly following their hearts not their heads(including me).
all we heard was how great kostya was, what a legend he is and that is all true. we didnt hear any of this kosya is faded, he's old, he's inactive or any of that crap. everyone still rated kostya as a fighter at his peak, especially after he destroyed mitchell. so lets get things into perspective. what hatton did was STUNNING. you say he leaned into him and banged at the body the whole fight....SO BLOODY WHAT!!! he did what he had to do to win and he beat up tszyu so badly the great man didnt want to fight the 12th.


why can't people like you just give the unqualified credit hatton deserves.

i agree he's not as good as mayweather but he's not as good as tszyu either. hatton can beat mayweather and im sure they'll get it on.

but there's no way at 140 mayweather can be ranked above hatton

darkstar81 wrote:i dont get this t sharp guy. i think mayweather is one of, if not the, best P4P boxer in the world and undoubtedly is the most skilled fighter at light welter. but this thread is about ranking the division and PBF is unproven at 140 while hatton just beat tszyu.

you want to get things into perspective lets do that. i reckon less then 5% of posters, fans, experts etc picked hatton for that fight. almost no one gave him a hope. even people who thought hatton would win were mostly following their hearts not their heads(including me).
all we heard was how great kostya was, what a legend he is and that is all true. we didnt hear any of this kosya is faded, he's old, he's inactive or any of that crap. everyone still rated kostya as a fighter at his peak, especially after he destroyed mitchell. so lets get things into perspective. what hatton did was STUNNING. you say he leaned into him and banged at the body the whole fight....SO BLOODY WHAT!!! he did what he had to do to win and he beat up tszyu so badly the great man didnt want to fight the 12th.


why can't people like you just give the unqualified credit hatton deserves.

i agree he's not as good as mayweather but he's not as good as tszyu either. hatton can beat mayweather and im sure they'll get it on.

but there's no way at 140 mayweather can be ranked above hatton

So Mayweather is maybe the top P4P guy but not top in his division. So on that basis if Lennox Lewis were to come out of retirement and lose to say Samuel Peter or Calvin Brock then they would automatically be the number one Heavyweight...no questions asked?

Terrific achievement by Ricky and I have 100% respect for him, he achieved more that night than I ever will in my life...but I'm still siding with pure boxing ability and a man who has defended legitimate titles and fought at different weights.

Until Ricky starts fighting Mandatory fighters who are in their prime and are not blown up Lightweights I can't consider him above PBF.

Floyd Mayweather should be higher in any sensible P4P rankings than Hatton, because he has beaten better fighters in his career and shown good style doing it. But using the same good sense Hatton must be placed higher than Mayweather in a straightforward light-welterweight ranking, because he has beaten better fighters at light-welter.

Simple enough.

My T Sharp wrote: So Mayweather is maybe the top P4P guy but not top in his division. So on that basis if Lennox Lewis were to come out of retirement and lose to say Samuel Peter or Calvin Brock then they would automatically be the number one Heavyweight...no questions asked?

No that wouldn't be the case. Hatton was No.1 contender. I don't think Brock or Peer are.

Chopping just explained it. When talking about P4P you can compare fighters in any division. Therefore, Mayweather is higer than Hatton.
When talking about light welter and lightwelter only, Hatton is higher than Mayweather.

I think you're having trouble understanding the concept of rankings

darkstar81 wrote:

My T Sharp wrote: So Mayweather is maybe the top P4P guy but not top in his division. So on that basis if Lennox Lewis were to come out of retirement and lose to say Samuel Peter or Calvin Brock then they would automatically be the number one Heavyweight...no questions asked?

No that wouldn't be the case. Hatton was No.1 contender. I don't think Brock or Peer are.

Chopping just explained it. When talking about P4P you can compare fighters in any division. Therefore, Mayweather is higer than Hatton.
When talking about light welter and lightwelter only, Hatton is higher than Mayweather.

I think you're having trouble understanding the concept of rankings

The question was how do your rankings look?

I've given mine and my reasons...a few pounds and ounces shouldn't make PBF inferior to Hatton, especially when you agree that he is not.

I rank my fighters on in ring achievements, and not penalising them for a bit of weight.

BTW-you forgot to post your rankings :P

I think the fundamental question is whether you had PBF higher than Tszyu in your 140lb rankings prior to Saturday night.

Chopping Right wrote:I think the fundamental question is whether you had PBF higher than Tszyu in your 140lb rankings prior to Saturday night.

Very good question.

A prime Tszyu would be above Mayweather at Light Welterweight.

But I would have had Mayweather ahead of Tszyu prior to Saturday because of the inactivity and the injuries and the fact that PBF is now in his prime.

I am now only going to respond to posters who submit a top ten

My T Sharp wrote:
I am now only going to respond to posters who submit a top ten

Why?

Anyway, my top ten is

1) Hatton
2) Tzsyu
3) Cotto
4) Mayweather
5) Gatti
6) Harris
7) Witter
8) N'Dou
9) Mitchell
10) Corley

I'd have Cotto above Mayweather for the same reason as Hatton but not Gatti. In a years time PBF may well be no.1 but he can't be ranked there now after 2 fights in this division

For example, hopkins is better than calzaghe but if he went up to 168 would he automatically be No.1?

I agree a few pounds doesnt make a difference but thats not the point. You can't just move up a division and become top dog without proving it at that division

Gary V,

I appreciate that and I know the belts are meaningless, however its not like calling Benard Hopkins or Glen Johnson not the undisputed champion simply because other people (like that WBA normal Middle champ) are making some bold claim. The difference with Tszyu is that he has fought once in three years and whilst no one can dispute his victory over Mitchell wasn't great, people have disputed if Mitchell had a lot to offer before that bout.

In the interim period between the Leija and Mitchell fights, the likes of Gatti and Cotto have made legitimate claims to the #1 position whereas Tszyu was in recovery.

Mayweather vs Gatti is a geniune super fight amongst two fighters who I think were hot on the heals of Tszyu. I would have ranked the winner above Tszyu even if Kostya would have beaten Hatton, because Gatti had almost caught Tszyu up ue to Kostya's inactivity.

stujones wrote:Gary V,

I appreciate that and I know the belts are meaningless, however its not like calling Benard Hopkins or Glen Johnson not the undisputed champion simply because other people (like that WBA normal Middle champ) are making some bold claim. The difference with Tszyu is that he has fought once in three years and whilst no one can dispute his victory over Mitchell wasn't great, people have disputed if Mitchell had a lot to offer before that bout.

In the interim period between the Leija and Mitchell fights, the likes of Gatti and Cotto have made legitimate claims to the #1 position whereas Tszyu was in recovery.

Mayweather vs Gatti is a geniune super fight amongst two fighters who I think were hot on the heals of Tszyu. I would have ranked the winner above Tszyu even if Kostya would have beaten Hatton, because Gatti had almost caught Tszyu up ue to Kostya's inactivity.

I think Gatti should be rated more highly than Cotto because he has fought better opposition but tell me one top five fighter who either Cotto or Gatti has beaten to give them consideration for the number one position. You don't get to number one unless you beat the best out there. Tszyu already beat the best and then he beat Mitchell on his comeback (everybody had Mitchell in top 5 regardless of whether they questioned how good he was) and then Hatton beat Tszyu. None of the others have beaten another top 5 fighter and therefore they have no claims. The winner of Gatti-Mayweather is entitled to number 2 (after Hatton). Cotto stays well away from top 3 until he beats a top fighter.

i rate cotto higher than gatti as a boxer and is undefeated also

My T Sharp wrote:

Chopping Right wrote:I think the fundamental question is whether you had PBF higher than Tszyu in your 140lb rankings prior to Saturday night.

Very good question.

A prime Tszyu would be above Mayweather at Light Welterweight.

But I would have had Mayweather ahead of Tszyu prior to Saturday because of the inactivity and the injuries and the fact that PBF is now in his prime.

I am now only going to respond to posters who submit a top ten

That's a ludicrous statement. Floyd can no way be above Tszyu, even now, he hasn't beaten anyone of note. The same could be said of Cotto, but he's at least a career LW.

Not sure I agree, I think Demarcus Corely is a decent fighter and Mayweather did a better job than Cotto against him.

Its Cotto best opponent and its Mayweathers best opponent at this weight so I think looking at their performance Mayweather should be ranked above Cotto.

As for Mayweather vs Tszyu, again I think Corely is comparable to the 2004 version of Sharmba Mitchell who is Kostya's first win in over 2 years. I would say he is as good as any Kostya opponent since 2001 (Judah).

I guess it depends on how far back you go in putting together a fighter's form.

darkstar81 wrote:i rate cotto higher than gatti as a boxer and is undefeated also

It doesn't matter that he is undefeated, he hasn't fought anybody very good so the record isn't anything to boast too much about just yet. He looks as though he has the skills but to be in the top of the top 5, he needs to beat another top 5 fighter. Don't forget Cotto was hanging on for his life against a lightweight in his last fight.

Fair enough rankings darkstar, but we'll have to agree to disagree.

8)

It gonna be interesting to see if Mayweather can/gets to prove himself further at the new weight.

When Morales and Barrera moved up through their lower weights it made for some great matches, hopefully some of these Lightweights, Light Welters and even Welters can get it on some time. But if Mayweather/Gatti stay WBC, Harris stays WBA, Cotto stays WBO and Hatton stays IBF we are all gonna lose out.

BTW if Mayweather fought Hatton, I would be cheering for Ricky

Hatton would probably be able to take his punches.