Cleaning out the welterweight division

[Vladimir303]

Now this isn't an official welterweight tournament but more like potential matchups that could happen and lead to a undisputed champion who can say he truely cleaned out the welterweight division (was looking at floyd mayweather's direction when I said that). Some of the fights I'm about to propose are already talked about and could lead to other fights that im about to name.

ROUND 1 (late 2007-early 2008 fights)

Paul Williams vs Joshua Clottey WBO 147lb title

- Good first title defense for Young Williams. No rush for the big fights as also the so called big fighters aren't in a rush to fight him. Joshua Clottey, deserves another title shot after the margarito fight. Good fight


Floyd mayweather jr vs Ricky Hatton - WBC 147lb title

This fight is almost a done deal. Ricky has been baiting floyd for a while now and now it's on. Somebody's 0 has to go. Some say floyd never defeated the real 140lb champion after moving from lightweight to fight then WBC champ Arthuro Gatti, here is his chance. I got floyd beating hatton in a Gatti-esque type fight and putting him into retirement Tito Trinidad style

Kermit Cintron vs Antonio Margarito - IBF 147lb title

Good fight. Makes sense for both guys. Margarito if successfull regains some leverage in the welterweight divison by winning another world title and Kermit Cintron gets the opportunity to avenge his one and only loss and move on to bigger and better things. Who will it be?

Miguel Cotto vs Shane Mosley - WBA 147lb title

Great Great fight. Everybody talks about matchups like Floyd vs Cotto, Floyd vs mosley. Well I say forget about that for now, how about Mosley vs Cotto?
Obviously this fight is still being negotiated (I think, it's not a done deal yet)
These guys match up well. Will it be Cotto proving himself once again vs another fast power punching former champion like mosley OR will it be Mosley proving the critics wrong who say floyd mayweather shouldn't fight him because he is past his prime and should fight the prime "monster" Cotto.
Either way the debate will be over after whoever wins this one. The winner will be the legitimate #1 guy Floyd should fight.



ROUND 2 (mid to late 2008 fights)

Paul Williams vs the Margarito/Cintron winner - WBO/IBF 147lb title unification fight

Obviously I have Williams beating clottey but im not so sure about margarito/cintron. Will it be Cintron avenging his only loss and moving on to a unification fight with williams or will it be margarito beating Cintron again and moving on to possibly avenging his own loss against Paul williams in a unification match?

Floyd Mayweather vs the Mosley/Cotto winner - WBC/WBA 147lb title unification fight

Obviously I got floyd rearranging Hatton's face and moving on to the cotto/mosley winner. I'm not sure yet who would win between cotto and mosley, you decide



ROUND 3 Final (final,early 2009 fight)

IBF/WBO 147lb champion (insert here) vs WBC/WBA 147lb champion (insert here)

If I had to bet on who would make it this far I would say Floyd mayweather WBC/WBA vs Paul Williams WBO/IBF for the Undisputed welterweight championship of the world and again I am not sure who I would pick.

But I think we can all agree on the matchups

Either way (according to these matchups) it would be:

Group A (WBO/IBF) clotey, wiliams, cintron or margairto VS Group B (WBC/WBO) hatton, mayweather, Cotto or Mosley

WITH THE WINNER OF EACH GRUOP FACING OFF IN THE FINAL FOR THE UNDISPUTED WELTERWEIGHT TITLE.

Which 2 fighters out of these 8 top welterweights do you think would make it to the finals and most imporantly, who do you think would win the whole 9 yards and have the right to say that he cleaned out the welterweight division.

I know floyd could retire like he originally planned if he won this thing.

Let the discussion begin.

[Spontaneous]

This will never happen. Wishful thinking. I'm assuming you're ignoring the fact that Boxing is all about money.


-edit- Actually, now that I think about it, this is more realistic. I will discuss this in a few mins.

[niceguy45]

This will never happen. Wishful thinking. I'm assuming you're ignoring the fact that Boxing is all about money.


-edit- Actually, now that I think about it, this is more realistic. I will discuss this in a few mins.

and that's why you never count oscar out of it...but good thinking though great post......

[NAPO]

mmmmmmmm interesting post but i would predict different victories.


but like they said is all about money now a days.

[DiegoFuego]

That is a PERFECT tournament if I do say so myself other than the fact that you got the seeding wrong. Mayweather/Hatton and Cotto/Mosley winners shouldn't have to fight second round if it was a real tournament (although those would make the best fights)

However, I do agree with the matchups you've proposed as likely to happen, just not in a tournament style. I'd pick Williams over Clottey, Cintron/Margarito is a toss-up, but I'd probably take Margarito, I'll take Mosley over Cotto and Mayweather over Hatton. I'd take Mayweather over Mosley and Williams over Cintron/Margarito winner, but I don't see Mayweather fighting Williams until Williams gets more famous. Think about how hard Cotto has worked to make his name over the last three years. Williams has a way to go, but by the time Mayweather is done with his opponents, you never know. I just see Mayweather retiring after Mosley.

[guzi815]

wow, this is an outstanding, and very interesting post. great formula. I'm all for it. The thing is, I see this as "time-elapsed", meaning there will be mandatory bouts, rematch claus, and the undercard will be a huge factor, believe it or not. Golden Boy Promotions, Top Rank, Philthy Rich, and the rest, all sitting at the same, round table.....now that has got to be interesting!!!

[Vladimir303]

wow, this is an outstanding, and very interesting post. great formula. I'm all for it. The thing is, I see this as "time-elapsed", meaning there will be mandatory bouts, rematch claus, and the undercard will be a huge factor, believe it or not. Golden Boy Promotions, Top Rank, Philthy Rich, and the rest, all sitting at the same, round table.....now that has got to be interesting!!!

I agree that things could get in the way of this happening in the period of time that I predicted (specially if Delahoya really does come back down to 147) but it's the most realistic of matchups. It's not a tournament

And true, we don't know what floyd is gonna do even after fighting hatton but I think if it were to come as far as floyd beating the cotto/mosley winner for the WBC/WBA and Paul Williams beating Clottey and then the Cintron/margarito winner to win the WBO/IBF Titles, then mayweather would jump at the chance to get the other two belts.

Because I do believe that mayweather has pride and he wouldn't ignore a guy who has 2 world titles just like he does. Just look at Joe Calzaghe, Mikkel Kessler was too big at supper-middle to be ignored by joe who was looking for big money fights against Roy jones, Jermain Taylor and Hopkins at that time and now he is fighting him for supper-middleweight supremecy.

[Vladimir303]

anymore ideas on this?

[guzi815]

anymore ideas on this?

Where does Luis Collazo fit in??? I think he's ranked like number 2 in the WBA.

[Vladimir303]

Where does Luis Collazo fit in??? I think he's ranked like number 2 in the WBA.

unlike clottey who looked like he was gonna beat margarito if it wasn't for the hand injury, collazo got another chance at a big name fighter after losing by close decision to hatton.

He got flat out dominated by shane mosley.

He is a non factor in this